Mobile Phone Policy

BINGARA CENTRAL SCHOOL MOBILE PHONE POLICY 

Bingara Central School does not consider mobile phones to be an appropriate digital learning device under the Department’s BYOD policy.  This is due to the student’s misuse of mobile phones during school learning time and school hours. BCS wishes to optimise time spent in the classroom by maximising student attention and focus on the learning environment and within the classroom.  

Students will have access to digital devices such as desktop computers and laptops for learning activities that require specific access to online and offline platforms.  

Bingara Central School utilises the YONDR phone pouch system. All secondary students enrolled at BCS will be allocated a YONDR pouch free of charge. Students enrolling throughout the year will be allocated a pouch as part of their enrolment. If a student pouch is damaged or lost they will leave their phone at home until a new pouch is purchased from the school. 

WHAT IS A YONDR POUCH? 

Yondr is a Pouch that stores your phone.  

HOW DOES IT WORK?  

Each phone is placed into a Yondr Pouch that locks when it is closed. You are unable to open the Pouch until it is unlocked using an ‘unlocking station’.  

You will be unable to get into the Pouch during the school day unless it is unlocked via the unlocking station. The only other way to access your phone is if the Pouch breaks or you have tampered with the pin and magnet.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO HAVE ONE? 

At school we want all our students to fully engage in their learning and create a phone free space. This means that we wish to create rich learning environments and improve academic performance facilitated by students being focused on their learning and their learning experience in the classroom.  

WHAT IS THE PROCESS AT SCHOOL? 

In Roll Call with your Year Advisor or Roll Call teacher you will be given a numbered Pouch. (This pouch will be uniquely your own. Teachers will know whose Pouch is who’s by reading the number on the back.) 

Your teacher will supervise and sight that you have turned your phone off and you will place it into your Yondr Pouch.  

For the remainder of the day, you and only you are responsible for your Pouch.  

At 3:00pm, your Period 5 teacher will unlock your pouch, so you are able to retrieve your phone.  

You will hand your Yondr Pouch back to the teacher.  

SO, I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR MY OWN POUCH. NOW WHAT? 

Throughout the school day, you will keep your own Yondr pouch with you. It is your responsibility to look after it and maintain its condition. It is breaks or something happens to it within the school day, regardless of what happened, it is YOUR responsibility. After school, teachers may check the condition of each Pouch to ensure the Pouches are in the correct condition and not broken or have a fault. 

WHAT IF IT BREAKS? 

Other than using the unlocking station, the only other way to access your phone within the Yondr Pouch is if there is a break or the Pouch has been tampered with. If this is the case, it is deemed your responsibility to repay $10 to the front office to replace the Pouch. Regardless of how the break orfault has occurred, the Pouch is in your duty of care throughout the school day. Your parents will be notified, and you will be required to leave your phone at home until a replacement Pouch is paid for.  

WHAT IF I NEED TO CONTACT MY PARENTS OR WORK DURING THE SCHOOL DAY?  

Should you need to contact someone during the school day, you will approach the front office (in your own time and not during class) and ask permission to use the front office phone.  During school hours, parents needing to contact or collect their teenager are to contact the front office and a message will be sent to the student. 

WHAT IF I AM LATE TO SCHOOL OR HAVE TO LEAVE SCHOOL EARLY? 

If you are late to school, you will need to sign in as usual at the front office then walk down to the secondary staff room where a staff member will be able to give you your own personalised Pouch. They will sight you have turned your phone off and is locked in the Pouch. When you return to class you will be required to show visual proof to your teacher that you have your Pouch.  

If you need to leave school early, the same process applies. You will go to the secondary staff room where a staff member will unlock your Pouch and collect it before you go to the Front Office to sign out.  

WHAT ABOUT SCHOOL EXCURSIONS? 

Excursions are deemed as school-based activities and thus the same rules apply. The teacher attending your school excursion will carry with them an unlocking station.