Appendix B
“I wish we had done it five years ago”: Phone ban a huge success | The Press
Hornby High School head girl Sofia Meduric
“[The school is] almost louder during intervals and lunches.” “People are getting to
know each other better and making connections and memories that they wil
remember.” The ban was partly a “weight off your shoulders”, knowing you were
unplugged for six hours. “We're not worrying about what someone has messaged us
and we're more focused on our class, present moment, and being with our friends.”
Hornby High School head boy Kush Patel
He noted the ban “has helped students focus more academically”.
Hornby High School principal Iain Murray
“I have no doubt that it’s going to have a positive effect on educational outcomes full
stop, right across the board.” He felt the ban had been “a win-win for everyone” and
wished they had done it five years ago. “We’re seeing kids in outside areas playing
games, throwing balls, reading books and generally interacting more positively rather
than having heads down on a phone.” Thanks to the lack of social media the school
was aware of no cyberbul ying this month. “We’re all quite stunned at the positive
outcomes we are seeing so far.”
Kaiapoi High School principal Jason Reid
Ban has gone “really smoothly”. “[The] biggest change is the amount of face to face
verbal communication, you can tell that it has amped up.” Noise levels had increased
at Kaiapoi alongside the number of students hiring sports gear and getting active, he
said. “To be honest, I’m surprised how easy it has been.
Christchurch Boys’ High School headmaster Nic Hil
Found the transition “really smooth” as students were focused in class and active
during breaks anyway, he said. “[It was a] positive start to the year, there’s been a
few moments of relapse and teachers and boys have handled that really well.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350224484/schools-no-phones-policy-reaping-benefits
Waitara High School Principal Daryl Warburton
Not having phones had got rid of a significant distraction in class and last year the
academic results in Years 9 to 12 were up 15 to 20% across all levels. “The change
is the most important thing I’ve done in 20 plus years of teaching - when looking at
direct outcomes. The biggest thing for us is the academic outcomes. Al the social
stuff has been great as well.” Students are talking to each other, playing bullrush, the
playground equipment is well used, and the playground is noisy again, he says.
Waitara High School Year 12 student Baiden March
Says not having his phone did make it easier to do his school work. “You’re a lot
more focused.”
Stratford High School principal Cam Stone
“It’s a huge cultural shift, not just in the classroom but at break time. We’re seeing
games of touch rugby again, kids having fun, it’s great. They’re talking. There’s a lot
of noise out there. “It’s been an overwhelming success for us.”
Opunake High School principal Andrea Hooper Carr
“It’s nothing new for us. [They had a similar policy for the last couple of years] The
Government promoting it is great because it gives you another layer of support, but
[it’s] nothing new to our school.”
https:/ www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/508614/school-phone-ban-students-seem-to-be-okay-
with-it Wellington East Girls College student Semhar Girmay
“"When we first got the email I ran to my parents and was like 'what am I going to do,
I can't do this'," she said. However, she said she was already paying more attention
to school notices and concentrating better in lessons without her phone distracting
her. "I'm not fully used to it, I stil catch myself walking into school with it in my
pocket, but I think with time it's actually fine."
Wellington East Girls College Year 9 Dean Shel ey Vail
"I have seen no cell phones in class at all or walking around school on duty. A couple
of behaviours I have seen that have changed is I've seen more students engaged in
game-playing, things like playing cards, and we cycled all the Year 9s through the
library as part of their orientation programme and the librarians have been thril ed
with the number of books students are taking out and have noticed students are
reading in the library much more than they noticed last year,"
Wellington East Girls College School principal Gael Ashworth
"We've only had two days where we've had the whole school back and the numbers
of cell phones that we've had surrendered to staff have been quite low," she said.
"Students seem to be okay with it. Anecdotally, my take on wandering around the
school is there is a lot more face-to-face engagement between the students. Young
people playing cards and chatting."
South Wel ington Intermediate School principal Toby Stokes
[School banned phones 4 years ago] Stokes said a ban on phones was not hard to
enforce and the school only encountered one or two students who desperately tried
to hang on to their phones. "We wanted our students to be active participants in their
learning and active in the playground as well,"
https:/ www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350102289/email-new-text-christchurch-girls-high-
introduce-cellphone-ban
Christchurch Girls’ High School acting principal Peter Sawyer
“Two days into implementing the new rules, the level of noise during both morning
and lunch break times from students had increased, with students talking, playing
four square, table tennis, and skipping. If students need to be contacted, the school
office wil pass on messages, or the school encourages students to use their school
email on their laptop to contact parents. The school wants its students to use
lunchtimes to connect with each other, build relationships, and interact “face-to-face
rather than digitally”.
https:/ www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/northland-schools-prepare-to-ban-cell-
phones/36SI7A4XFFHHBJPBVORNGA6CJA/
Kaitāiā mum Maria Parsons (son at Kaitāiā Intermediate)
“It’s a no-brainer. They’re there to learn,” she said. “As a parent, I think it’s really
good. They’ve actually got to interact more”.
Kamo High School Principal Natasha Hemara
“She believes the rule would be an adjustment, but render positive impacts in the
long run.” [The school] had already implemented a policy of phones away during
class time for the past three years that had had a “significant impact” on focus and
learning in the classroom, she said.
