Kent

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1000" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Texting-emojis-smartphone.jpg" alt="Texting emojis smartphone" class="wp-image-111958" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Texting-emojis-smartphone.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Texting-emojis-smartphone-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Texting-emojis-smartphone-1000x667.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Texting-emojis-smartphone-400x267.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Texting-emojis-smartphone-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo by Domingo Alvarez E on Unsplash</figcaption></figure>



This summer parliament will debate a bill that supports implementing a nationwide ban on smartphones in schools. The debate surrounding mobiles is not new and is focused on the negative impact on potential academic attainment and behavioural distraction versus the benefits of access to learning resources and communication. 



So we asked leading girls&#8217; Senior School, Walthamstow Hall, to give us a first-hand account of how phones affect them every day &#8211; from pupil to headmistress. Here&#8217;s what they said&#8230;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ms-chamberlain-headmistress">MS CHAMBERLAIN, HEADMISTRESS</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="1014" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Ms-Chamberlain-Headmistress-Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent.jpg" alt="Ms Chamberlain Headmistress Walthamstow Hall Senior School for girls Sevenoaks Kent" class="wp-image-111954" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Ms-Chamberlain-Headmistress-Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Ms-Chamberlain-Headmistress-Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-800x541.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Ms-Chamberlain-Headmistress-Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-1000x676.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Ms-Chamberlain-Headmistress-Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-400x270.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Ms-Chamberlain-Headmistress-Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-768x519.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



The best of smartphones is modelled to our children through our own positive use at home. The family interactions in group messaging with those positive responses to life’s little moments of joy and the funny memes shared to brighten the day of a relative many miles away. Our use of apps that help to make life smoother, whether that’s to access healthcare, pay for a meal or share ideas for re-designing a room.



The virtual world can also be incredibly tough. It is a challenge as an adult to discern what is accurate and factual and what is a construction of AI, deliberate positioning of an opinion as fact or accidental misinformation. The algorithms which underpin social media funnel us into experiencing the world as completely aligned with our own views and can position those with different views as others who we are justified in maligning. 



The real world is more nuanced and messy, people who agree with us on one issue may vigorously disagree with our thoughts on another matter. We all have joys to celebrate, ways of navigating the challenges of life, feelings in response to others. None of us is &#8216;other&#8217;, we are all complex individuals worthy of being treated with dignity and respect.



In school, girls are learning who they could be, what might their best adult self look like? Some of this is by discerning which subjects to take as they grow through academic years and applying themselves to studying with aspiration. It is also about developing in relationship with others and this is best done in person. 



Our pastoral team is there to support resolution when friendships are wobbly or things have gone wrong, real people with tissues and strategies rather than an unseen moderator. Our dining room is full of conversation, laughter and the occasional singing of Happy Birthday.



As Taylor Swift says &#8216;I ain’t trying to mess with your self-expression&#8217; but learning how to express ourselves and encounter each other’s self-expression is easier when we are in the room together.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-harriet-year-12">HARRIET, YEAR 12</h2>



I first got a smart phone in Year 7. The best thing about it is communicating with friends, I use it mostly for that and schoolwork. Social media is good if I’ve had a tiring day at school and I want to go home and just watch some videos. 



TikTok and Instagram can be harmful, promoting people to compare themselves with others. If I see my friends going out without me on Insta or if I see a friend has read my message and hasn’t replied in a day, that can send me into an overthinking spiral.



Going into GCSEs my parents thought I should be able to start making these decisions myself. However I do find myself using it at night before I go to bed and the endless scrolling does affect my sleep schedule. Especially during my revision periods, I would have my phone right next to me and I would keep looking at it and get distracted. So maybe my restrictions were taken off a bit too early!



A month ago I actually deleted TikTok and Instagram from my phone and I’ve managed to keep that going. It’s quite refreshing because I now think about it less. People don’t realise the addiction that’s been built up inside you.



Coming off sort of enlightens you, even if you only manage it for a few days.&#8217;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1500" height="999" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-pupils-playing-cricket.jpg" alt="Walthamstow Hall Senior School for girls Sevenoaks Kent pupils playing cricket" class="wp-image-111955" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-pupils-playing-cricket.jpg 1500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-pupils-playing-cricket-800x533.jpg 800w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-pupils-playing-cricket-1000x666.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-pupils-playing-cricket-400x266.jpg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/kent/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/Walthamstow-Hall-Senior-School-for-girls-Sevenoaks-Kent-pupils-playing-cricket-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1500px) 100vw, 1500px" /></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mrs-katie-franzen-head-of-key-stage-4">MRS KATIE FRANZEN, HEAD of KEY STAGE 4</h2>



&#8216;Smartphones are great, they help me organise my life, write my journal, listen to books, music, podcasts, get from A to B with maps, take photos and connect with my friends. I think for students in school they have many of the same advantages. Being dyslexic I also find the spelling function really helpful!



I grew up without a smart phone so what my friends did over the weekends and holidays was a joy to find out on a Monday morning or in the return to school after the holidays. This is something which I think must be really hard about being a teenager, as you do know a great deal more about others, not only your peers in school but those around you.



The comparisons of lives are only too natural to make. There is a sense that you have to make an ‘online self’ which must be really hard. Tech companies are trying to make smart phones safer, for example by ensuring that people are who they say they are online, or making sure there aren’t too many bots pretending to be people. They are also considering the right age at which young people should have access to certain apps. These rules are of course easy to break! To me, they are important.



In the UK we can learn to drive from age 17. It is deemed then that our brain is developed enough to view and understand the risks on the road.



I think the same should apply to smart phones. We should have levels and lessons at particular ages which fit in with our brain development. There should be some content online which is banned for particular age groups.&#8217;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-eva-year-8">EVA, YEAR 8</h2>



&#8216;I got my smartphone quite early, in Year 5 because I was walking to school. I use my phone for keeping in touch with people mainly. I use Snapchat for friends, also Whatsapp and I have TikTok. For homework I use my laptop.



I have restrictions set on my social media apps, so my accounts are private and I would only add people that I know. My parents don’t set limits, I think they trust me. I have my phone in my bedroom, but I like my sleep so they know I won’t be staying up late!



If I come home and do my homework and then I have clubs, it’s quite nice to be able to chill with my phone afterwards. But it is easy to get distracted. During the summer exams I had to put my phone in another room while I was trying to revise. I would set a half hour time limit for revision and sometimes I’d hear my phone ping and I’d be tempted to look, but I kept my head down until I’d finished.



I wanted to do well because it was my first summer exams, so I didn’t really mind. But it felt weird it not being there because I’ve had it by me for a while. There were times in the holidays where I’ve had a message showing me how long I’ve been on the screen and I’ll think: &#8216;Oh, that is quite bad!&#8217;



Some of my friends have had their phones taken away because they’ve been on it at night. I just feel like you work so hard during the week you’ve got to get some sleep.

HOT TOPIC: Should smartphones be banned in schools?

You may also like