ParentShield Helps UK Schools Provide Secure “Burner Phones” to Ensure Student Safety

Innovative solution balances school mobile phone policy with parent concerns for child safety.

DERBY, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, September 12, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Many schools have recently implemented a no-mobile-phone policy, where students caught with mobile devices during school hours have their phones confiscated for up to a week.

While this policy has significantly reduced distractions in the classroom, it has also led to an unintended consequence: students are left without a reliable way to contact their parents on the way to or from school, raising concerns about their safety.

Innovative "School Burner Phones" Solution

In response to this issue, ParentShield has developed a practical and secure solution. The schools will provide students with basic “burner phones” for the duration of their personal phone confiscation. Equipped with a ParentShield SIM card, these phones will allow only essential, safe communication — a feature highly valued by both the school and parents alike.

The ParentShield SIM Card: Ultra-Secure Mode for Complete Peace of Mind

The ParentShield SIM cards supplied to the schools are configured with Ultra-Secure Mode, which restricts communication to a closed user group. This means students can only call or text (or be called or texted by) their parents or pre-approved contacts added by the school. With the ability to add an unlimited number of safe contacts, the system provides flexibility while maintaining safety.

Notably, the child can also dial a dedicated school contact by simply dialling "501." This number can be assigned to a teacher or another trusted representative, allowing students to reach a designated safe contact without revealing the representative’s personal number. This ensures that, if needed, students can quickly and easily reach both their parents and the school, as well as emergency services, covering all potential scenarios.

Solving the School's Key Concerns
The introduction of these "school burner phones" addresses the key concerns raised by both the school and parents:

Parental Assurance: Parents can rest easy knowing that their children have a secure and reliable means of contacting them, even when their personal phones are confiscated.

School Control and Responsibility: The phones are fully under the school’s control, with functionality locked down to prevent misuse. The ParentShield SIM cards do not permit students to make or receive calls or texts from anyone other than their parents and designated school contacts.

No Publicly Available Numbers: Providing standard SIM cards would inadvertently assign publicly available phone numbers to children, leaving them open to being targeted by other students who become aware of the number. ParentShield’s closed user group functionality eliminates this issue entirely, ensuring the phone number remains private and secure.

All-Network Connectivity: To ensure that students can reliably contact their parents from any location, ParentShield’s SIM cards are all-network enabled. This means they connect to all four major UK mobile networks, avoiding the issue of poor signal coverage and eliminating criticism from parents concerned about connectivity.

No Monitoring by the School: Importantly, ParentShield has disabled the monitoring functionality on these SIM cards, ensuring the school is not responsible for overseeing personal communication while maintaining the highest standards of safety.

A Win-Win for Schools and Families Nationwide
Schools have already expressed delight with the ParentShield solution, which allows them to maintain their no-phone policy without compromising the safety of their students. With mobile phone use becoming an ever more contentious issue in schools across the UK, ParentShield’s safe SIM cards for kids could be the answer to a growing challenge for UK schools.

Graham Tyers
Engine Mobile Ltd.
+44 1283 707057
email us here