It has come to our attention that a number of our student are using the social media app BeReal, and this has raised concerns among our pastoral and teaching staff. This app asks students to sign up to receive notifications at random times to take a photo – this app uses both the back AND front camera, so someone using the camera may not be aware they will be photographed. The photo is then posted to their feed for 24 hours with the motivation being to encourage social media users to curate a feed which is in real time… not edited etc. Only one image a day can be deleted in order to try and keep things ‘real and authentic’.
Our concerns lie with students being prompted during class time to take these photos as this goes against our policy regarding phones and their usage at school. Despite being a no phone school, we are aware of Year 10s and 11s talking about their BeReal notification that came through at the end of a class. We would like to take this opportunity to remind students that if they are found using their phone it will be confiscated as per our phone policy. The only time students are permitted to use their phones in class is if their teacher has given them permission to do so.
