A top Church of England school has banned smartphones, and will only allow students ‘brick’ style phones, in a bid to limit harmful media consumption.

Fulham Boys school is introducing a penalty for any smartphones, smartwatches or Bluetooth headphones found on pupils. 

Students will only be permitted to have retro-style phones, without access to social media apps or the internet.

Headteacher David Smith made the decision after running an anonymous survey on pupils.

97% estimated they received over 50 notifications per day, and 38% said they had no restrictions on smartphone usage.

Smith told the BBC that he was concerned about the “zombification” of schoolchildren, particularly in response to “toxic masculinity” demonstrated on social media by influencers such as Andrew Tate.

“We are not anti-technology,” he said.

He likened the potency of social media on young people’s lives to that of intimate relationships: “My strong view is that we educate young people on sex before they are having sex. But we are having to educate young people and parents on phones when they already have a phone, and the door is already open."

The CofE school received a mix response from parents, with some relieved that they did not have to buy a smartphone for their Year 7 pupil about to start school. Others were concerned about losing the ability to track their children.

Smith said the solution could be in the technology: “My hope is, in five years’ time, or even less, there’s a solution enabling young people to have Google Maps for parents to be able to track their whereabouts and to be able to access some basic things like maybe WhatsApp, or listen to music, but they’re protected from the endless algorithms that come through social media.”

Fulham Boys’ is following the lead of Southwark School, which implemented a similar policy last year.