As of April 29, the Ministry of Education requires schools to ensure pupils do not use or access phones during school time, including during breaks and visits outside school grounds.
"We put in a fair amount of time and effort preparing our students and community for the ban during Term 1," Tokomairiro High School principal Vicki Wish said.
"We undertook formal lessons ... to discuss the ‘why’ around the initiative, allow students to ask questions and voice opinions, [then] used this information to help us to shape our policy."
Phones are now left at home or the school office, or they are collected from pupils caught using them during school time and returned at the end of the school day.
Mrs Wish said teachers and pupils were so far reporting a very settled atmosphere without phones.
"It’s a bigger deal for some more than others, but I’m fine with it," Tokomairiro head boy Wyatt Mallon said.
"I mainly use it to keep in touch with groups like the hockey team.
"It’s not a huge distraction."
Wyatt and Mrs Wish said there were more conversations and social interactions happening since phones had become off limits.
"Phones were used a lot practically, as calculators and to photograph work or submit work to online platforms, but overall, the distractive aspect outweighed the benefits," Mrs Wish said.
"It will be interesting ... there’s going to be some adjustment.
"I think the younger 13-14 year olds may finder it tougher than the older students."
Tapanui’s Blue Mountain College implemented the policy at the beginning of the year.
"We believed it was more sensible to start the year as we meant to go on," principal Lindy Cavanagh-Monaghan said.
"The staff were pleasantly surprised with how smoothly the transition was made by the students and that it did not,
in reality, evoke the end of times for young people."
"Students have the option of keeping [phones] in their bags or lockers or handing them in to the school office.
"There has been the odd infraction and we have procedures in place.
"[Phones are] taken in if they are seen ... they took it on the chin and got on with it [and] have even admitted that the change has had a positive impact on social interactions during the school day.
"It is a little too soon to say what the impact on learning might be, but common sense would suggest that reducing opportunities for distraction in a hyper-connected teenage world can be no bad thing."
