Lake Macquarie High School

Quality Education in a Caring Environment

Mobile Phone Policy

Rationale:

Parents are notified that if phones are confiscated from students they will need to see the Deputy to obtain the phone at the end of the day.

Mobile phones are NOT to be brought to school unless it is vitally important to the student and/or family.  The student may have to bring the phone to school for the purposes of:

• Emergency contact with family members
• Health/safety issued
• Work commitments.

Aim:

If mobile phones are brought to school the rules are as follows:

• Switched off during class time
• Students cannot take calls during class time
• Students cannot send or receive SMS messages during class time
• Mobile phones are NOT to be used for playing games, to check the time, to be used as a calculator or used to take photographs/movies
• Mobile phones are NOT to be taken into change rooms, toilets/shower areas, sporting venues and those phones capable of taking photographs/movies are NOT to be brought to school AT ALL. This is a breach of the privacy laws.
• Students if sick are to follow normal procedures, seek permission to go to sick bay and office staff contact parents, NOT the STUDENT.

Implementation:

Students may:

• Switch phones on during recess or lunch
• Take important messages or make important calls during recess or lunch
• Send text messages during recess or lunch when necessary.

If any of the above rules are broken, that is, phones switched on during class, messages sent, calls received, the teacher at the time is permitted to confiscate the phone from the student.  The phone is to be given to the Deputy and the student needs to make application to receive the phone back at the end of the day.  If the phone is confiscated more than once due to the above rules being broken, parents will need to contact the school and arrange a time to collect the phone.