A headline this week may have caused many parents of teenage children to raise an eyebrow. A survey of over 1,000 young people revealed that almost half of them would prefer a world in which the internet did not exist.

That does not necessarily tally with parental observations of how long their children spend online. It does, however, match anecdotal evidence about phones: it is common to hear young people say that they would prefer not to have a smartphone – as long as no-one else had one, either.

None of us are in any doubt about the risks of online harm, least of all young people themselves. The other headline from the survey was that 68% of them openly acknowledge that the time they spend online is to the detriment of their mental health. The question is how to address the issue, in a world in which all of us, parents and children alike, are drawn to negative online behaviours, from doom-scrolling to endemic procrastination.

It’s a complex question with no single, simple answer – but perhaps there are simple parts to the answer – and one of them is simply this – time away. At The Abbey, as at an increasing number of schools, phones are simply never seen, never used and never heard in the majority of year groups. Families and young people all make their own choice about when to get a phone and what type – but at school we provide space away from the device.

While I’m sure this causes occasional frustration among some students, the benefits are pretty strikingly evident. I used to work at a school where students from Year 7 upwards had phones, and breaktime was a quiet business: classroom after classroom were filled with busy-thumbed screen jockeys. At The Abbey, walking through any outdoor space on a sunny day during break is the only advertisement for our education any potential parent would need. Talk, laughter, games, silliness, stillness, chatter – it is honestly the most uplifting experience.

Speaking of potential parents, we always spend time considering how best to introduce them to everything The Abbey represents. The latest method is perhaps one of the best we’ve found yet: The Abbey’s very own escape room – The Enchanted Forest – about to launch first in Henley and then around the area. It’s portable, so that we can take it from venue to venue and from school to school, and young people enter to find challenges set by our academic teams. Only by solving them all can they save the forest, unlock the treasure box and escape. It’s fun and challenging and delightful and inventive, which is pretty much what we aim for in all of our educational experiences. There’s a lot of laughter and plenty of rest for those doom-scrolling thumbs.

Providing a space for exploration and fun and childhood is one of the things that remains so special, and so powerful, about all-girls’ education. All young people grow up fast, and Abbey students grow up to become sophisticated, impressive and mature at an early age. But they do so while retaining an uncomplicated and unselfconscious sense of silliness and readiness to play and smile – and it’s something we hope they keep lifelong.

We can’t wait to welcome the first explorers to The Enchanted Forest in June – and, in time, to welcome many of those who experience it to their careers at The Abbey. Both experiences are adventures, and both will be full of learning and laughter and friendship. That’s what The Abbey is.

Will le Fleming, Head