Banning mobile phones from schools distinctly improves results, a study has said.

More than 90 per cent of British teenagers own a mobile phone, and the study from the London School of Economics has shown that banning the phones reduces inequality between high achieving and low achieving students by removing distractions.

The research took a sample of four schools in four English cities and found test scores increased by over six per cent after banning phones, with low-achieving and low-income students improving the most.

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"We found the impact of banning phones for these students was equivalent to an additional hour a week in school, or to increasing the school year by five days,'' said report authors Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy.

There is currently no UK government policy about mobile phone use in England, as schools have to set restrictions themselves. However, teachers have the legal right to confiscate items from pupils.