Charlton Kings Junior School is working in partnership with other local primary and secondary schools, as well as our parent communities, to encourage the delayed use of smartphones. We are committed to 'Smartphone Free at KS1, 2 and 3' to help us achieve our goal.
Why Smartphone Free?
A series of conversations with parents and professionals over the last few years have led us to this point. Collectively, our community has seen an increase in the number of concerning behaviour and safeguarding incidents related to primary age children passively using technology and having access to smart devices and social media apps. Parents tell us that they'd like to hold off giving their child a smartphone but, because everybody is doing it, it really is difficult to say no.
Simultaneously, we have seen a growing increase in local, national and international research around the dangers of children engaging with smartphones too young. Some of the statistics are, frankly, quite frightening. As well as this, we feel it is time to address some of the false-information leading to parents feeling a need to get their child a smartphone.
Our parent/carer survey in the spring of 2025 saw 80% of our community support the school in becoming a smartphone free environment.