Children at the school are allowed to light up twice a day, for ten minutes at a time, under the supervision of teachers.
But they are only allowed to do it if they have parental permission.
The smoking breaks have been introduced at Honeyhill pupil referral unit in Peterborough, Cambs, which caters for 200 pupils aged between 14 and 16.
Head teacher Claire George explained to The Mirror: “Pupils who attend Honeyhill do so because they have failed, many more than once, in mainstream education.
“They are amongst the most challenged and challenging young people within the city and most have complex issues.
“Therefore our approach has got to be different to give them the best possible chance of getting an education which allows them to progress into employment or further education or training."
“Our approach is that pupils who already smoke on admission can, with parental consent, have up to two 10 minute, off-site, fully supervised smoking breaks a day"
She added: “For those pupils who do smoke, we have a clear procedure in place. Pupils and their parents/carers are asked about health related habits when they start at the school.
“Our approach is that pupils who already smoke on admission can, with parental consent, have up to two 10 minute, off-site, fully supervised smoking breaks a day.
“We appreciate some people will not agree with this approach, but we have found it far more effective than simply banning smoking, which our experience shows us leads to pupils not attending school or absconding during the day to smoke.”
Pupils hand in their cigarettes at the start of the school day and are only allowed them back for the off-site breaks. This is done in order to stop them leaving the school premises to smoke.
A local MP has called for a review of the practise after several parents expressed "outrage" over the practise, saying that children "should follow the rules".
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