Pupils at the Princess of Wales‘s old school could be watching porn and gambling on their phones, parents claim.
Marlborough College, founded in 1843, ranks among the world’s most elite institutions and is said to be among possible schooling options for Prince George.
Yet parents of pupils at the £51,000-a-year public school claim children are able to use their phones all day.
Some have signed a petition which calls on Marlborough to change its policy.
The parents complain some state schools do more to protect youngsters from online dangers, as well as private rivals like Eton.
Marlborough College in Marlborough, UK. The independent fee paying co-ed boarding school was founded in 1843 and is regarded as one of the top public schools in the UK
arrive for a settling in afternoon at Lambrook School, near Ascot on September 7, 2022 in Bracknell, England
The petition, which launched on website Change.Org last month, adds: ‘Contrary to Department for Education guidance… [children] have access to their smart phones throughout the school day.’
It says the Wiltshire school does have provisions for ‘safeguarding’ restrictions on screen time, and blocks on certain apps, to be installed on phones by parents.
But it claims that such restrictions can be evaded by students.
The petition continues: ‘We have seen this with the widespread use of TikTok in lower years (an app the policy suggests is removed).
‘There is a culture within the school of second devices with no restrictions – laptops, sim-enabled iPads etc, which can be used around the clock. This is a serious safe-guarding concern.’
It adds: ‘TikTok, Snapchat, Netflix, gaming sites, shopping, porn sites, YouTube reels etc, are all accessible, to a large number of pupils.’
The petition, which has more than 200 signatures, goes on: ‘We want our children to grow up talking, reading, living and learning, as free as possible from the strangle-hold of digital devices.’
Last night Marlborough College denied mobile phone use was out of control at the school.
A spokesman said: ‘The college has a policy on mobile phone use designed for our requirements as the UK’s largest co-educational full boarding school.
‘We have industry-leading filtering and monitoring software in place to ensure that our pupils can make safe use of their devices over our network.’