Te Mānihi Tumuaki Northland Secondary Principals’ Association chairman and
Tikipunga High School principal Alec Solomon
“It is becoming an accepted norm for students not to have phones in their classes.
It’s part of a student’s preparedness for work. It is an understanding of expectations.
It wil be no dif erent to the expectations your employer has of you.”
https:/ www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/govts-new-phones-away-rule-northland-
principals-respond/CPW7MLUBTRE4RE3CONGA2PKCTU/
Te Mānihi Tumuaki Northland Secondary Principals’ Association chair and
Kamo Highschool Principal Natasha Hemara
She said the general consensus among secondary principals towards the new rule
was positive. The rule was easy to implement at Kamo High School, which already
had an existing policy, Hemara said. “Our community has been extremely supportive,
and for us this has been an excellent example of a positive home/school partnership
working together to focus on impacts that are positive for teaching and learning.
“When we are dealing with a change that wil positively support our core business of
education then it is a win-all situation.” The school had noticed more positive social
interactions between students during break times and students becoming more
involved in clubs and student-led initiatives, Hemara said. Schools had to deal with
issues during the Covid pandemic, including the mandate around mask-wearing, so
were now well equipped to manage other new processes and procedures efficiently,
she said.
Whangārei Boys High School principal Karen Smith
“I’m not a huge fan of government mandating things like this because I think it’s up to
individual schools to manage what they do, but it has had a really positive impact on
our school.” Boys’ High also already had a policy that phones be put away during
class time but implemented in term one the additional rule for phones to be away
during breaks. She was pleased with how “incredibly receptive” the school
community had been. In fact, it had made her wonder why they hadn’t extended the
rule previously. “Phones were previously a problem for sure in our school.” “We’ve
had the occasional boy that breaks the rules but it’s been phenomenally successful in
terms of students interacting with each other positively. “It took some time to get used
to - we’re all used to pulling our phone out for various things so it did take a little bit of
training but without exception, we’ve had positive feedback from teachers and quite
remarkably positive feedback from many of the students as well and comments like,
‘the teacher can get on with teaching without having to deal with cell phones’.
Despite her dislike of the rule being mandated, she conceded it did take the pressure
off the school in terms of defending and enforcing it. Because it was a government
requirement, “there’s not a lot a student or parent can do to argue with it.”
Radio New Zealand
James Hargest Col ege principal Mike Newel
"We're stil having students that are breaking the rule as they do but nowhere near
the number that we thought and teachers are reporting that it's going really well," he
said.
"It's really noisy at break times now because kids are talking to each other and
there's a lot more people going out to play, be active on the field. So we're putting in
more handball and four-square going back to some of those things. So already we
can see it has a positive impact."
https:/ www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/350162679/students-farewell-snapchat-over-60-
schools-ban-phones
Ashburton College deputy principal Hannibal Ikahihifo
“The change was surprisingly easy. We prepared for a worst case scenario, but it
never happened. The school’s pastoral team had received no social media incidents
last year and students had been more attentive and active.”
Hil morton High School principal Ann Brokenshire
[Have had ban for 3 years] “The classroom culture changed immediately as
concentration increased and kids played, talked and read books more.”
Rangi Ruru Girls’ School acting principal Stephanie Barnett
Said they had found immense value” in the ban.
St Margaret’s College principal Diana Patchett
She “praised the flow-on effects.”
https:/ www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515423/school-phone-ban-how-effective-will-it-
be#:~:text=Monday's%20first%20day%20of%20term,learning%20support%20or%20special
%20circumstances.
Secondary Principals' Association of New Zealand (SPANZ) president and
Papatoetoe High School principal Vaughan Couil aut
"I have to say that students have been extremely compliant in the first part of term
one and during the backend when we stopped the 'education' and moved into the
'implementation'. People have seemed to have bought into it."
Christchurch's Burnside High School pupil
Said the policy was a good move as it removed "distractions from the class".
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-sunday-session/audio/kate-gainsford-nz-secondary-
principals-council-chair-on-the-governments-cellphone-ban-coming-into-force/
NZ Secondary Principals' Council chair Kate Gainsford
“Schools across the country already have measures in place - but these changes wil
make it easier to stop distractions. Parents have really appreciated the support,
because they're often having the same kind of conversations in their own family
home about the harmful effects and about limiting screentime, so having the adults
working together is helpful."
https:/ www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/04/ban-on-phones-in-new-zealand-
schools-kicks-in-on-monday.html
Secondary Principals Association (SPANZ)
The rule is "already working well" for teachers and schools who introduced the rule
voluntarily at the start of Term 1. Schools who started the year with a ban are
reporting "less distraction and more interaction in the playground, with a lot of
children out playing sport or heading to the library".
https:/ www.localmatters.co.nz/health/school-phone-ban-draws-mixed-reaction/
Mahurangi College deputy principal Keith Tennant
“They are now engaged, more focused and interacting with other students, playing
and talking. Year 13s in the study room are also studying more, where before they
would be chatting on their phones.”
Mahurangi College teacher Lori Yau
Said that the phone ban couldn’t come soon enough and the amount of time teachers
spent asking students to put their phones away had become unmanageable. She
spoke about how the ban would “hopefully” enable students to develop better
communication skil s and reconnect with the reality of the world around them. She
had noticed that there had been less physical fighting. “That’s the whole point of the
ban – to try to eliminate bullying especially online.”
