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No Smart Device Voluntary Code

September 28th, 2023

 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

As you know, children have been at the centre of a lot of the disruption and change that we’ve all experienced in recent years. The advancement of social media further exacerbates their exposure and understanding of some of the current social issues along with early exposure to adult material.

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An increase in the number of primary school age children suffering from levels of anxiety has prompted the creation of a community wide initiative involving many schools in the wider Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown area. (Glashtule, Dalkey, Dún Laoghaire, Glenageary, Killiney, Monkstown, etc.)

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This initiative is supported by the Principals of many of the primary schools in the area.

  • The Harold School, Glasthule,

  • Loreto Primary School, Dalkey,

  • Johnstown Girls’ National School,

  • Johnstown Boys’ National School,

  • The Harold Boys National School, Dalkey,

  • Scoil Lorcáin, Monkstown,

  • Dalkey School Project,

  • Glenageary Killiney Nationsl School

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Principals of the above primary schools in the area have come together to agree on the introduction of a ‘No Smart Device Voluntary Code’ where parents/guardians are given the option to collectively agree to delay purchasing a smart device for their child until the child begins secondary school. This would include smart phones and also access to age-appropriate apps such as Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok and Discord to name but a few.

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Some of the local secondary schools are looking at introducing a similar initiative as they are seeing the detrimental effects prolonged usage of smart devices is having on the ability to concentrate, attainment, mental health and bullying.

This voluntary code will complement the existing policy regarding mobile phone use which states that students are not permitted to use phones during school hours or on the school premises.

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We are aware some of the children already have smart devices, particularly in 6th. We ask parents to follow the school’s policy on mobile phone usage and our acceptable user policy.  We ask, as the primary educators  to have regular and open conversations about the internet, monitor the app’s the are using and discourage the use of snapchat etc

As Principals from all eight schools, we believe this a very important initiative to safeguard the children in each of our schools.

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Childhood seems to be getting shorter and shorter and we feel a lot of children do not have the emotional maturity to navigate a Smart device. In recent years, schools are dealing with a significant increase in issues arising from interactions and negative comments by young children using social media. We are very concerned about the impact of this on children’s wellbeing.  Therefore, as a collective we can help remove this obstacle at primary level. The strength in as many parents as possible signing up to this in the eight primary schools is that it becomes the new norm for the children in our area.  We ask you to take action and to help us remove this obstacle for our children in our community.

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Yours faithfully,

Michelle Cotterell                                            Lisa Breen

Principal, BNS                                                  Principal, GNS

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