More tick-tack-toe, less TikTok: Winnipeg school loads up on games as cellphone ban begins

Going back to school might not be all fun and games, but there is plenty of both on offer at Stanley Knowles School in northwest Winnipeg.

With a cellphone ban now in place in Manitoba classrooms, staff at Stanley Knowles have been busy stocking up on old-school alternatives to entertain students.

"What we did over the summer is we invested in a lot of games. Teachers arrived yesterday for our opening day together and each classroom grouping has bins full of games that kids can play," said principal Andrea Powell.

"We have multiple sets of chess and Blokus and crib and we're going to have some game clubs so that kids really learn how to play. The interaction, the social interaction, is what we're really going for."

The school, on King Edward Street in the city's Tyndall Park neighbourhood, has more than 1,000 students in nursery to Grade 8 classes.

Staff had already been working on ways to deal with the problem of cellphones well before the ban was announced by the province on Aug. 15.

"We talked as a staff in the spring about what we were noticing with cellphone use with our students. And we decided at that time that we were going to go into this year not having students access their phones at all during the day," Powell said.

In the past, the school has asked students to not use cellphones in class, but administrators found that request was not exactly working. One student last year ordered their lunch through Skip the Dishes while sitting in class.

"I sent a letter out in June telling parents that we understood that some of them would want their kids to have cellphones if they were travelling by public transportation or walking a long way," Powell said.

That was fine, but once at school, the phones were going into the lockers with no access allowed during the day, she said.

"We are going to spend some time helping kids understand the why [of the ban] and helping parents understand that we're really noticing some trends that are not favourable with our kids, [such as] heightened anxiety. And we think that the cellphones and social media in particular are responsible for much of this," Powell said.

"So we want to address it head on. We know it's not going to be easy for them, but research tells us that within a few weeks, kids will notice a difference and be happier."

Stanley Knowles is also celebrating being the first school in the Winnipeg School Division to have a Punjabi-English bilingual program.

There are 20 students from kindergarten to Grade 2 enrolled and they will do all of their learning in the language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India.

The program is based on the one offered by the Seven Oaks School Division, at Amber Trails Community School, last year. That was the first of its kind in the province.

The message Powell wants students and their families to take from Day 1 is that "everyone belongs at Stanley Knowles."

"We're here to learn. We're here to make mistakes and learn from them," she said. "The message is we're going to have an amazing year of learning together."

Grade 8 English and social studies teacher Paul Thullner is on his17th first day of school, but saidit always feels like the very first one.

"There's uncertainty for everybody, no matter how many times you've done it. And it's excitement, it's not nerves. It's just excitement because you're excited to meet everybody," he said.

"We hadmeet the teacher last night and got to meet a few of them and the parents and now everyone hits the ground running. We're on a journey together now."

Part of that journey is taking a new path forward, away from the cellphones, which only add to the stressorsstudents already deal with, likeworrying about fitting in and making friends, Thullner said.

"I went through them, my mother went through them in the 1950s, but social media ramps it up because, where I would go home and I'd be away from it, you're not away from it anymore. It follows you on the phone," he said.

He intends to lock his phone away during the day, like the students, and is eager to see how everyone adapts during the breaks between class, when the phones would usually be ubiquitous.

"Let's talk to each other at lunchtime and let's have face-to-face instead of FaceTime," he said.

Lara Koltalo, who also teachesGrade 8 English and social studies at the school, saidshe's "all in" with the ban.

"This is a much-needed call to action. We have under-protected our students from what they're exposed to online, and now it's time for parents, guardians, educators and policymakers to really get on the same page when it comes to responsible cellphone use," she said.

"We see the effects that social media and cellphone use has on teen mental health, increased rates of anxiety, depressionand even suicide. So it really is our job as educators to give our students opportunities to reconnect with one another, re-engage with their learning and really develop those social skills that cellphones get in the way of."

Grade 8 studentTaylor Breensaidshe's OK with the ban. In fact, she thinks it will help her.

"When I'm at homeI'm always on my phone. So I think I need to start getting off that habit," she said."It can be really distracting because it will take your focus off your schoolwork."

As a school senior, Breen hopes to also be a role model to the younger students, leadingby example when it comes to putting away the phone and picking up the pieces for a board game instead.

"I like playing games and being with friends," she said, adding that she understands some studentsneed a phone to arrange rides with parents or to stay in touch if they're walking home.

"[But] for kids that get really distracted by their phones, it will maybe be a good benefit for them," she said."A lot of my friends disagree with itbut we'll get used to it eventually."