Blackout App
At Peacehaven Community School our vision is that every member of our school community enjoys learning, achieves success, and is empowered to be a positive member of the community. As part of our commitment to ensure the very best learning environment for your child and to ensure that Peacehaven Community School is inline with the new Department for Education guidelines, we are updating our policy on how mobile phones and smart devices are used throughout the school day. Peacehaven Community School will continue to implement a phone off and away policy and if a phone is seen or heard, it will be confiscated and collected by a parent/carer at the end of the school day.
The impact of social media and the use of smartphones/devices among children is something we all take seriously and is under increasing scrutiny. We recognise that technology plays an important role in young people’s lives, helping them travel independently, learn, connect, and create. However, it can also bring challenges such as disrupted sleep, reduced concentration, increased social pressures, and exposure to harmful or misleading online content.
To help address these complex issues, we have explored a number of solutions. We are excited to announce that we will be launching a new mobile phone initiative with Blackout, a digital wellbeing and phone management tool designed specifically for education settings.
What is going to change, and when?
From September 2026 beginning with students in Year 7 and Year 11 and followed a few weeks later by students in Year 8, 9 and 10, students and their parents/carers will be offered three options for bringing a mobile phone to Peacehaven Community School:
- A smart phone with the blackout app installed
- A non-smart ‘brick’ phone
- No phone brought to school
What is Blackout?
Blackout is a mobile app that helps students manage and limit their phone use during the school day. It blocks access to distracting apps during school hours, such as social media, games and web browsers, while keeping essential communication (calls and SMS) available.
Blackout also disables cameras and recording features.
The app will only be active during the school day and does not have access to files, information, location details, personal information or any content through your child’s phone nor are any school records shared with Blackout.
The only information provided will be your child’s name, school email address, year group and type of device, which are used for verification purposes. The Blackout app is not invasive and no data or content will be visible to the school or app provider. It is a tool aligned with our existing mobile phone policy that phones should not be used during the school day. Whilst we still expect all students to adhere to this approach, the Blackout app provides a structured support mechanism to reduce temptation and distractions during the school day.
We believe that working with Blackout is a proactive step in helping students remain focused on their learning, while supporting their well-being, relationships and academic progress. It will support our curriculum by helping to educate students about healthy use of digital technology.
We believe that the app is very reasonably priced when compared to other similar, physical phone blocking resources (such as pouches or lockers). We are happy to report that due to support and funding from charitable causes, we will be able to offer the app completely free of charge until the end of the summer term, and potentially beyond.
On Wednesday 22 July at 5pm, members of the blackout team explained the initiative in more detail, answered questions and provided a short demonstration of how the app works. Please find the recording below: