Schools ban £18 pencil case that can talk

A school pencil case used to cost a few pence and consist of a simple zip-up pouch where you kept your… pencils.

But for today’s children it is an expensive fashion accessory that’s causing so much conflict that some schools have banned it.

The alarm follows a surge in interest among trendy youngsters in stationery, part of a burgeoning market worth billions of pounds in the UK.

One popular pencil case costs £18.50 and can record and play back a message. It also lights up when the lid is opened and has a pop-up sharpener, eraser drawer and pencil tray. Another is modelled on Star Wars android R2-D2, complete with sound effects.

Shops are also selling candy- scented rubbers in lipstick cases and electronic pencil sharpeners that light up or come shaped like robots or puppies.

But now teachers at St Mary’s Primary School in County Durham have told parents not to supply their children with the expensive items as they were ‘spending a lot of time being distracted by ever fancier pencil cases and boxes’.

Another pencil case is modelled on Star Wars android R2-D2, complete with sound effects

Willington Primary School in Derbyshire said in a newsletter: ‘There is a growing trend for bigger and more elaborate pencil cases. Many teachers are finding that these are causing a distraction during lessons. We have decided to ask children to leave their pencil cases at home.’

Tunbury Primary School, in Chatham, Kent, also told parents not to allow their children to bring ‘distracting’ cases, ‘especially those that have buttons and secret compartments which can be of great distraction during lessons’.

Swiss Gardens Primary School in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, warned of a ‘competitive issue over pencil cases and the associated stationery’. Holland Junior School in Oxted, Surrey, said: ‘Recently we have been spending time in classes trying to sort out friendship fallouts which are a result of managing pencil cases and their contents.’