All Saints Catholic College in Notting Hill extends its school day to include after-school activities aimed at reducing smartphone dependency among students, addressing concerns over cyberbullying and mental health.
Andrew O’Neill, headteacher at All Saints Catholic College in Notting Hill, London, has extended the school day to 12 hours to counteract smartphone addiction among pupils. These extended hours, effective immediately, include after-school activities such as dodgeball, basketball, art, drama, and cookery classes, running until 7 pm. This change follows O’Neill’s findings of damaging content such as cyberbullying and sexting on confiscated student phones, leading him to express concerns about pupils’ social development and well-being.
O’Neill, a reputed former ‘headteacher of the year,’ stressed that reliance on digital interactions over real-life socializing has negatively impacted students, hinting that severe cases might require interventions from social services or the police. He has called on parents to actively monitor their children’s smartphone use to prevent further issues.
This isn’t an isolated case in the UK’s educational landscape. For instance, John Wallis School in Ashford has successfully implemented locking pouches for phones, which led to a decline in detention and truancy rates.
The strategies employed by All Saints Catholic College adhere to recent government guidelines advising schools to minimize mobile phone usage to improve focus and minimize disruptions, positioning the school at the forefront of tackling the broader issue of digital addiction and its impact on youth mental health and academic success.
