A ban on mobile phones is being lifted at a Halesowen school with effect from this September.

Pupils at Leasowes Community College in Kent Road had been banned from taking mobile phones into school but this is all set to change.

Leading teachers union the NUT says it hopes the school will put appropriate controls in place to stop the change in rules becoming a problem for teachers.

Jim Warner, Dudley joint secretary for the NUT, said: "Quite a number of schools haven't actually banned mobiles but they have procedures as to when and how they can be used - if they are used inappropriately they are confiscated for most of the day.

"There has to be a time and place for their use and during lessons is not one of them.

"I hope protocol will be there that they are switched off during lessons."

Leasowes headteacher John Howells said the decision to lift the ban had been made to keep up to date with developments in technology and controls would be in place with students signing a contract and registering phones.

Mr Howells said: "We are going for a different strategy. What we are seeing is a lot of modern technology now - hand-held technology starting to emerge. We want children to carry technology to carry data for them.

"There will be a contract for use - if pupils use it inappropriately they lose the right to have it.

He went on: "We wanted to give pupils the chance to be responsible and use technologies positively rather than be reactive."

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