The London school that has screen-free days for pupils, teachers – and parents

Holy Family Catholic primary school says enthusiastic response from parents has been biggest surprise

Schools banning pupils from having smartphones are commonplace. But what about a school where pupils ban teachers from using their smartphones, and then get their parents to join in?

And not just phones: at Holy Family Catholic primary school in west London teachers are also barred from using laptops, monitors or tablets during the school’s screen-free Mondays, after an idea that came from the pupils themselves.

Yvonne Rutherford, the school’s deputy head, said the screen-free days were such a success that they had become monthly events on the school’s calendar. But she said the enthusiastic response from parents had been the biggest surprise.

“We didn’t really expect parents to take part but it seems that after talking about it with their children, and reading about it in the school newsletters, they’ve wanted to be involved,” Rutherford said.

“After the first screen-free Monday some parents sent in photographs of the family activities they did in the evening. And that set off more so that now we get a flood of photos every month, showing what they’ve been doing instead of screen time: playing cards and reading books, going for walks and doing sport with their children. It’s been great to see.”

The idea for the screen break came from Sophie Janashia, a year 6 pupil at the state school in Ealing. She wanted her school to hear what children thought about smartphones and devices, and raised the possibility of an entirely screen-free school day with her classmates and teachers.

“I thought if maybe we could have just one day without screens, across the school so that no one was left out, it could be good for everyone,” Sophie said.

“It’s difficult for parents to get their children off screens. We enjoy using screens but we can spend way too much time on them.

“It’s very important to me because I see people I know spending all their time on screens and it means sometimes we are together but we’re not really together.”

The result has attracted interest from other schools in the area, who have visited Holy Family and spoken to Sophie and her classmates about screen-free days and other aspects such as online safety.

The government has taken notice too. Sophie recently took part in a discussion with Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, who is considering plans to ban or restrict social media for under-16s. Kanishka Narayan, the minister for AI and online safety, has also visited the school to speak to Sophie and pupils who act as online safety ambassadors for their peers.

Sophie’s classmates say they support the screen-free days and carry it on into the evenings. Leo said: “At first it was just at school but then my parents joined in, and we started playing games after dinner instead of watching TV. I’ve got more time left after homework and violin practice.”

And do his parents keep to the screen-free routine? “Sometimes I have to remind them. I’m not 100% sure they stick to it after I go to bed,” said Leo, who added he once heard his father playing video games at night. “But I caught him.”

Others said they liked having their parents less distracted by the phones at mealtimes, giving them an opportunity for more attention and discussion. “Sometimes when they are using their phone, they say they have to because it’s for work, but I don’t think it is,” said one, while others nodded in agreement.

Fabiola Vicente, a parent of a pupil in year 6, said the screen-free days made her more aware of how much time she spent on her phone. “It’s a bad habit that crept up on me,” she said. She now makes a conscious decision to leave her phone in another room on other days of the week too.

“My first thought was: what am I going to do if they can’t watch TV? But now we are more prepared, we say, OK it’s a screen-free day so let’s get ready to do something together,” Vicente said.

Hisae Suzuki, another parent at the school, said her daughter had been “a little bit addicted” to screens so the introduction of screen-free days was “a good reminder – we all knew about it but we didn’t do anything about it, we needed a trigger”.

Suzuki added: “My daughter and I have had to change our attitudes, and we know that the power of habit is very strong.”

For teachers, the screen-free days have meant giving up their interactive whiteboards and videos and going back to more traditional techniques. Rutherford said for some teachers it had meant rethinking how they taught lessons and taking a more hands-on approach designing activities.

Overall, Rutherford said the screen-free days had been a great success in making everyone aware of the impact of screens on their daily lives. “The discussions have the best things, getting parents involved and families taking part,” she said.