Behaviour

Mobile Phones, Group Chats and the Head of Year Role

A practical guide for Heads of Year on mobile phones, group chats, online conflict, parent conversations and building healthier year group norms.

The thing nobody quite says about phones in schools is that the phones aren't the problem.

The group chats are the problem.

The screenshots are the problem.

The thing that happened at 9.47pm last Tuesday that has now reached eleven students, three parents and your inbox is the problem.

The phone is just the device that delivers it.

If you've been a Head of Year for more than a term, you know this.

Half of what lands on your desk on a Wednesday morning started in a chat the night before.

By the time you see it, it's already been screenshotted twice, the parents are involved, somebody's tutor is asking what your behaviour policy says, and the original message is buried under twelve more.

This is the bit of the HOY role nobody trains you for.

So here's how I think about it.

What the rules actually are now The DfE position has moved fast.

The February 2024 non-statutory guidance asked schools to prohibit phones during the school day.

The updated January 2026 guidance went further.

Schools should be phone-free environments by default.

The wider legal direction is moving that way too, with the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 including provisions about government guidance on phones and other communication devices in schools.

Whatever you think of that, it's the floor.

Many secondary schools have moved or are moving towards full-day bans, locked pouches, or hand-in systems.

So the in-school side of the conversation is mostly settled.