ROSELYN HOUSE SCHOOL & THE RHISE SERVICE

Smoking & Vaping Policy

KS Education Limited reaffirms its continuing responsibility for ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of all its employees whilst at work and is committed to ensuring that a non-smoking environment will be the norm for employees and students.

Through this policy, Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service will ensure compliance with the Smoke-Free Regulations 2006 which form the statutory instruments prohibiting smoking at work premises. These regulations apply in England from 1st July 2007.

The purpose of this policy is to inform that:

• Smoking and vaping on School/RHISE premises in any area that is enclosed or substantially enclosed is prohibited.

Roselyn House School and The RHISE Service does not encourage young people to smoke tobacco products, including electronic cigarettes. There are no smoking shelters and smoking within school grounds.

Attempts are made by all staff to actively discourage young people from smoking/ vaping and highlight the dangers and disadvantages of this habit. This is addressed through conversation throughout the school day, PSHE, Physical Education, Tutor sessions and science programmes of study.

We include education around vaping following on from the New National Vaping Guidance for Schools released by Action on Smoking and Health 5^th September 2022.

‘Vaping is not for children. While it can help people quit smoking, ‘if you don’t smoke don’t vape’. However, most children who try vaping, have also tried smoking, and vaping is far less harmful than smoking, which kills up to two thirds of smokers. Uptake of vaping has a distinctive age profile. Curriculum design should reflect this. The key ages for take up are 16, 17 and particularly 18, although it can occur earlier. It is illegal to sell cigarettes or nicotine containing vapes to under-18s, but it is not illegal to smoke or vape underage and punishment should be proportionate. Children should not be excluded from school for vaping or smoking, unless it is associated with other disruptive behaviour which justifies this. The main source of supply to children of cigarettes and vapes is shops. Children under 18 should be asked where they got their vape (or cigarette) from. Complaints can be made to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice online portal. Teachers should be aware that vapes could be used to exploit the most vulnerable children, as is the case with other age restricted products such as tobacco and alcohol.’ See Safeguarding Policy.

It comes as latest data shows the proportion of children vaping is rising, up from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2022, alongside the growing popularity of disposable vapes. The number of children who admit to ever trying vaping has risen from 14% in 2020 to 16% in 2022. However, the vast majority of under 18s who have never smoked, have also never vaped, and only 1.9% have vaped more frequently than once or twice.

We are aware however, as a School, that some of our students do choose to smoke cigarettes and vapes and we monitor who these students are so that we may be able to target them with more specific interventions. At the main school site smoking including vaping is not permitted within the school grounds and this may result in student’s cigarettes and vapes being confiscated.  We believe by doing this we will reduce the amount of students who choose to smoke/ vape in Year 11-13 and as they move through the School and to The RHISE Centre. It will over time reduce the amount of smokers there as students move through the School into Sixth Form.

Students in Year 11 – Year 13 are expected to become more independent and manage their own time. Their timetables may be more flexible, and therefore ‘breaks’ are slightly different to other year groups. The expectation is that these students do not impact on their learning by smoking/vaping whenever they like. Staff need to reinforce this with the students.

In this case, students are requested to keep this to a minimum and within recognised ‘breaks’ of the school day. These are, before school, morning break, lunch break and after school.   ‘Smoking’ should not be accepted as a given or a reward and certainly should not impact on a student’s learning.

In order to minimise risk of fire hazards, students are informed of an area outside RHISE grounds.   The area is supervised at break times. Removal of breaks may be used as a consequence of negative behaviour/ refusal to do work in lessons as per school Behaviour Policy.

In an attempt therefore to curtail young people from smoking/ vaping freely during the school day, students may be asked to hand in all tobacco products, vapes and associated paraphernalia unless trusted otherwise.  A record will be kept of what is handed in.

All items handed in will be stored with Deputy Heads. The box will then be handed to students at designated break times. The students will take their own products out of the box and return the box at the end of the break.

This procedure is monitored daily by Deputy Heads.

If a member of staff finds a student smoking/vaping on the premises, in toilets or within grounds, they should be requested immediately to stop and the incident later recorded on CPoms and a member of SLT informed. Tobacco products and E Cigarettes will be confiscated and a meeting will be held with the young person and their Parent/ Carer, if KS2, 3 or 4. A behaviour contract may be necessary and particularly useful for those students who are in Key Stage 5 and should be responsible for their own management of smoking.

Post 16 students who attend vocational provision, alternative provision and Colleges will be expected to follow the individual provision’s Smoking/ Vaping Policy or this may affect their placement.

Students need to understand in the wider world that you cannot ‘smoke when you want’ and have to follow ‘no smoking rules’ within colleges and workplaces. This is the same for school.

We work with School Nurses who provide additional support to our students who want to stop smoking and pass data and information on to our students, Parents/ Carers and staff. We recognise that it can be difficult for people to stop smoking and some may substitute vaping in order to achieve this. We provide support and encouragement for people to succeed. We promote a healthy lifestyle ethos in school and encourage many fresh air activities and enjoyment of the Outdoors. Information leaflets and posters are available in school.

Staff breaks should not get in the way of the school day and student welfare is paramount. Break times are the busiest times and staff need to be present for activities and supervision. Break times are for the students and supervision should take priority. Due to staffing ratio’s, staff need to manage their own time which works within the timetable and not go off in groups for breaks. Smoking/ Vaping should take place away from the school grounds.

Smoking is not permitted in any school vehicles.

Other services/ information/ resources that are available nationally include;

• Local NHS stop smoking services, call 0800 022 4332 or http://gosmokefree.nhs.uk/advice-and-information/
• Visit http://www.gosmokefree.co.uk/
• Visit ASH (Action on Smoking and Health) http://www.ash.org.uk/
• Local GP practice, pharmacy or hospital
• The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline NG209 covers schools based interventions in its recommendations on preventing uptake
• The New Zealand Ministry of Health Vapefree Schools website has a range of materials designed to empower students to make informed decisions, by “making the law clear, the facts known and the decision theirs”. Preliminary work with groups of young people in England and Wales suggests that young people in England and Wales found the New Zealand resources useful. In contrast the US real cost campaign, which does not put the risks of vaping in the context of the greater risks of smoking, led one group of young people to conclude that they would rather be seen smoking than vaping after viewing the campaign. However, schools should be aware that vaping laws in New Zealand are not identical to the UK. For example, New Zealand schools must display notices stating that smoking and vaping within the premises is forbidden at all times, as this is a legal requirement.
• New content covering nicotine and nicotine vapes will be available from mid September 2022 on the youth-focused FRANK website

S.Damerall

June 2023