Put down your phones when you pick up your children, school urges parents

A primary school has put up signs on its gates asking parents to put their mobiles away and smile at their children at the end of lessons.
Greet your CHILD with a SMILE NOT A MOBILEGreet your CHILD with a SMILE NOT A MOBILE
Greet your CHILD with a SMILE NOT A MOBILE

The pick-up time reminder at St Joseph's RC Primary School in Longlands, Middlesbrough, features a figure on a phone with a red line through it.

The circular signs, which say "Greet your CHILD with a SMILE NOT A MOBILE", have been placed at three entrances,

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The school said it was part of an idea to get families talking at the end of the school day.

Jade Collett, whose four-year-old son attends the nursery at St Joseph's, welcomed the idea.

She said: "The kids have been at school all day so the last thing they want is for their mum or dad to be glued to their phone."

Precious Dhladhla, whose four-year-old daughter Isabella also attends the nursery, agreed.

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She said: "I think it's a good thing because sometimes people pay more attention to their phone than their kids.

"I think the other parents are following the rules because you don't see many people on their phones now."

Headteacher Elizabeth King said the signs were not in response to a particularly bad problem among parents.

She told the Teesside-based Gazette newspaper: "We are trying to develop our speaking and listening, and we thought it was a really simple way to get the message across."

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