BELLS will not ring as often at Knox Academy, after more than half of pupils and staff agreed to a move to see them silenced for much of the day.

A trial at the secondary school last month saw the bells sounded only at the start of the day, end of break, lunch and end of the day.

Sue Cook, headteacher at the school, revealed the findings from a schoolwide survey earlier this month.

She said: “Following on from our evaluation of the school bell, 57 per cent of pupils and staff wished to retain our current approach of reduced bells (a further 20 per cent stated that they didn’t have a view either way about keeping them or not).

“To support this move further, clocks have been ordered for all classrooms to allow pupils to refer to these rather than their mobile phones (this came through in the survey results).

“Many staff and young people reported that corridors seemed calmer and some pupils reported a decreased level of anxiety due to fewer bells and also the calmer environment.”