Kid Smart Watches

It has been brought to the attention of the leadership team that many students are wearing kid smartwatches at school. It is a concern as many of these devices have built-in cameras, GPS tracking, gaming apps, are capable of making phone calls and sending texts. 

In the last fortnight, there have been a number of situations when teachers have caught primary as well as infant students playing with the watch, taking photos and being distracted by the device within the classroom environment. This is a breach of the Responsible User of Technology Agreement which every student and parent has agreed to by signing the agreement earlier this term. Secondly, our uniform policy states students can wear a watch (not a smart watch). Many of the kids' smartwatches are large and bulky in size. Not appropriate for school. 

For these reasons, we have decided to implement the following; 

1. If your child is distracted by their watch during learning time and/or using it inappropriately while at school they will be asked to remove the watch and give it to the teacher. At the end of the day, the watch will be returned to the student and where possible handed to the parent. This is your child’s warning. 

2. If your child is caught a second time, playing, texting, calling, taking photos, being distracted by their watch this will be considered a technology breach. Your child will receive an automatic minor (yellow slip). They will be asked to remove the device and give it to the teacher. The teacher will call you to organise collection of the device. You will be informed by the teacher that your child no longer can wear the smartwatch to school. They can wear a traditional analog or digital wrist watch.