Weds 10th June 2026
Dear parent/carer,
Unfortunately, there has been an increase in incidents of year 12 and 13 students using their mobile phones during timetabled lessons. This is causing disruption to the learning environment of all students in the classroom.
As you may be aware, Cathays High School operates a mobile phone ban for all year 7-11 learners with the expectation that phones are off and in bags for the duration of the school day. This does not currently apply to our 6th form students.
We do not wish to implement this ban for learners in years 12 and 13, however, as phones are causing such a significant issue and it is impacting students’ progress, we do need to identify a fair and sensible solution.
Therefore, from Monday 15th July, if a teacher sees a mobile phone during a year 12 or 13 lesson, the phone will be confiscated and returned to the learner at the end of the lesson. The expectation is that the phone should be off and out of sight during lesson time. The same applies for the use of headphones. If a student is seen wearing headphones in a lesson, they will be expected to hand over both the headphones and the phone and these will be returned at the end of the lesson.
These changes will be communicated with learners clearly over the next week. Hopefully, this will reduce the disruption that phones are causing and will allow students to engage more positively with their lessons and teachers.
Kind regards,
Mrs C Picken
Post 16 Raising Standards Leader
