Phone Free Schools funding
Matthew Barber has announced £255,000 of funding to support secondary schools in the Thames Valley to become mobile phone free
Launched to school leaders at a Phone Free School’s event at the Aureus School in Didcot on Friday 26 June, the funding is available to secondary schools to implement a phone free policy that prevents students from accessing their phones for the duration of the whole school day.
Mobile phones are a fact of life for us all, but as you will be well aware, in addition to classroom disruption, there are increasing links between mobile phone use and safeguarding issues such as online conflict and bullying, peer pressure and exposure to harmful content as well as vulnerability to sexual and criminal exploitation.
All have consequences for young people’s safety, and wellbeing and can impact both their behaviour and academic attainment.
There is evidence from schools which are already adopting a truly phone free approach that show a range of benefits, including less distractions, improved focus in lessons, better behaviour, increased social interactions and a more positive learning environment overall.
Simply requiring students to keep mobile phones off and out of sight in bags, does not adequately deal with the problems caused by mobile phones in schools, and is unlikely to meet the expectations of Ofsted in the future.
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley is funding this investment programme for schools, not through the public purse, but by taking money from criminals.
We are acutely aware of the pressures on school budgets, and whilst this current round of funding will not be enough to support every school in Thames Valley, we hope that the offer of financial support will enable more schools to effectively remove mobile phones from the school day.
Our aim is to fund as many schools as possible and we are pleased to be able to use it in support of young people’s safety, wellbeing, and education.
Funding will only be paid to state schools in the Thames Valley policing area (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, and Oxfordshire) that provide education to secondary school pupils (Year 7-11). Middle Schools and All-through schools are eligible but Primary Schools and Sixth Form Colleges are not.
Private schools are not eligible.
The total funding available to schools in the Thames Valley in 2026/27 is £255,000.
The maximum funding available is based on the number of students in the school years to which the policy will be applied. We will provide funding of up to £11 per student covered by the policy.
For example, a school which implements a policy affecting 1,100 students can apply for a maximum of £12,100. This is the PCC’s contribution to initial set up costs only. Schools must be able to fund ongoing costs from their own resources.
Funding is available to support the implementation cost of a phone free policy. This must cover at least the secondary school pupils (Years 7-11) and may include other years if the school decides to adopt the same approach more widely.
The phone free school policy must ensure that pupils are not able to access and use their phone during the whole of the school day. It must involve a physical restriction to pupil’s phones (e.g. pouches / lockers). No funding will be provided if the policy is enforced by school rules alone.
Schools are expected to use reasonable efforts to implement their scheme in the planned timescale and should explain to the PCC the nature of any delays in delivery following award of the funding. In the event that a school does not spend the funding (or a part of the funding) on the phone free school intervention, they should return the unused funding to the PCC.
The PCC will prioritise funding for schools which are planning to fully implement their phone free school intervention within their school as early as possible within the 2026/27 school year. The latest planned implementation date for which bids will be considered is 30 September 2027.
In the event that the available funding is oversubscribed, bids will be prioritised as follows by term:
- Autumn 2026: implementation by 30 September 2026
- Spring 2027: implementation by 31 January 2027
- Summer 2027: implementation by 30 April 2027
- Autumn 2027: implementation by 30 September 2027
As a tiebreaker within each term, bids will be prioritised based on the schools with the highest percentage of students who have been eligible for free school meals at any time during the past 6 years (2024/25 data) as reported on https://www.compare-school-performance.servic
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner has directly contacted secondary schools across Thames Valley, inviting them to apply for the funding opportunity with a link to the application form.
However, if you believe that your school hasn’t received details of this funding opportunity, please email opcc.comms@thamesvalley.police.uk.
The closing date for applications is 11.59pm on Sunday 26 July 2026.
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