Whole school approach to vaping in schools

Your school or setting may choose to develop a separate vaping policy or incorporate guidance into an existing drugs/alcohol policy (or the wider behaviour policy). When developing school policy on vapes, consider the following points:

• Treating vapes in the same way as other age restricted products , such as alcohol and tobacco, by prohibiting them onsite as a first step, and then confiscating and disposing of them
• Vapes are not explicitly listed as prohibited items within the Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance for which staff have statutory power to search for. Schools who wish to search for vapes should ensure they are listed as items for which a search can be made in the school rules
• Outline the safeguarding and supporting procedures you may take linked to any vaping incidents
• Ensure other relevant policies including safeguarding and behaviour are reviewed and updated if necessary
• Ensure policy makes reference to contextual safeguarding and that staff have an awareness of key indicators of child criminal exploitation (CCE)
• Take account of children's and young people's (CYP) cultural, special educational or physical needs (for example, by providing material in alternative formats such as visuals, large print, Braille, audio and video)

See guidance on how to develop a vaping policy from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

You can also find some more general guidance around drugs policies in the DfE and ACPO drug advice for schools.

Draw upon advice in the DfE Searching, Screening and Confiscation guidance as well as the DfE Behaviour in Schools guidance.

This guidance from Public Health England outlines some key principles to guide policy development on page 7.

You will also find a model letter that you can use to communicate any changes to policy to families (Word doc, 13 KB).