Students at Court Fields School in Wellington are becoming more and more reliant on mobile phones and facing increased online pressures and dangers.

Court Fields is trying to promote safer mobile phone usage and from today (Fri Oct 9) students have to put devices in secure pouches at the start of the school day. They remain locked until they leave for home.

Headteacher Polly Matthews and acting deputy head Sarah Westwood attended Wellington Town Council’s meeting on October 5 where they spoke about students using mobile phones.

A whole school survey – carried out with the support of the University of York – revealed that 88.7 per cent of students owned a mobile phone with 51.3 per cent of them using their phone for more than four hours a day.

Just over a quarter of students said they used their phone for more than six hours a day with 34% using it after 10pm and around the same number admitted they slept with their phone.

Councillors were told one third of students said they had interacted with strangers on their phones and that one in five had been victims of cyber bullying.

Explicit content had been viewed by 38.5% of students, while three quarters of them admitted they had seen unsuitable content on their phones before they were 11-years-old.

Councillors were told that introducing the phone pouches was an “exciting new project” and help to break the reliance on mobiles during the day – although the teachers admitted that phone usage immediately after school when the pouches have been unlocked will “go through the roof.”

The town council was thanked by Court Fields for its support for the phone pouches having agreed to spend £7,500 to help fund the project back in May.

Mobile phone use at Court Fields had been identified as a significant and growing issue which had impact well-being, sleep, behaviour, concentration and learning for students.

It is hoped the new system will remove phones from lessons during the school day, reduce disruption and distraction and support face-to-face teaching in the classroom.

The school has bought just over 900 phone pouches for students and the £7,500 from the town council has paid for half of them.

It is all part of the Cradle to Career programme which will give young people in Wellington support from the moment they are born to early adulthood.

It was back in 2024 when the town council was first introduced to the scheme being developed at Court Fields.

The Cradle to Career initiative has been used elsewhere in the country and its core approach involves providing support from birth to early adulthood, combined with activities which target different aspects of young people’s lives. This could include antenatal classes and social groups for parents, youth groups, mentoring and career advice.

Councillors were told this week that just 22 students out of more than 900 at Court Fields did not possess a mobile phone.