The pupils were permitted to light up on school grounds to ‘prevent truanting’, but this practice has now been banned and the school put under review.
Speaking about their outrage at the ‘soft on smoking’ approach taken at Elmete Central School, anti-smoking charity Ash condemned the policy as ‘totally inappropriate and unethical’.
Chief executive Deborah Arnott said: ‘Allowing children to smoke at school is wrong in so many ways. They wouldn’t allow the children to drink, so why are they allowing them to smoke?’
The small secondary school attended by 75 pupils with educational and behavioural issues, reportedly introduced the policy while it was under management by a previous head teacher.
However the city council have ordered the council to ban the policy and have vowed to carry out regular spot checks.
'We spoke to the school and issued an instruction for it to stop'
Paul Brennan, deputy director of children’s services, said:
‘We take this issue very seriously and as soon as it was brought to our attention we spoke to the school and issued an instruction for it to stop.
‘The recently appointed head teacher has agreed to review any such practices.’
While the Department of Health added: ‘Our position is quite clear on what the legal age for smoking is.’