Julien Etienne whose son is a pupil at St Mary Magdalene Academy

PARENTS have called on a school in Highbury to “go further” by introducing a blanket ban on smartphone usage to curb screen addiction and prevent muggings.

Jenna Fansa, whose son is in Year 8 at St Mary Magdalene Academy, is one of around 70 parents from the primary and secondary who are part of an unofficial working group to tackle smartphone-related harm among children and teenagers.

The Tribune understands that children were waiting in long queues outside the toilets so they could secretly scroll in the cubicles, forcing the school to introduce special measures.

Now students must place their phones in sealable pouches to prevent access for the day instead of handing them in at the front desk.

But Ms Fansa said this didn’t go far enough, and called on headteachers and the council to introduce a complete ban on “problem­atic” smartphones at both primary and secondary schools, as an urgent “safeguarding” measure.

She said: “There’s a whole new set of risks with that now because of the use of smartphones at school, it’s just not what it used to be.

“There’s the potential for kids to see pornographic content, there’s bullying on apps like Snapchat and Roblox, and there are predators all over these sites. The people that run them are just absolutely not putting the protections in place to prevent this.

“I want to be able to control what my child accesses online, and without a ban of their usage at school, they might be getting exposed to it from other children’s phones.

“Even beyond the damage to a child’s development, there are safety concerns: children are being sent out to school with £500 in their hands, making them targets for muggings.”

Ms Fansa’s comments come as the government ramps up its approach to tackling smartphone and social media harm, announcing a trial social media ban for under-16s.

Julien Etienne, whose son is also at St Mary Magdalene, said that a complete ban would be the “nuclear” option, and has been meeting regularly with the school to discuss alternative measures to combat smartphone addiction among children.

He told the Tribune: “St Mary Magdelene is a really big school, and what they’ve done so far with the pouches is really important and will affect a number of kids in a positive way. The question is, are they ready to go beyond that and start supporting the families by educating people? I think the school, and schools in general, have the respon­sibility to facilitate informa­tion sharing on this issue.

“Teenage years are a hard time, it’s a difficult period in development. And technology and smartphones are just amplifying this, and we’re seeing the damage.”

St Mary Magdalene Academy was invited to comment.