EXCLUSIVE Inside Britain's school vaping crisis: How children as young as 11 are smuggling e-cigarettes into class disguised as stationery...
and how teachers are cracking down By Elizabeth Haigh Published: 07:31, 25 September 2024 | Updated: 07:35, 25 September 2024 e-mail View comments School children as young as 11 are becoming addicted to vaping and smuggling disposable e-cigarettes into class disguised as items of stationery. Almost one million 11 to 17-year-olds have vaped in 2024, data shows as schools across Britain struggle to cope with a surge in students skipping class to secretly smoke. Headteachers are turning to technology to try and stem the flood of the devices making their way into schools by installing advanced sensors which can detect the vapours.
Tony McCabe, headmaster at St Joseph's School in Horwich, Greater Manchester, revealed the worrying rise in children's vape addiction exclusively to MailOnline. He spoke of troubling cases of 11-year-olds arriving at his secondary school already addicted to the disposable e-cigarettes, with one pupil setting off toilet sensors 40 times in a single day. Some students have been caught bringing vapes into class disguised as highlighters and other stationery items.
'I t still surprises me that young people know there's a vape sensor in our toilet cubicles, they know they're going to be picked up for it, and yet they still do it,' he said. The most recent data shows almost a million 11-17-year-olds have vaped in 2024 so.
