Winchester county council move forward motion to ban mobile phones in secondary schools

On the 6th of November Winchester city council moved forwards with a vote to ban mobile phones.

 A full council meeting took place where all councillors voted unanimously towards a ban. 

The motion was brought forward by Lib Dem councillor John Tippet-Cooper who led the discussion across the Winchester city council. 

He led a presentation on why smartphones are damaging for our children and gave his reasons for why he believes in this ban.

After his presentation the council voted unanimously, 29 votes towards the motion whilst zero voted against it. 

This allows Winchester council to now take this motion towards Hampshire county council and apply pressure on them to create a ban. 

 Mr. Tipper-Cooper said:

“What Winchester city council has done is put a motion to Hampshire council to put pressure on the council, to provide clear guidance to schools about the banning or restriction of phones in schools.

“ The key message is that schools need clarity about what they should be doing with phones in schools.

“My own view is that they should be banned in schools, due to the harms and impacts of them in a school setting”

Research carried out by John himself states that loss of concentration is up 20% when children have mobile phones in schools. 

Mr Tippet-Cooper also said that his campaign was research led and was one of the main reasons for him bringing forwards this motion. 

“The aim of a ban would be to provide the young people with a safe haven, during the school day.

However Mr Tippet-Cooper does understand there are a few exceptions to the ban:

“There will be obvious exceptions to a ban, for example someone who needs an app that’s helping young people with a health issue. 

“And those are perfectly and obvious clear and exceptions, but this is why schools need clear guidance”