Ministers have moved ahead with the pledge to ban mobile phones in schools.

The guidance, which is non-statutory, instructs headteachers on how to ban the use of phones not only during lessons but during break and lunch periods as well.

 Education Secretary Gillian Keegan it would provide “clarity and consistency” for teachers.

In a statement, she said: “Schools are places for children to learn and mobile phones are, at a minimum, an unwanted distraction in the classroom.