A school has banned ‘Fidget Spinners’ from lessons after an anonymous pupil wrote to her headteacher to complain about the disruption they were causing in class.
Churchill Academy, in north Somerset, has officially changed its policy on the gadgets after head Chris Hildrew received a letter from a girl in Year Seven.
The toys, which are proving popular with children and adults like, were originally designed to relieve anxiety and help people focus, especially with attention-related disorders such as ADD and ADHD.
But, but Hildrew’s pupil claimed they are actually doing the opposite.
Sharing the letter on his Twitter page, the girl said: “They are a disruption to me and other people in my class. They are the latest craze and roughly seven people bring them into my lessons and share spares with other people.
“They are noisy and so when you are trying to focus on your work all you can hear is it spinning around and round.”
The girl also said that she and her peers find Fidget Spinners distracting as they cannot help but watch as other students do tricks.
“This means that I am not doing my hardest on my work so I get less done,” she explained.
As a result, Hildrew decided to take action and wrote to his staff explaining that the gadgets will now be confiscated in lessons if they are brought to school.
He wrote an email to his faculty leaders, which he also publicly shared on social media, which stated: “If students try to claim it helps them concentrate, they are wrong – their use of a Fidget Spinner is not only distracting them, it is distracting others too.”
In subsequent tweets Hildrew reassured parents who had raised the question of the gadgetshelping children with concentration problems, and said: “Our ADHD kids use stress balls or blu-tack - a silent and unobtrusive aids to focus.
“No problem with that where there’s an identified need.”
Other schools, including All Hallows RC High School in Salford, Greater Manchester, have also banned Fidget Spinners.