TEIGNMOUTH Community College is cracking down on mobile phones after incidents of text-bullying in school. Phones will be confiscated and parents will be asked to come in to collect them in a three-strike rule. Staff were alerted to potential cyber-bullying after a classroom scene was filmed and posted on an internet website. Principal Tony Gray said that a policy of confiscation will be introduced to toughen up the current no-phone ban, which has been in place for four years. Mr Gray said: 'As soon as I came to the school I banned mobile phones as a pre-emptive measure to the types of things we are hearing about at the minute. 'But we are not stupid. We know that some students bring them in and this is about re-enforcing our policy,' he said. Children who want their phones for safety to and from school can leave them with support staff during the day. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers has called this week for more protection for teachers suffering bullying by students filming them or posting personal comments on the internet. It claims it is a growing problem with far reaching effects on discipline in schools. Mr Gray said that without the ban at the community college'it is possible that it could have occurred here too. 'The things that teachers are having to deal with seems horrendous. Thankfully, we have not had that here and I think that is down to the phone ban,' he said. Children's charity NCH has pioneered research into text bullying as a national problem. Its research shows that one in four 11 to 19-year-olds in the UK has been bullied or threatened via their mobile phone or PC The mobile phone crackdown comes amid a series of changes outlined in the college's spring newsletter. If you are affected by text-bullying visit: http://www.stoptextbully.com">www.stoptextbully.com
