Image source, City of Edinburgh CouncilImage caption, Mobile phones will have to be kept in magnetically sealed pouches during the school day
A mobile phone ban in Edinburgh schools has come into force - despite pouches to secure the devices not being available yet.
Primary school pupils who have returned after the summer holidays will have to keep their phones in cabinets during the day, while secondary school pupils were previously told they would have to lock them in a magnetically-sealed pouch.
However, the council has now said the pouches will not be ready until next month at the earliest, as the new system is still being tested.
It said the ban was still in place and phones should be kept turned off and out of sight during the school day - including breaks - unless a pupil is exempt.
The council said guidance on exemptions and reasonable adjustments was still being finalised.
Edinburgh is one of the first councils in Scotland to bring in such widespread restrictions following trials in Portobello and Queensferry.
The new policy also covers smartwatches in both primary and secondary schools.
City of Edinburgh Council's education spokesman James Dalgleish said the pouches would be introduced in phases at secondary schools throughout September and October.
Parents and guardians will be kept updated on when they can expect to receive pouches for their children.
Dalgleish said: "We have been working very hard over the school summer holidays to navigate through the procurement process and make sure we get good value for Edinburgh taxpayers when purchasing pouches.
"In a matter of weeks we will see pouches being phased into schools, with every secondary school having a pouch system in place by the start of the October break at the latest.
"It is about getting the final part of this complex process right, which will take a few weeks but I'm confident we'll see the benefit of the new restrictions."
Image caption, Phone use is now restricted in schools in Edinburgh
Council funding of £400,000 was agreed in February to support restrictions on mobile phones and other devices in Edinburgh.
Lockable pouches were trialled at Portobello and Queensferry high schools over the last school year, and a council report said it had been "broadly successful".
Earlier this year, Education Secretary Màiri McAllan announced that all school learning environments would become phone-free.
She urged schools across Scotland to act before the government introduced new legislation.
The Scottish government introduced guidance allowing head teachers to bring in their own phone bans in schools in 2024.
It came after a 2022 study, external which showed that about a third of pupils in Scottish classrooms admitted they had been distracted by the devices.
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