From Monday cellphones were banned in New Zealand schools, with the Minister of Education Erica Stanford’s message being “phones away for the day”. 

Central schools are well placed to keep students focused on learning in a phone free environment because many have adhered to the ban for months in advance.

The new regulation states that "schools must ensure students do not use or access a phone while they are attending school, including during lunch time and breaks. This includes students who are on a school course or visit outside the school grounds." 

As students returned to school this year, The Central App asked some Central secondary schools how they were approaching the cell phone situation.

On January 30, Cromwell College (CC) principal Mason Stretch said CC had banned them last year for students in year seven to 12.

Mason said there was strong support from the school community for this. The return to school for 2024 saw this ban extended to year 13 students; a term prior to implementation of the Government policy to ban cellphones in schools.

After two days of the new nationwide regulation being in place CC has had very few issues, he said.

“Students are understanding and accepting of the requirement [and] parents have also been supportive. If a student is seen with a phone at any time during the day, then a staff member will ask for it. It will then be stored safely in the office area.”

“CC is currently collecting one or two phones per day, mainly from senior students.

"Parents pick up confiscated phones at the end of the day.”

At CC, listening to music is at the discretion of the teacher and depends on the work for that lesson. 

“There would be no music during whole class instruction or group collaborative work. If music was allowed by the teacher it would generally be during independent tasks.”  

Maniototo Area School (MAS) principal Melissa Bell said in early February that students have always handed phones in, and there were going to be no changes to the usual process for MAS.

“Almost none of our students have smart watches so they are not an issue either.

“Listening to music via laptops might be something that happens at certain times. For example, while working on an art portfolio. Headphones are not allowed during instruction time in any class,” Melissa said. 

Dunstan High School (DHS) has a new cell phone policy, which requires phones to be turned off and in a school bag between 8.55am and 3pm, they cannot be used in break times, and they must remain off until the student has left school. Smart watches cannot be used as a phone, and must have notifications turned off. 

In a return to a past practice, laminated copies of student timetables were distributed to DHS students, some of whom before now had timetables stored on their phones. 

The behaviour change stemming from the cell phone ban extends to whānau who need to contact students during the day, instead of firing off a text message or sending a voice memo, they need to call the school office. 

Feedback from students was mixed. One DHS student said they were still using their phones at break times, with no consequences and another said on Monday there were seven phones taken off students, and on Tuesday there were 11.

There are exemptions to the ban such as if the student requires their phone for health purposes to monitor insulin levels, or for students aided by their phones to address barriers to accessing and participation in learning.  

DHS acting principal Bryce Clapham was approached for comment, but missed the publishing deadline. 

One Central father said getting students off social media during school time might help their learning.

“Teenagers are still online on snapchat, Tiktok, gaming and all the rest of that at the first chance they get.”

Further information is available on the Ministry of Education’s webpage Phones away for the day.

Read more: Kapa haka group welcomes Minister of Education

The Central App would like to hear from Central youngsters about how they’re adjusting to being phone free at school. 

Send the news team an email, outside of school hours: [email protected] and share your thoughts.