Athlone's Marist College becomes 'a phone-free zone'

By Rebekah O'Reilly

The Marist College in Athlone is one of the first secondary schools in the area to implement a phone-free zone on its campus.

From the beginning of the new term, the school has been using pouches from the company LockerFix to limit students' access to their phones during the school day.

Marist College principal Michael Dermody said the school was proud to be leading by example: “I know a number of schools have been looking, in the last number of years, at different ways to limit the students' contact with the phone throughout the day.

“We are one of the first schools in the locality to have gone down this road of a mobile phone-free zone. It's obviously something that's very topical at the moment, with the Minister for Education looking to introduce legislation for schools to ban phones on site.”

Mr Dermody explained that, when students come into school in the morning, they put their phone into the locked pouch in their first class, in front of the teacher. The phone is then kept in their schoolbag.

The phone locker can be unlocked at the end of the day using magnets which are located at all exit points in the school. The magnets are locked during the day, becoming available only after the final lesson is over.

Speaking about the reasons behind the decision to use the phone lock pouches, Mr Dermody said: “Our motivation for doing it is that we would notice at break times or lunch times a reduction in interaction between students. You'd see a group of students sitting down and talking to each other via Snapchat. It led to a lack of interaction and movement at break times.

“Another reason is the impact on teaching and learning, and distraction. In the past, if we would confiscate a phone, it wouldn't be unusual for you to have it in the office and it's beeping constantly with messages. There's the person sending the notification, and the person receiving it, who are both not tuned in.”

Continuing, he said that limiting student contact with their phones during the day was the best solution for addressing these issues.

“We felt that the only way really to try and help was to find a way that the students don't have access to the phones during the day, but they still have the phone on them, and they have it in the evening to contact home.”

Talking about parents' reaction to the implementation of the new policy, he said: “When we informed parents last April that this was something we were introducing, the vast majority of the reaction was extremely positive.

“They were glad the school was taking the lead on this, and they were very supportive, which was a great encouragement to us at the start.”

The principal noted that the students had also been excellent in cooperating with the new phone-free zone so far.

“We're nearly four weeks in now. At the start you were worried that there would be teething problems – but there have been very little. The students have been absolutely fantastic in adjusting. When we spoke to them, we explained that it wasn't a punishment.

“Once the students understood that the motivation was to help them, they reacted really well. They're pleasantly surprised themselves how well they have coped with it.”

Fergal Wilson, a teacher of business studies and economics in the school, said there had been a very noticeable change in the students since the locker bags were introduced.

“They're much more focused in class, their attention is better, overall it's been very positive for the students,” he said.

When asked if he had noticed any pushback from the students, Fergal said it was quite the opposite. “I think they've embraced it - it's a break for the students as well, away from the phones. They have seven hours in the day now where they can't access their phones, and there's a benefit to that.

“It's a habit we all have, and now that habit has been broken and the first few weeks has been really positive.”

The students themselves shared the same sentiment, noting that being away from their phones during the day had an impact on socialising and activity at break times, and in class. Third year student Joseph McSharry said: “Without the mobile phones, I've noticed more natural communication with the lads in the class, whereas in first and second year a lot of the lads would be glued to their phones.”

The senior students have really noticed a change in the communication between themselves and their peers, and can see the benefit for younger year groups.

Sixth year student Sean O'Neill said: “The younger years are getting to know each other better, and they're not just on their phones in the morning coming in. Usually we'd all be on our phones at break time we wouldn't really be talking to each other.

“People are going out playing football now, not just sitting inside on their phones. We're talking now, and getting back to the way things used to be."

Sixth year student Nathan Kelly said he feels more confident going into school knowing he doesn't have to think about his phone.

“[Before] it'd be a concern in the back of your mind for the whole day – notifications would be going off every few minutes. With the phone out of the mind, it's a lot less stressful.”

The teachers in The Marist have also taken to putting their phones into pouches, to model the behaviour their students are now being asked to conform with.