Parents of children at a South Devon primary school have mutually agreed to hold off on giving their children smartphones.

The move comes as more and more schools across the country clamp down on smartphone use amidst growing concerns about the detrimental effects on children's mental health.

Sid Allan, leading the group at All Saints Primary in Thurlestone, said: “The only reason to give a child a smartphone is peer pressure. We don’t want our kids to be alienated by their peers, so we give them a smartphone. We have sleepwalked ourselves into this position. The great news is it only takes a couple of people in the group to say, 'No! Let’s try another way.'”

Forty families signed up to the pact, agreeing that they would not give their children a smartphone until the end of Year 9 (age 13/14). This represented nearly 45 per cent of the school’s pupils. The group, which is part of the national movement 'Smartphone-Free Childhood', aims to engage all the primary schools feeding Kingsbridge Community College (KCC) to support parents in saying no to smartphones.

Tina Graham, the principal of KCC, supported the All Saints parents, saying: “We want our young people to be interacting with each other, talking, and building positive relationships with each other during their school day without using a smartphone.”

Many of the parents have already purchased, or plan to purchase, mobile phones for their children, but not smartphones, with some even sourcing tracker watches for safety reasons.

Emma Cahill, whose daughter is due to start secondary school next year, said: “Having the confidence to know your child will not be alone in not having these devices is freeing. We feel we can make the decision we believe is right. It’s partially about stopping children’s 24-hour access to the web, but I see it as stopping the web from accessing my kids.”

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