More than half of schools using a phone-blocking app have seen increase in grades, report suggests

Published: 21:24 BST, 4 October 2026 | Updated: 22:11 BST, 4 October 2026

Over half of secondary schools which used an app that restricts pupils' smartphones saw improvement in GCSE grades, a report has suggested.

Some 60 per cent of schools using Blackout, which turns students' phones into 'bricks' during the school day, saw examination results improve after introducing the technology.

Teachers also said there were fewer phone-related punishments, more face-to-face interaction with pupils and calmer classrooms.

Data from Blackout Education's 2025-26 impact assessment was based on feedback from more than 5,000 pupils in English state and independent schools.

The company's co-founder Mark Hadley told the Daily Mail there was a 'crisis globally' of smartphones in schools, adding: 'The toothpaste is already out of the tube.'

Earlier this year Sir Keir Starmer's government ordered schools to become smartphone-free, with teachers free to decide how to implement such a ban.

While some schools used technology to restrict phones, others introduced lockers or pouches where pupils must seal their devices during the day.

Sam Webster, deputy head at the independent Caterham School in Surrey, told The Times her school began using Blackout last month but already required phones to be kept away during the day.

More than half of schools which introduced an app to restrict pupils' phones saw their GCSE results improve, a report has suggested

Ms Webster added: 'We want our young people to develop really good habits with their families and actually they can take those wisdoms into the home environment when they're revising for exams… so if they're beginning to use their phone in that sensible mindful way, thinking carefully about those choices that they're making with technology, I think that will have a really positive impact on their ability to maintain a really good level of focus.'

John Jones, director of innovation at the Royal Grammar School in Worcester, said Blackout's technology did not 'demonise' mobile phones but encouraged 'responsible' use.

And a student at Westminster school, where former Meta executive and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Nick Clegg was educated, said he had seen a 'noticeable decrease in phone usage around school' after Blackout was introduced. 

The developer said its platform blocked 'social media, gaming and other distracting apps' during school hours.

However it said pupils were still able to make and receive phone calls and texts from home.

Katharine Birbalsingh, dubbed 'Britain's strictest headmistress' for her firm policies at Michaela Community School in Wembley, north London, told parents this summer not to give their children smartphones at all.

Katharine Birbalsingh, whose Michaela Community School in north London saw half its GCSE entries this year awarded top grades, told parents not to give their children smartphones

'Get them off the screens. Do not give your child a smartphone,' Ms Birbalsingh said as Michaela's GCSE results in August rivalled Eton with more than 50 per cent of entries awarded the top grade 9, ten times the national average.

Eton's mobile phone policy is also stringent, with the £65,000-a-year school telling parents two years ago it was banning new pupils from bringing smartphones into school.

Instead new boarders aged 13 were to be told to transfer their Sim cards to a basic Nokia handset only able to make calls and send texts.

The Windsor college – which counts Princes William and Harry among its alumni – has not published a breakdown of its results this summer but saw almost 62 per cent of its GCSE entries receive grade 9 last year.