Supporting schools, parents and children to reclaim childhood.
We are local parents and professionals passionate about collective change working to help Derbyshire schools and families delay smartphones, reduce online harms, and protect childhood.
A local movement, part of a national one.
Our aim is simple: to support schools to move towards genuinely smartphone-free policies, help parents understand why this matters, and encourage families to choose safer, less addictive devices where a phone is genuinely needed.
Smartphones are not just phones.
For children, smartphones can provide constant access to social media, addictive apps, group chats, the internet, cameras, video sharing, access to pornography and contact with strangers who do not have their best interests at heart. This creates challenges for learning, behaviour, wellbeing and safeguarding.
It also places schools in the difficult position of managing devices that were never designed with childhood in mind. We believe schools have a vital role to play in changing this culture.
A national line in the sand.
The Government has now described the proposed ban on social media for under-16s as a "line in the sand", with social media platforms expected to be blocked from offering services to children under 16.
That national change may not come into effect immediately, but it reflects what many parents, teachers and safeguarding professionals already recognise: children are being exposed to avoidable harm through smartphones and unrestricted internet access.
Social media is only part of the issue. Smartphones can give children access to messaging apps, group chats, live streaming, gaming platforms, image-sharing, adult content, bullying, addictive design and contact from people they do not know.
Even when one family has put firm boundaries in place, a child can still be exposed through another child's device - on the walk to and from school, outside the gates or in other unsupervised settings. This is a safeguarding concern beyond the school day, and a source of peer pressure for families trying to delay smartphone ownership. A child is only as safe as the least restricted device within their peer group.
Schools are uniquely placed to shift the social norm.
Parents often feel they have no choice but to buy a smartphone because other children already have one and they worry their child will be left out. When schools draw a clear line and say smartphones cannot be brought on site, it gives parents permission to delay.
With over 250 senior schools and many hundreds of primary schools across England now committed to brick-only policies, the direction of travel is clear. Every school that takes this step helps to shift expectations for the next family, the next year group and the wider community.
Beyond hand-in policies.
We are encouraging primary schools to move beyond policies where smartphones are simply handed in at reception or stored during the day. Hand-in policies normalise the idea that children need to own and carry smartphones, and leave risks associated with using these devices before and after school, on the journey in, outside the gates, on trips and elsewhere.
A clearer approach: no smartphones on site. If a child genuinely needs a phone for travel or communication, they hand in a simple call-and-text phone instead.
At Smartphone Free Primary schools, call/text (brick) phones - without cameras or internet access - are the only acceptable phones that children hand in (excluding medical exemptions, e.g. type 1 diabetes).
At Senior schools, brick phones can be kept switched off in bags, handed in, or locked away, depending on the school's policy, with different sanctions for brick phones vs smartphones. Many senior schools have or plan to roll this policy up from the next Year 7 cohort. Many have already opted to extend it to the whole school after seeing dramatic improvements compared with previous years.
You can hear headteachers sharing their experiences in these inspiring webinars from Generation Focus.
This is not about cutting children off from their parents. It is about returning phones to their original purpose: simple communication.
A simple phone for a simple need.
A brick phone lets children call and text without giving them access to the internet, social media, addictive apps, video platforms or online strangers.
- Allow calls and texts only
- No internet access
- No app stores or social media
- No cameras
- Low cost and simple to use
Camera-free devices are especially important. Removing internet- and camera-enabled devices from school reduces the risk of pupils and teachers being filmed without consent both at school and on the journey to and from school. For years allowing smartphones on site has resulted in countless instances of images of students and teachers being taken without consent, altered and shared throughout and beyond the school community.
The national movements behind this work.
Smartphone Free Childhood
A national parent-led movement bringing families together to delay smartphones and social media for children - so no family feels they have to act alone.
Generation Focus
The UK campaign for smartphone-free schools. Supports headteachers, governors and school communities with practical tools, evidence, policy templates and case studies.
Schools do not need to start from scratch.
High-quality resources already exist for headteachers, governors and senior leadership teams. Here are good places to start.
Headteachers' Toolkit
A practical toolkit for schools going smartphone-free, including guidance, evidence, case studies and implementation advice.
Open resource →Gold-standard policy templates
Downloadable policy templates from Generation Focus that schools can adapt for their own setting.
Open resource →Letters home to parents
Ready-made communication templates to help schools explain the change clearly and positively to parents.
Open resource →Smartphone Free Schools Rating
A rating system developed by school leaders to help schools become genuinely smartphone-free and share best practice.
Open resource →Map of smartphone-free schools
See which schools across the UK have already committed to smartphone-free policies.
Open resource →Brick phone guide
Generation Focus's plain-English guide to choosing a school-friendly brick phone.
Open resource →Help children's childhood be a childhood.
We know schools are already under huge pressure. This is not about adding to the burden. It is about helping schools protect childhood, reduce unnecessary digital pressure, and create a culture where children can learn, play, socialise and grow without constant smartphone distraction.
A smartphone-free policy can help:
- Reduce distraction during the school day
- Support better learning and behaviour
- Reduce pressure on parents to buy smartphones early
- Protect children from online harms
- Reduce risks around filming, image sharing and online contact
- Create a clearer, more consistent safeguarding culture
- Change the social norm across the whole community
Every school that takes this step makes it easier for the next one to follow.
School leader, governor, parent or grandparent in Derbyshire? We'd love to hear from you.
Together, we can help Derbyshire children grow up with more freedom, more focus and less pressure to be constantly connected.
hello@smartphonefreederbyshire.org