Schools want help in ‘lonely battle’

Teenagers in hospital, thousands of pounds spent on e-cigarette detectors and addicted students hiding in toilets – just some of the challenges schools are facing in what has been described as a “public health emergency”.

Teachers in England say they feel alone in the “battle” against vapes as measures to tackle the problem put extra strain on stretched budgets.

A BBC-commissioned survey of thousands of secondary school teachers, has found nearly a fifth say vape detectors have been installed in their school, while 35% say extra staff have been deployed to patrol the grounds to stop pupils vaping.

The government said it was “taking urgent action” to tackle a “worrying rise in youth vaping”.

“I don’t mind how many we have, as long as we’re finding them, acting on it, and working with parents and police to reduce the numbers,” says head teacher Lisa McCall.

An A4 plastic wallet sits on her desk at Wales High School in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, stuffed with confiscated vapes and refill bottles.

Beside it, a repurposed chocolate box holds dozens more.

McCall says vaping was never a problem at the school until a “really dangerous incident” one day last year when a student was offered a vape spiked with “some sort of illegal substance”.

The 15-year-old student described the experience: “The floor felt bouncy, my vision went blurry and then I had a panic attack.”

He was taken to hospital before later making a full recovery.

Some schools say they have gone as far as altering their grounds by cutting down hedges and moving shelters to make it more difficult for pupils to hide from view to vape.

Teachers and unions are calling on the government to fund school-based programmes to educate pupils about the dangers of vaping and for clear guidance to be provided to staff about how to tackle the issue.

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.

The union has previously described the disruption vapes can cause to children’s education as a “public health emergency”.

Children are nine times more likely to vape than adults, according to a report by the World Health Organisation published in October.

The study estimated that 15 million children aged 13 to 15 use e-cigarettes worldwide and said the devices were fuelling a “new wave” of nicotine addiction, “undermining decades of progress”.

A survey of nearly 7,000 teachers in England, commissioned by the BBC and carried out via the Teacher Tapp app, found that 52% of respondents consider vaping a problem in their school.

The figure has reduced from 74% in June 2024 – with Teacher Tapp saying this could suggest measures to tackle vaping are working or could be because pupil behaviour tends to improve in the autumn term.

After the spiking incident at Wales High School, the pupils responsible were permanently excluded, a school spokesperson says.

Within weeks, the school had installed three vape detectors costing £1,000 each, began using metal-detector wands, and a rota of four staff to monitor corridors.

McCall says fewer children now vape in school but the measures are a “total distraction from why we are here – to educate and support children”.

“That £3,000 could have gone towards IT equipment or even a member of staff for a period of time,” she adds.

One student, who says he was peer-pressured into vaping at the age of 10, says he still vapes in school as the new measures make it harder but not impossible.

Others see vaping as a nuisance, with 15-year-old Megan calling it a “waste” and “damaging”.

Some pupils who vape say their parents know – none of them approve, but they cannot do anything about it.

McCall says some parents do not support the school’s efforts to tackle the issue because “many think it’s better than smoking”.

The NHS does recommend vaping to adults as a way to quit smoking, but stresses it is still harmful – particularly for children and young people.

Matthew Day, a science teacher and head of year at Wales High, says he believes some students are “certainly” addicted to vapes.

“You see some of the traits that are typical of addicts, they become quite fidgety and they are desperate to get out of the classroom because they need to go and satisfy that need,” he says.

Day gives out Blu Tack to some students to fidget with to keep them focused in class.

He believes students need help with their addiction, but feels services have not grasped “the size of the problem”.

McCall agrees a broader effort is needed.

“Why aren’t things being done more with the shops that are selling the vapes for such a small amount of money?” she says.

“We’ve got some students who are buying 20 because they know they can buy them for £6 and sell them for £8.

“It’s very hard as a school to battle on your own.”

At the St Lawrence Academy in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, staff also say they face a battle to prevent vaping interfering with lessons.

James Stainton, who teaches classes about the risks of vaping, says students readily admit they are “addicted” to the habit.

Teachers at the school say they noticed the problem growing after the Covid pandemic, with students hiding e-cigarettes in the toilets and leaving lessons frequently to vape.

One 15-year-old pupil says she takes between 400 and 500 puffs on her vape a day, despite knowing it is bad for her health.

“I saw a lot of other people doing it and I just wanted to try it myself, and then I didn’t know how to stop and I carried on,” she adds.

The school redeploys staff to patrol at break times and has reshaped its grounds by cutting down bushes and moving shelters to eliminate hotspots where pupils were vaping.

Head teacher Dan Ellerby says these efforts have had “a significant impact”.

But he adds: “It’s really difficult to tackle it alone and you need that support from parents, you need that support from families, from the local community, to ensure that students understand the potential impact of vaping.”

Some of this support to tackle vaping can come from youth services, says Kirsty Poskitt from The Barn youth and community centre in Tadcaster.

“We don’t deny the fact that lots of them have vapes, but we ask them to put them in a basket when they come to us,” she says.

However, she feels unsure that legislation will solve the problem: “Teenagers don’t see risks, it’s by their very nature that they’re not thinking long term.”

In response to the BBC’s findings, Sarah Hannafin, head of policy at school leaders’ union, NAHT, says it is “worrying” that vapes have been “normalised”.

She says members are “concerned about how accessible vapes seem to be to young people and how easily they can be concealed”.

A spokesperson for the NASUWT union says if vapes were added to a list of items banned in schools, it would mean there would be “less reason to need vape detectors, and would be much more cost-effective for the government”.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders and former head teacher at Wales High School, says vaping is a “significant problem for schools” and he hopes a new upcoming law will help to address the issue.

The Tobacco and Vapes Bill aims to make it harder to market and sell vapes to under 18s.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health vice-president for policy, Dr Mike McKean, says the bill must be brought in “without further delay”.

He says research on the effects of vaping on young people is still “in its infancy” but that it was clear it was addictive and could lead to “a life-long relationship with nicotine”.

He adds: “I often worry that the full effects are unlikely to be known for many years, and by the time the full adverse effects are apparent it may be too late to reverse.”

A spokesperson from the Department for Education says the government is “taking urgent action to tackle the worrying rise in youth vaping”.

“Our new relationships, sex and health curriculum will teach pupils about harmful substances to make sure they are aware of the risks, and the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will stop vapes from deliberately being marketed to children.”