Murdered transgender teenager Brianna Ghey’s school has banned mobile phones during the day in a move which has “reduced” pupils’ stress levels, the headteacher said.
Emma Mills, head of Birchwood Community High School in Warrington, Cheshire, told The Mirror that special pouches used to lock students’ phones during the day were introduced in September.
Her comments come amid calls from the National Education Union (NEU) and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch for the Government to bring in a statutory ban on mobile phones in schools.
Ms Mills said the move is “allowing kids to be kids again”, with pupils not able to open the pouches until home time.
She told the newspaper: “Around school, there is more chatter in the corridors at breaks and lunch, students are more focused in lessons and the number attending House competitions and enrichment activities has risen.”
She added: “Students say they like the ‘break’ from it. They say it has reduced their stress levels knowing they don’t have to think about what is happening.
“It has made them realise they can live without it. With 23 years in education, I have seen, over time, the impact that phones and social media have had on young people.
“Seeing how our behaviour and safeguarding issues around phones and the online world have nearly disappeared feels like a big moment.”
Brianna’s mother Esther Ghey supports a “blanket ban” on smartphones in schools across the country, previously citing concerns over how these devices can be misused by students.
She told The Mirror: “I’m incredibly proud of the steps Birchwood High School has taken.
“Brianna often struggled with distraction in school due to her smartphone and social media use, and I truly believe this initiative would have made a meaningful difference for her.”
Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both 15 at the time, lured Brianna to Culcheth Linear Park in Warrington where the 16-year-old was fatally stabbed 28 times with a hunting knife in February 2023.
Jenkinson was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court in December 2023 to a minimum sentence of 22 years in prison, and Ratcliffe to a minimum term of 20 years.
The court heard that Jenkinson became “obsessed” with Brianna after joining Birchwood High in October 2022.
The teenagers were discussing Brianna’s murder for weeks, detailed in Jenkinson’s handwritten murder plan and phone messages found by detectives.
Jenkinson, while aged 14, downloaded a TOR internet browser app, to watch videos of the torture and murder of real people, in “red rooms” on the “dark web”.
She grew an interest in serial killers, making notes on their methods and admitted enjoying “dark fantasies” about killing and torture, with the pair living in a secret world of warped interests in murder and cruelty, the trial heard.
Schools in England were given non-statutory guidance under the former Conservative government in February last year intended to stop the use of phones during the school day.
A survey of more than 15,000 schools in England by the Children’s Commissioner suggests that the vast majority already have policies in place that restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said it was his “personal view” that the Labour Government should take a stronger stance on restricting mobile phone use in schools.
Last month, Ms Badenoch questioned why the Government opposed a Tory amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require schools to ban the use of phones.
In response, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the proposal as “completely unnecessary” as he claimed “almost every school” already bans phones.
