Yondr Phone Pouches
We are committed to making Hymers College a truly phone-free environment for pupils in the Senior School Years 7 - 11. As such each pupil is issued with a Yondr Pouch when they join us.
The pouch will be theirs to use every day in school, and pupils will be expected to bring this to School with them every day. Each pupil will be supervised by their Form Tutor as they lock their phone in their Yondr Pouch at the start of the day, where it will remain locked and inaccessible until unlocking stations are made available to pupils at the end of the school day. Should you need to contact your child, or should they need to contact you, our staff at the School General Office will be available to help. Further details can be found about the Yondr Pouch can be found here.
We believe that phones have great utility. We have also found that learning and social behaviour improve drastically when students are fully engaged with their teachers and classmates.
The Yondr system utilises a simple, secure pouch that stores a phone. Every student will secure their phone in a personally assigned Yondr pouch when they arrive at school. Students will maintain possession of their phones and will not use them until their pouches are opened at the end of the school day. Students are required to bring their Yondr pouch to school each day and are responsible for their pouch at all times.
This initiative is part of the School’s overall strategic plan to further improve the well-being of our pupils. Hymers College, as you will know, offers a vast range of opportunities for our pupils, and we want to encourage every one of them to engage actively with the full programme of learning, sport and co-curricular activities we offer, as well as with each other.
We recognise that digital literacy is an important part of a young person’s modern education, which is why carefully managed and structured exposure to digital learning is so firmly embedded in the Hymers College curriculum, including providing all pupils with their own Chromebook. Assisting our pupils in understanding how to engage healthily with technology is also a central theme of our PSHE lessons, as well as being addressed in Form Periods and school assemblies.
We understand that for some pupils, not having access to their device for the duration of the school day may present an initial challenge. We very much hope that we can rely on your support in helping to prepare pupils for what we believe will be a hugely positive change.
For broader advice and support for parents on establishing digital boundaries in your family, you can find advice here from the UK Safer Internet Centre.