Truro School has pledged to make its senior campus a smartphone-free space for all first- to fifth-year students.

The school is rolling out the Yondr system, which sees phones stored in locked pouches from morning registration until the end of the learning day at 3.50pm, when the pouch is tapped on an unlocking base outside the phone-free zone.

Research by Yondr suggests that in phone-free educational environments, 65 per cent of schools see an improvement in academic performance, 72 per cent witness an improvement in pupil behaviour, 84 per cent report improvement in pupil engagement in the classroom, and 86 per cent note a positive impact on pupil safety and wellbeing.

Fifth-year pupils are already using their Yondr pouches. The programme has been implemented in over 3,000 schools, across 18 countries.

“We are very positive about the impact that greater restrictions on phones will have for our children and community,” said deputy head Rob Murphy.