Primary school head letter

Dear [INSERT NAME],

We are writing to you in connection with the shift in thinking about smartphones (and tablets) in the lives of children today, and specifically children at our school.

Parents at [INSERT SCHOOL] have recently joined a world-wide grassroots movement of parents called SFC, which sprung up in the UK in February 2024, and has launched in South Africa. It has triggered a global conversation about the appropriate age at which parents should give children smart devices. Feeling strongly about the issue ourselves, we started an open [INSERT SCHOOL] SFC WhatsApp group which [INSERT #] parents/carers have since joined.

Technology presents many incredible benefits and opportunities, but how best do we navigate it at this critical stage of pre-teen development? We know this can be a controversial subject and there is no definitive answer – every parent wants to do what’s best for their child and their family’s circumstances.

Ultimately, it remains a personal decision for each family and household. However, we are at a tipping point – with research showing a clear link between the age at which a child receives their first smartphone and mental health issues in young adulthood. The harms from excessive smartphone use, as we know, are wide-ranging – from reduced self-esteem to disrupted learning, bullying, grooming and addiction – as well as the huge opportunity cost, the things children and teens are not doing because they are on their devices. This article by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, details the huge – and not yet fully appreciated – impact of society’s move from a play-based to a phone-based childhood.

Haidt has called for a collective swing towards four new norms, that he believes would provide a foundation upon which a healthier kind of childhood could be forged for the digital age:

1. No smartphones before high school.
2. No social media before 16.
3. Phone-free schools.
4. More independence, free play and responsibility in the real world.

We know how much pressure schools are under and are so grateful for all the work you do to educate and mentor our children, and we acknowledge that it is parents who purchase smartphones for their children. We recognise that the school’s policy states [INSERT POLICY DETAILS, LIKELY TO BE PHONES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE USED IN SCHOOL]. However, we would really like your support in raising awareness of this issue as we recognise that you have a crucial part to play in guiding and helping parents navigate this rapidly evolving area of our children’s lives.

We would be grateful to meet with you, to discuss our ideas about collaborating with the school to bring parents together on this issue, including:

• Conducting a simple survey of the whole [INSERT SCHOOL] community to find out the current smartphone situation in our school – what parents feel about the issue, when they plan to get their child a smartphone and whether they’d be interested in signing a voluntary parent pact to not get their children smartphones (thereby reducing the peer pressure to do so). The pact approach is a tried and tested model that has been successful in other schools, and is inclusive, non-judgemental, parent-led and entirely voluntary.
• Organising a workshop for parents setting out the risks of smartphone use in adolescence, and discussing what alternative norm we might agree to for our children. We are happy to organise this, if you are willing to support it.
• Exploring guidance from the school, recommending that children at [INSERT SCHOOL] should not have a smartphone, even outside of school hours, and giving alternative options for parents wanting a way to contact their child.

The support of the school would make all the difference in enabling us to successfully navigate this critical issue in our community, and to begin changing the norm around when to get our children smartphones. We very much look forward to working with you on this and hope we can arrange a meeting to discuss the way forward.

Yours sincerely,

[INSERT NAME]