Overview
- Seventeen-year-old Flossie McShea and mother-of-three Katie Moore have joined a judicial review initiated by parents Will Orr-Ewing and Pete Montgomery under the group Generation Alpha CIC.
- McShea says she was shown pornography and violent videos including beheading and shooting footage during school hours, while Moore reports her daughter was exposed to explicit images and men masturbating via a video-chat site accessed at school.
- Lawyers for the claimants argue Department for Education guidance that leaves phone rules to headteachers is unlawful and unsafe, and they are pressing for a statutory national ban.
- Papers are being prepared for lodging in the High Court today, escalating the challenge to the government’s decision not to impose a legal ban in this autumn’s safeguarding guidance.
- A government spokesperson said school leaders already have the power to ban phones and highlighted new protections under the Online Safety Act, as evidence cited by campaigners includes a Children’s Commissioner survey showing 79% of secondary schools allow phones to be brought in and FOI data of dozens of safeguarding referrals linked to devices.