A ban on mobile phone use by Manchester King David High pupils has brought a backlash from parents whose children's phones were confiscated for six weeks.

Parents were sent a letter warning of the consequences if pupils were seen with a phone outside of lunch break, even if they were not using it.

Eight handsets were confiscated on the first two days of enforcement.

One mother said pupils' safety could be jeopardised if parents could not contact them after school. Her 15-year-old son had fallen foul of the rules by receiving a text message.

"My husband called twice and went into the school, but got nowhere," she said. "We have to pay for the contract. It's not really going to work anyway. My son's already got a pay-as-you-go spare phone."

Defending the policy, governors' chair Joshua Rowe said pupils' education was being impaired.

"These are talented kids - they look straight at the teacher and text blind underneath the table. But for every minute they text, they're losing any concentration on their studies."

Although the school will not relent on classroom texting, pupils will, from next week, be allowed to use phones between lessons.