In recent months there has been growing awareness of the harmful effects of smartphones on children’s mental, physical and overall well-being and social development. This important safeguarding issue has received extensive media coverage and thousands of parents have joined national campaigns such as Smartphone Free Childhood, which are committed to changing the 'social norm' of children having a personal smartphone at increasingly young ages. The analysis of our recent parent survey in Fleet also highlighted significant concern from our parents around children's extensive screen time use and the arguments this can cause at home, along with children’s disengagement from hobbies, family activities and in-person social interaction over time. Worryingly, in our schools, we have seen first-hand how smartphone use is increasingly having a negative impact on children’s happiness, well-being and safety; and this is filtering down to younger ages each year. This includes our concerns around

• Exposure to bullying behaviour, including the use of unkind words, inappropriate language and sharing/receiving images via social media/apps (including as part of WhatsApp groups).

• The pressure of peer comparison and ‘keeping up with their friends’

• Children's exposure to inappropriate content, language and potentially harmful information. • How children can be easily targeted, exploited, scammed and groomed.

• Children presenting with lack of sleep, reduced concentration and social communication difficulties. Therefore, in line with schools in Basingstoke and other areas of the county and country, we will be introducing a new, phased, smartphone policy across all Fleet schools as follows;