Statutory phone-free school guidance introduced for schools in England
Government guidance on keeping schools in England phone-free all day was placed on a statutory footing, giving schools and trusts a legal duty to follow it.
This summary was written by AI to complete the context; it is not based on a current source.
In 2026 the government in England gave its school mobile phone guidance statutory status. Until then, the Department for Education's guidance had been advice that schools were strongly encouraged to follow. Ministers announced in April 2026 that it would be put on a legal footing, using an amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The guidance says schools should be phone-free by default throughout the school day. That covers lessons, break times and the moves between lessons. Exceptions are meant to be limited, for example for pupils with medical needs or disabilities, where schools must still consider reasonable adjustments under equality law.
It applies to state-funded schools, and school leaders and academy trusts (groups of schools run together) are expected to have regard to it when setting their own policies. Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, said it would look at how phone policies are enforced. Schools were expected to follow the guidance from the start of the 2026-27 school year in September.
The change mattered because earlier guidance, issued in 2024, left enforcement to individual schools. Many had already banned phones, but practice varied widely, and many still allowed pupils to keep phones in their bags.
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England school mobile phone ban guidance · 2 updates
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