A Teignbridge school is to make students lock up their phones in a special pouch in a bid to enforce its no mobiles policy.

From June 3, all students at Dawlish College will be required to secure their phones in a lockable ‘Yondr‘ pouch when they arrive at school. Students will keep their phones with them but will not be allowed to unlock the pouch to access their phones until they leave school at the end of the day.

The fabric Yondr pouches are magnetically sealed shut and can only be opened with the touch of a special magnetic station. Staff will make these stations available at the end of the day so students can tap open their cases to retrieve their phones.

Current students will be provided with a Yondr pouch, which they will keep, but if they lose it they will need to pay £25 for a replacement. New students joining from September will be expected to pay for a pouch as part of compulsory school equipment.

Headteacher, Sam Banks, said he wants to make Dawlish College ‘a genuinely phone-free school’. He is keen to clarify that the introduction of the Yondr pouches is not a punishment, but a ‘community decision to have mobile-free time in the school day’.

In genuine circumstance where a student may need to access their phone during the school day, for example, a diabetic needing to monitor blood sugar levels via a mobile phone app, an alternative Velcro pouch may be used.

However, in the majority of cases, students who might need to use a phone during the day will have to go via the school office.

Yondr pouches have been introduced in over 3000 schools worldwide and are increasingly being used at events venues.

A school Kent, which introduced the Yondr pouches in January said the initiative had resulted in a massive change in behaviour with pupils a lot more focused and engaged. Staff at John Wallis Academy in Ashford, Kent, also recorded a 50% reduction in detentions and exclusions in the four weeks after the pouches were introduced.