Portobello High School is experimenting with having fewer school bells ring throughout the day to help young people ‘feel calm and safe’ - your views online

"There was nothing better than the bell ringing when you were in a class that you hated!”

Oversubscribed by 4/ Provisional intake limit: 260/ Total intake: 260/ 227 children in catchment area/ 4 places reserved for catchment/ 33 placing requests granted and 19 turned down.

School bell

Portobello High School is experimenting with having fewer school bells ring throughout the day to help young people ‘feel calm and safe’

Laine Gray

Surely the routine of having bells etc makes people feel safe? There was nothing better than the bell ringing when you were in a class that you hated!

Lesley Mason

What a brilliant excuse for all the kids being late to class! Wish I was back at school.

Clairemarie Mcleod Walker

My kid’s primary has done this due to kids with autism spectrum disorder and hyperacusis (noise sensitivity), and it has really helped my child. He doesn't have to wear his ear defenders going into school or coming out any more. These new school bells are really loud. I was at parents day at one point the bell went off and even I had to cover my ears it was so loud that it hurt, so I can only imagine what it was like for my son and other kids with ASD and hyperacusis.

Leigh Macdonald

I think this is great. If it's not not necessary, then it shouldn't happen. For children with sensory conditions and hyperacusis the sound can actually cause them pain. Great way for the schools to show inclusion.

Jacqui Carmichael Graham

The kids set the fire alarm bell off at every opportunity!

Kevin Wright

How about to reduce stress even more, the pupils stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers move around? And while the teachers are moving around, the school plays soft, calming music over the Tannoy system, so no-one panics. Or alternatively, carry on with the usual school procedures that have carried me and millions of other people through the generations!

Abigail Tittley

My high school did this 20 years ago. It worked really well to reduce congestion in the hallways because not everyone was leaving class at exactly the same time. My son's primary school currently doesn't have a bell (it was damaged in a fire) and it's not causing any issues.

Katie Arrowsmith

Wow. Anything will set these kids off nowadays. Good luck in the real world.

Simon Saorsa-Alba

Have you been subjected to bells ringing at school? You may be entitled to compensation. It matters to Digby Brown, personal injury solicitors… Next step, ban the church bells on a Sunday morning! And those ridiculous chimes on the trams…. And ice cream vans while we’re at it.

Brian J Smith

There goes kids learning how to understand time management, as well as how to spell properly etc. Snowflakes winning again.

Cath Crawford

Who thinks this up? Too much time on their hands.

Andy Dewar

What's next, ban all traffic next to schools in case a driver toots the horn?

Ayo Robbin

You having a laugh? The generation is getting wrapped in cotton wool every day! Bell at school is a part of school experience.

Stuart Smith

It's been happening around the world for years. Many schools already do this.

Gavin Taylor

They won't hear them anyway with all the cotton wool wrapped round them these days.

Tricia Mcewan

Kids have to learn how to live life and not be wrapped in cotton wool. I have a son with autism who has sensory needs, but we have to teach them these things matter in school and work him through it.

Allan Brooks

I loved hearing the bell at the end of the last period in the afternoon or at the end of "double maths".

Gary Ramsay

School kids, like most of the rest of us, have had a torrid last 18 months, but this is just another example of an answer to a problem that has never been a problem. I don’t blame the kids, but future generations will be terrified of everything.

Karen Farquhar

My son's school already do this. It's such a good idea.

Kieran Sylvester

Perhaps they could teach their kids fundamentals, like respect. The rubbish around that park now is disgusting, the anti-social behaviour is disgusting. The usual school line is, if it doesn't happen on school grounds, we can't do anything.

Chris Prior

Does that include the one telling you break/lunch is over? How many times "aw sorry miss, I never heard the bell" will it take for them to change it back?

Lai Joanna

It 's a school bell, not a fire alarm! Why would students stress over it?

Graeme Lofty Stewart

Use flashing lights, which deaf schools use - calming and effective.