A major regulatory milestone has been achieved with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 officially receiving Royal Assent. This wide-ranging education reform explicitly targets “Protecting Children in a Digital World” by handing the government new legal powers to heavily restrict how under-16s interact with internet services. Moving far beyond basic access blocks, the Act lays the groundwork for strict statutory limits on addictive platform design features, algorithmic content loops, and time-of-day usage restrictions. For school leaders and ICT coordinators, the law also introduces newly formalised statutory mobile phone guidance requirements, signaling a unified national push to eliminate smartphone distractions and digital peer pressure inside the classroom.
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