A West London headteacher has said he wants to start 12-hour school days to combat his pupils’ ‘100 per cent phone addiction’. Andrew O’Neill is in charge of All Saints Catholic College in Notting Hill.
The ‘outstanding’ rated school teaches children aged between 11 and 16. Now, its head wants students to start their days at 7am and go home at 7pm. During this time, they would be urged to participate in sports, art and cooking lessons.
The Times reports that Mr O’Neill thinks smartphones are creating an ‘apathetic’ generation. He told the national paper that he had found ‘some of the most shocking things I have ever seen’ on confiscated phones.
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These include pupils ‘blackmailing strangers’ and catfishing each other. The 43-year-old also claimed that students have been falling victim to online crime, including cyberbullying and sexting.
Since 2016, children at the school have been banned from carrying phones but can keep the devices in their bags or lockers. The head added that this is because smartphones were affecting the social lives of children, who he claims are getting worse at making friends, making eye contact with people and holding conversations.
Mr O’Neill said: “We have a long-term issue we need to solve. If we don’t we will have a generational problem with workplaces and society. Some children are so apathetic. They don’t care about anything. They are buried in their phones.”
The head also explained that, whilst his three kids do have smartphones, they are only for tracking their location and the devices don’t have any social media apps installed. He added that parents who don’t keep their children safe online should be reported to social services or prosecuted.
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