England schools told to ban phones for the whole school day

England’s schools have been told to keep mobile phones out of sight for the entire school day, from lessons to breaktimes, as the Department for Education tightens guidance ahead of a new legal duty. The updated rules, revised in January and advised for use from April 2026, say schools and trusts should make campuses mobile phone-free environments by default.

The guidance goes further than many parents and pupils may have expected. It says schools should prohibit phone use not only in class, but also at lunchtime, during breaktimes and in the time between lessons. That marks a firmer line than the Department for Education’s February 2024 advice, which was non-statutory but encouraged headteachers to bar phone use during the school day to curb disruptive behaviour and online harms.

The policy is now moving into law. Section 36 of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 creates a duty to have regard to guidance on mobile phones in schools in England, and the provision is listed as prospective, due to come into force on 29 June 2026. The shift gives ministers a clearer mechanism to press for consistency across schools that have long handled phones in different ways.

Ofsted has already signalled support. Sir Martyn Oliver, the chief inspector, has said many schools already ban phones because they drain pupils’ attention and disrupt learning. That backing matters because the central argument for the ban is not just discipline, but whether removing phones actually improves classroom focus, behaviour and school climate.

The Children’s Commissioner’s Office has also tried to quantify the scale of the issue. Its survey covered 19,000 schools and colleges, representing nearly 90% of schools and colleges in England, and it described the results as the first comprehensive national evidence on smartphone policies. That makes the debate less about isolated anecdotes and more about how widely schools already restrict devices, and where loopholes remain.

Some schools have already pushed beyond the minimum. In Rugby, a council-backed approach would stop primary-aged pupils using devices during the school day, while secondary schools would follow from Year 7. Elsewhere, teachers have said the rules are already in place in many schools, suggesting the new law may formalise practice in some places while forcing laggards to catch up.