Mobile phones are "the nightmare of our time" and should be banned in classrooms, according to Ebbsfleet Academy’s principal Alison Colwell.

Mrs Colwell told ITV News the school’s ban, and the threat of confiscating a phone for a month or half a term, has been a successful deterrent and has stopped mobiles going off in class.

The school is now a phone-free zone, with all mobiles switched off and in the bottom of pupils' bags – meaning teachers hardly ever have to make the dreaded confiscations.

Mrs Colwell told ITV that the school has an "unashamedly strict code of conduct".

She added: "I don’t think there’s a place for phones in the classroom.

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"The success of the ban is it’s a very rare occasion we have to confiscate a phone.

"It’s a very clear rule that we enforce.

"The students know that if their phone is seen, if their phone goes off, they will lose it.

"So they are cautious and they are wise.

"I can’t see the place for phones in the classroom - to me they are a distraction."

Mrs Colwell said she is teaching the kids "not to be phone dependent" and to communicate better with their peers.