Some schools are switching smoke detectors to heat sensors to prevent vaping by pupils setting off alarms during lessons and exams, MPs have heard.
The Health and Social Care Committee was also told that headteachers are being forced to monitor toilets due to the number of children using e-cigarettes.
In evidence to the MPs’ inquiry on youth vaping, Laranya Caslin, headteacher at St George’s Academy in Sleaford, told of the problems school leaders face in tackling youth vaping.
“We have a significant proportion of students vaping and they’re vaping regularly and, in some cases, making excuses to leave lessons to go to the toilet to vape,” Ms Caslin told the committee.
She added: “One example…that is definitely impacting on education is students vaping in the toilet and setting off the fire alarm. And so we’re having to interrupt learning on a regular basis or go out.
“I had two toilets that I knew students were vaping in that I was monitoring really closely, and I became really concerned about interruptions to the exam season.
”So I had to change smoke sensors to heat sensors really quickly to prevent us being in and out while students were sitting GCSEs and A levels, and so the ramifications are quite broad in terms of an education setting.”
She said there were vape sensors on the market but they were “not cheap” and suggested schools should be given access to specific grants to buy them.
Ms Caslin said she had seen a “significant increase” in vaping with her senior teachers, estimating that 25 per cent of students at the school are vaping.
She also told MPs that vape flavours are appealing to youngsters: “Some of them read like a sweet shop, so gummy bear, slushy, but also unicorn milk, unicorn frappe…it’s clearly pitched at, in my view, a younger audience and I would say, actually, unicorns lose their appeal at least by the age of 15, so I think you’re talking even young teen, potentially pre-teen, being drawn into that.”
It comes as the NHS invites secondary schools across England to take part in a snapshot survey asking students about their use of vaping products, as part of a wider annual look at the use of alcohol, nicotine and drugs.
Students in participating schools will complete the survey questionnaire anonymously under exam conditions.
This year, for the first time, the survey will be open to all mainstream secondary schools and entirely online, so students will be able to complete it securely on a school computer, laptop or tablet. This is designed to halve the time needed and improve accessibility for schools and for students.
Dr Helen Stewart from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health told the committee that some children with asthma can no longer use school toilets due to vaping triggering attacks.
MPs also questioned John Dunne, director general of the UK Vaping Industry Association, and Marcus Saxton, chairman of the Independent British Vape Trade Association, who both denied that manufacturers used flavours to target children and hook a new generation on nicotine.
Mr Dunne was asked whether it was “convenient” that he was arguing there was an issue with shops selling to underage children when, really, there was a problem with e-cigarettes themselves.
He said: “These products have been around well over 15 years, they are the most successful way that adults quit smoking here in the UK.
“Flavours are extremely important to adults, that’s one of the reasons vaping is so successful.
“The industry is not here to sell to children. The industry is not here to hide from the fact that some rogue retailers and distributors are bringing in products that are unsuitable.”
Schools can register their interest to participate in the NHS survey or find out more by emailing SDDsurvey@ipsos.com
