By the age of 12, 97% of pupils in England and Wales* own a mobile phone.  We asked five head teachers about their schools? mobile phone policy?
Daniel Cox, Edgeborough School, Surrey
Edgeborough is proud to have established itself as a mobile phone-free school. However, as a parent myself, I understand the challenges that come with making decisions about when and how to introduce mobile phones, or other enabled devices, to our children.
In recent years, there has been a growing trend for children of an increasingly young age to have their own smartphones. Some research has shown that excessive screen time, particularly on smartphones, can have detrimental effects on children?s physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional development.
Edgeborough School is a phone-free community, and recommends that parents come to a collective agreement. Picture: Edgeborough School. Equally, we recognise that there may be pressure from peers and society in general for children to have smartphones, especially when it seems like ?everyone else? has one.  On this point, I very much encourage parents, especially with children in our younger years, to talk amongst their social groups and to seriously consider some collective agreement in not opening the world of smartphones to their children too early.  As a school, we will continue to educate the pupils on responsible digital citizenship.
Alexandra Haydon, Francis Holland Sloane Square School, London
We have a phone-free policy for years seven ...