Pupils take charge of school's war on vaping

Vape detectors are a common sight these days at Granville Academy.

For this comprehensive in Swadlincote, a semi-rural part of Derbyshire, the devices are one of the main tools teachers are using to combat vaping among students.

The school realised it had a rising problem with vaping after it received reports of students stealing vapes from shops, vaping in toilets at school and using them while walking home.

With the usual punitive methods like detentions proving ineffective, the school is now on a quest alongside dozens of others in the county to transform itself into a vape-free setting by adopting a different approach.

Under a new pilot project overseen by Derbyshire County Council, which began late last year, it is the students themselves who have been tasked with turning things around.

The council has been supporting the school to develop an action plan that includes peer-to-peer educational classes and assemblies, with signs also put in prominent places warning about the health implications of vaping.

Head teacher Gemma Lowe said they had found despite increasing detentions and even changing the design of the toilets to prevent pupils gathering there, they were not seeing an improvement.

It led her to conclude that punitive measures alone were not going to work.

"It is really difficult... we can only control what we can control," she said.

The BBC was invited to observe one of the new sessions being led by a group of Year 11 students.

Among those attending was Daniils, from Year 10, who used to vape himself.

"I think it's a good thing they're doing [the pilot]," he said. "It's making kids be better, not aspiring to be bad people."

Year 11 student Alicia also used to vape and said it seemed like "a big thing that everyone needed to do" despite feeling "gross" about it.

Jayden, from the same year, attended the session and said he felt guilty throughout the three years he vaped.

"I felt like I was letting my mum down," he said, but added: "It's not easy to come off by yourself".

The class was led by students Ocean, Alex and George, who played an educational video put together by students.

Head girl Ocean said: "I know they [vapes] are being passed about in school, especially between older students and younger students."

She said she had noticed Year 7 seemed to be the most impacted by the peer pressure.

The group agreed more needed to be done to provide support services outside of school specifically tailored to stopping young people vaping.

Alex said: "I don't think there's enough [politicians] talking about it, I think they're more bothered about immigration. They're not focusing on the youth."

George agreed the government was focusing on "the wrong stuff", adding: "It's scary because it's impacting us."

Ocean said: "I feel like it's just been tucked under the rug."

recent BBC survey found more than half of teachers in secondary schools across England believe vaping is a problem in their school.

A fifth have also felt the need to take measures such as installing vape detectors.

The NASUWT teachers' union says vapes should be added to a list of banned items, giving schools the right to search pupils if they suspect they have one.

Derbyshire County Council acknowledged there was currently no smoking and vaping cessation service that young people could reliably access in Derbyshire, despite estimates that about 3,000 pupils in the county are regularly vaping.

However, that may be about to change, with the council currently in the process of setting up a smoking and vaping cessation service specifically for young people that is funded through local public health grants.

If it is given the green light, it is likely to be primarily based in schools and will offer 12 weeks of support to children to quit vaping, smoking or both.

Granville Academy said the use of vapes appeared to have reduced since the pilot project got under way and the government's ban on disposable vapes had also helped.

But Lowe said a specific support service outside of school for young people to access would make a "massive difference".

"We certainly have seen the resources that are available through school become more and more stretched", she said.

"At the moment, there's an over-reliance on school staff to refer them into any services that we can use, like our school nursing team, and the wait might be an extended wait that they wouldn't get with an external service they can tap into themselves."

A government spokesperson said: "We have always been clear that children should never vape.

"We have already banned single use vapes and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will end their advertising and sponsorship, as well as enable government to limit flavours, packaging, and display."

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