Giving smartphones to kids has been the biggest child safeguarding mistake in history.

We're using the law to expose and correct this generational mistake.

What are we doing?

We're working with leading lawyers to help bring about an end to smartphones in schools. We are preparing a legal challenge which we hope will apply to all schools in England, and maybe more widely.

A real, genuine school ban would be a monumental net gain for childhood, freeing all ten million children in the UK from smartphones during the school day, and instantly transform societal attitudes.

This single change would give children of all backgrounds 7–9 hours a day free from smartphones and social media, on their way to and from school, on the school bus, on school trips, and when hanging out with friends before home.

Parents can't hope to push back while smartphones are allowed in school bags, so removing smartphones from schools is the first big step to fix this generational mistake.

Are school smartphone policies lawful?

The UK has decades of good child safeguarding law, but in the cultural shift towards giving children smartphones, some of it appears to have been forgotten. It may already be unlawful to allow children to bring their smartphones to school.

We think that existing legislation, statutory guidance and case law means that almost all current phone policies in schools may be unlawful — even when they are based on recent DfE guidance.