Can your children wear a smart watch in school? (2024)

FAQs

Can my child wear a smartwatch to school? ›

Many schools allow students to bring smart devices into the classroom with the agreement that students keep their devices off and in their backpack to minimize distractions. During state standardized testing it is also advised in most states that the smart devices are left at home.

There can be benefits to getting a smartwatch for your child, says Meryl Alper, associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Northeastern University. Those include location tracking, emergency contact abilities, and of course, being able to communicate with your child when they're away from you.

Distraction: Smartwatches with games, internet access, or messaging capabilities can disrupt lessons and hinder focus in the classroom.

If you have a smart watch, you must put it on flight mode so that you cannot send or receive messages during the school day. You are only allowed to use your phone during school hours if you have been given permission by your school to use your phone for a certain purpose.

Apple Schooltime lets parents lock down a child's smartwatch during set times without sacrificing security. An Apple Watch offers a host of helpful features, but for kids who wear Apple's smartwatch to school, it can be a distraction that affects their ability to learn.

School Mode disables certain watch functions, letting you manage what features your child can and can't access during school hours.

Staff should never send to, or accept from, colleagues or pupils, texts or images that could be viewed as inappropriate. With regard to camera phones and the camera function on a smart watch, a member of staff should never use their phone or watch to photograph a pupil or allow themselves to be photographed by pupils.

Radiation: Smartwatches use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, which emit radiofrequency radiation. However, this radiation is non-ionizing, meaning it carries less energy than ultraviolet or X-rays and is unlikely to cause harm according to current research.

What are the benefits of smart watches? Smartwatches offer a whole array of benefits such as fitness tracking, everyday convenient notifications, and study and exam assistance. These benefits of smart watch for students make day-to-day activities quite convenient.

While it may seem like a good idea to wait until your child can read and do basic sums before getting them a watch, one could argue that their first watch is a great tool for helping them learn how to do both! We'd say five onwards is the perfect age, but don't let that stop you choosing a watch for your toddler.

What age is a child smart watch for? ›

What age is the JrTrack smartwatch for? The JrTrack watch is designed to be perfect for kids ages 5-12 years old.

What is a Watch List? A Watch List is a static list of students by student ID. You can use Watch Lists in a variety of ways, from maintaining a list of students to track over time in Intervention Effectiveness or offline, to sending messages or appointment campaigns directly from the Watch List.

'Mobile phones have been handed in upon arrival since 2009 but are not banned because many pupils use public transport to and from school,' Mr Lloyd said. 'Schools and families must keep pace with technology, and this includes smartwatches, which are not allowed for the same reasons.

Kids smart watches can help you stay connected with your kids without getting them a cell phone before they're ready. But there are a lot of kids smart watch options out there.

Using the Xplora app, parents can set the school mode, thus putting the smartwatch in a sleep mode, where the child does not have access to do anything active - such as calling, sending messages, taking pictures or anything else.

Eye tracking gaze distribution results show that participants were more distracted in the smartwatch condition than in the mobile phone condition, they were less distracted in the speaker condition than in the phone condition, and they were more distracted in the texting condition than in any of the others.