Two schools in Peterborough are going phone-free during the school day.

Secondary school Ormiston Bushfield Academy and primary school Ormiston Meadows Academy, which are run by Ormiston Academies Trust, have confirmed that they are phasing out access to smartphones.

The decision by the school academy trust - which is one of England's largest - will affect around 35,000 pupils at its 42 state schools across the country.

A spokesperson for Ormiston Academies Trust said: “Moving forward and over time, we believe it is desirable for us to move to a position where children do not access their phones at all throughout the school day.

“Teaching and learning, behaviour and children’s mental health are all impacted negatively by mobile phones.



“Our schools are at different stages of the journey. A quarter of our secondary schools are piloting different approaches to this over the autumn term, and one is phone-free, where it’s been really successful and is popular with parents and students.

“We want schools to do this at their pace - they are best placed to make the decisions because they know their schools best, and because we want them to consult with their parent and pupil communities.”

Earlier this year, the Department for Education under the previous Conservative government issued guidance intended to stop the use of mobile phones during the school day to "minimise disruption and improve behaviour in classrooms". 

What do you think about the decision? Email ben.jolley@newsquest.co.uk

See a map of all the Ormiston Academies Trust schools going phone-free below.