Overview
- Ministers will amend the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require phone‑free school days across England.
- Following Monday’s 276–169 House of Lords vote for a tougher phones clause, the government shifted from guidance to binding rules.
- MPs are set to vote Wednesday on the government plan, which largely formalises policies already used by about 90% of secondary schools and nearly all primaries.
- Ofsted has begun checking mobile phone policies in inspections this month, while unions back legal clarity and ask for funding for lockers or locked pouches to aid enforcement.
- Draft plans include carve‑outs for sixth‑formers and medical devices, and they sit alongside wider online‑safety moves after MPs again rejected an under‑16s social media ban.