The London school that has screen-free days for pupils, teachers – and parents

Pupils at the school where screen-free Mondays mean teachers rethink how they teach lessons and take a more hands-on approach to activities. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Pupils at the school where screen-free Mondays mean teachers rethink how they teach lessons and take a more hands-on approach to activities. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian The London school that has screen-free days for pupils, teachers – and parents Holy Family Catholic primary school says enthusiastic response from parents has been biggest surprise Schools banning pupils from having smartphones are commonplace. But what about a school where pupils ban teachers from using their smartphones, and then get their parents to join in? And not just phones: at Holy Family Catholic primary school in west London teachers are also barred from using laptops, monitors or tablets during the school’s screen-free Mondays, after an idea that came from the pupils themselves. Yvonne Rutherford, the school’s deputy head, said the screen-free days were such a success that they had become monthly events on the school’s calendar. But she said the enthusiastic response from parents had been the biggest surprise. “We didn’t really expect parents to take part but it seems that after talking about it with their children, and reading about it in the school newsletters, they’ve wanted to be involved,” Rutherford said. View image in fullscreen Laptops, monitors and tablets are all banned at Holy Family on screen-free Mondays. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian “After the first screen-free Monday some parents sent in photographs of the family activities they did in the evening. And that set off more so that now we get a flood of photos every month, showing what they’ve been doing instead of screen time: playing cards and reading books, going for walks and doing sport with their children. It’s been great to see.” The idea for the screen break came from Sophie Janashia, a year 6 pupil at the state school in Ealing. She wanted her school to hear what children thought about smartphones and devices, and raised the possibility of an entirely screen-free school day with her classmates and teachers. The Guardian view on screens in schools: big tech is finally under the microscope | Editorial Read more “I thought if maybe we could have just one day without screens, across the school so that no one was left out, it could be good for everyone,” Sophie said. “It’s difficult for parents to get their children off screens. We enjoy using screens but we can spend way too much time on them. “It’s very important to me because I see people I know spending all their time on screens and it means sometimes we are together but we’re not really together.” View image in fullscreen Sophie Janashia, a year 6 pupil who came up with the idea for a completely screen-free day at school. Photograph: Teri Pengilley/The Guardian The result has attracted interest from other schools in the area,