Kids will find something else to do if you take away one thing they weren't using responsibly. The problem is when, as in your case, you take everything away A

Kids will find something else to do if you take away one thing they weren't using responsibly. The problem is when, as in your case, you take everything away Additionally, just because something gets a blanket ban doesn't mean the intent is to blanket ban. If the blanket ban simply encourages kids to only check their phones during breaks or when they go to the bathroom, that still has a pretty positive effect on kids using their phones throughout the day. I honestly can't imagine the thought process behind doing what your primary school did. When I was in primary school the only restriction on play was that you couldn't tackle or do anything else that would obviously hurt people. I think you would legitimately either need to be a terrible person, a complete idiot, or both to ban essentially all forms of play.