GIRLS from a private school are being sent on a four-day trip without their smartphones.

Sixth-formers from Roedean school, an all girls private school in Brighton will spend time at a country house with their peers and no access to internet.

The idea has come after headmaster of the school, Oliver Blond, discovered most of the girls find out information about their friends on social media rather than talking to them.

The chosen retreat has been described as having ‘a lot of fresh air and no Wifi’.

The girls will spend time interacting face to face rather than contacting each other on Whatsapp or Instagram which, according to staff, is sometimes seen when they are in the same room.

During a chat with pupils, Mr Blond asked one girl which city her friend lived in.

He was shocked to find she did not know, despite them being friends for more than a year.

He said: “When you meet someone face-to-face for the first time, it’s normal to chat about the basics about a person such as where they are from.

“While engaging in small talk, we are simultaneously using our inner brain and our judgment and instinct to tell us how the other person is reacting to us.

“We constantly appraise the situation and act accordingly.

“This can be the start of strong friendships.”

He said without the face-to-face interaction the lives of potential good friends are followed superficially.

Staff at the school feel the issue is not just present at their school, but is a concern on a much larger scale.

Mr Blond said: “Like every school, we feel that providing the right environment for good mental health is paramount.

“And we believe the bedrock for good mental health is connecting with family and friends properly.

“In this online world, children can sometimes seem so connected but at the same time rather isolated.

“I want to see them talking and laughing with friends instead of liking their Instagram or Snapchat pictures.

“It’s my hope that after these trips, the pupils will return back to school with a deeper knowledge of a far wider group of friends and the realisation that friendship isn’t real friendship if it’s only conducted via a social media platform.”

He said he hopes the girls find the experience a positive one which gives them insight into getting to know new people without the help of apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp.

Pupil Ellie Flavin, 17, said many of the people she contacts on her phone are not her friends in real life.

She said: “Even when we walk with a friend down a corridor, they have their phones out.

“Social media offers virtual friendships.

“I will see them on Instagram and follow them, but I have never had a face-to-face chat with them.”

Florence Andrews, 16, also a pupil at the school, said she finds it strange talking to her friends about their families in person and would rather ask using the phone.

She said: ‘I don’t feel I can ask my friends about their families.

“The friendship is limited to online.

“It would be weird.

“There’s something caused by social media that makes it really difficult to approach them.

“It’s almost as though we are hiding behind these screens most of the time.”