NSW is banning children from having mobile phones at public schools

“I know many parents who are anxious about the pervasiveness of phones and technology in our children’s learning environments,” he said.

“It’s time to clear our classrooms of unnecessary distractions and create better environments for learning.”

He said the government would look at lockable pouches and lockers to ensure devices are out of reach during class time.

"There are low-cost and no-cost options that are available to them," Mr Minns said.

"It may be as simple as making sure mobile phones are in a student's bag and can't be taken out during the school day."

He added that other countries have shown children benefit from a no-phones policy.

"They received double the increase in scores that the average students in their cohort were able to achieve."

The school's principal, Susie Mobayed, revealed students must hand over their phones to a trolley at the start of the day.

She added: "This means teachers and students are focusing on teaching and learning with no interruptions. There's also no room for cyberbullying, social media or taking photos and videos during the school day.

"Our approach is strongly supported by our P&C and parents."

South Australia has also implemented a phone ban in public high school classrooms.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said there had been ‘overwhelmingly positive’ results.

"Our experience in South Australia is that there is no harm done as the result of a young person not touching their phone from the beginning to the end," he said, as per the outlet.

However, researcher in Digital Literacy and Digital Wellbeing at Western Sydney University Joanne Orlando said banning technology doesn’t revolve long term issues.

Instead, children need to be taught how to use it responsibly.

She added: “This is no longer a ‘screentime’ conversation. We need new knowledge and new education strategies if children are to thrive online post-COVID and beyond.”