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College under fire after pupils allowed to smoke on school trip

6:00am Friday 18th April 2008

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A COLLEGE has come under fire from parents and anti-smoking campaigners after a group of young students were allowed to smoke with staff supervision during a trip abroad.

More than 200 youngsters from Northallerton College, in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, went on a skiing trip to Austria during the Easter holidays.

A group of 16 students, who are aged 15 and 16 and are not legally allowed to buy tobacco, were allowed to smoke cigarettes under the supervision of staff.

The incident came to light after a student told her parents.

The Northern Echo has agreed not to name the student's father, in order to protect her identity.

He said: "We thought she was joking, we could not believe it.

"She told us a teacher had stood with them while they smoked, which makes it worse.

"Teachers should be setting an example, not encouraging such a dangerous habit."

College principal Mick Hill declined to name the staff who made the decision, saying they had made a mistake.

He said: "Two students disappeared to smoke and staff considered it safer, rather than have students putting themselves at risk by going off on their own, to allow them to smoke with a supervisor.

"It was the wrong decision."

The girl's father said he and his wife were considering taking their daughter, a year ten pupil at the college, to another school.

He said: "We would have never known about this if she had not told us.

"She had been in trouble for smoking the odd cigarette before she went on the trip.

"By being allowed to smoke for the entire week she was away, she could have got addicted.

"It is no good leaving school with eight GCSEs and lung cancer."

Mr Hill said that staff on the trip took a joint decision to allow students to smoke.

He said: "These staff are receiving advice and guidance on what would have been the right decision to take in these circumstances.

"There was no question over the students' safety on this trip.

"A poor judgement was made over this issue, and I have taken steps to deal with that.

"We do not condone smoking or allow it anywhere on our site. That includes not allowing staff to stand outside college buildings and smoke."

The girl's father called for staff to face tougher disciplinary action. He said: "I do not wish to see anybody lose their jobs, but I think they should face a formal warning."

The legal age for buying tobacco was raised from 16 to 18 in October last year.

Amanda Sandford, a spokeswoman for Ash (Action on Smoking and Health) an anti-smoking charity, said teachers had neglected their duty of care to pupils.

She said: "Condoning smoking is simply unacceptable. The teachers had these children in their care.

"The cigarettes should have been confiscated immediately, as they would have been in school.

"Although it is not illegal for children of 15 and 16 to smoke, it is something teachers should be actively discouraging.

"The college should apologise. To simply say it is the wrong decision is not going far enough.

"The college should look to reassure parents that the implications of smoking will be emphasised to students."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said the local education authority was satisfied the school had acted in the correct manner following the incident.

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Your Say YourThe Northern Echo

Anon, D'ton says...
10:00am Fri 18 Apr 08

Kids will smoke whether the teacher is watching them or not. Its not as though they all decided to start smoking that day. Is it not better that they weren't trying to find places to hide to smoke in a country where they could've got lost?

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Mr anon, northallerton says...
12:52pm Fri 18 Apr 08

i think the parent needs to take responsibility here. the teachers will have not encouraged the pupils to start smoking, but they dealt with a situation in a way to ensure pupils did not leave the group to sneak off and smoke. this parent is obviously shirking their responsibility and looking for someone else to take the blame for their shame of their child smoking.

just another example of the blame culture which we are moving towards where ignorant people cannot take resposibility over their lives

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Nick, Northallerton says...
1:49pm Fri 18 Apr 08

Let the parents take their child out of the school if they want to. She will then miss out on a good education!

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Dontwanna, N Yorks says...
3:51pm Fri 18 Apr 08

When in Rome...

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John, Northallerton says...
3:56pm Fri 18 Apr 08

I do think that the parents here are over-reacting, it isnt the fact that the teachers forced the kids to smoke, they chose to do so. Dont you think it is better to supervise them than have them sneaking off in a foreign country.
And as for taking the child out of the college, that just means she will miss out on what a great school it is and what it has to offer which as an ex-student i thoroughly benifited from.

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Student, Northallerton says...
4:51pm Fri 18 Apr 08

As a student who went on the post sixteen ski trip I would like to point out that at no time was smoking condoned on the trip. The trip leader is anti-smoking and asked those who felt the need to smoke to remove themselves from the party so not to affect others. For safety reasons a member of staff needed to accompany the student smokers, it was after all foreign country and such a proceedure is necessary so no one gets seperated from the group. This outburst is totally unnecessary and is a shame as the group leaders put such effort into making this a safe, enjoyable trip.

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carol, north east says...
4:54pm Fri 18 Apr 08

these parents are going on about these children smoking. did they never do any thing wrong when they were at school.or were they angels all the time. if these kids are going to smoke they will do any way.so whats the fuss you have all ready said your child has smoked.so may be she was in on it as well.but just told you in case you found out bout teachers

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Kathleen Boden, Darlington says...
5:43pm Fri 18 Apr 08

I wonder what the legal ramifications would be on confiscating the cigarettes as Ms Sanford suggested. They were not on school property. Were they in Austria or some other country? Would that countries laws apply to British students? Did the students and parents sign a no smoking covenant prior to leaving on the trip? If my child was in this situation and determined to break the rules I hope one of the chaperones would have seen that he was safe. The parent was concerned about his child becoming addicted. If she wasn't she would not have needed to smoke in the first place. Her G.P. should be able to help.I think that would be more helpful.I wonder how she feels about all this attention?

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Student, Northallerton says...
6:19pm Fri 18 Apr 08

I did not go on the ski trip, however most of my friends did. Out of the people I know who smoked there, every single one of them already did. I agree that is safer for them to do it supervised, rather than wondering off in a place they don't know. If people my age are going to smoke, they are going to smoke. They are trying to protect their daughter by not being named, if they take her out of school then everyone will automatically know who it was. The teachers who agreed to let them smoke, were trying to do the most responsible thing, and by most peoples opinions, they did.

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student, northallerton says...
6:38pm Fri 18 Apr 08

i did go on the ski trip,but the one the week before for the 6th form. i can see people may think it is slightly different as we are older but the same rules still applied for us. i was not one of the smokers but i think that everybody appreciated the trust and honesty of everyone involved who did. and i think the same applied for the other trip and i agree that it is better to have been supervised that going off and possibly getting hurt. i think the teachers did a great job organising both trips as it cant have been easy, and both went really well. i just think it is a shame that people are seeing such negativity in what was a really great trip.

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Student, Northallerton says...
6:58pm Fri 18 Apr 08

i agree with the last comment, i went on the trip, nobody was encouraged to smoke and all who did smoked before hand, the parents are taking this totally out of context, because whoever it was, already smoked, so, take her out of the school, but they should maybe look at themselves, not the school, for not noticing it in the first place, nobody started on the trip, and the teachers did not condone it, the students were supurvised because of safety reasons, if one was somking on their own, and got taken, it would of been a differant story!

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Parent of college student, Northallerton says...
7:49pm Fri 18 Apr 08

I am a parent of three children who have all been to Northallerton College, one of which went on two previous skiing trips. I would like to say that I have every respect for the teachers, both everyday and when organising trips and wonder whether people realise the effort that it takes to look after this many young people. They are not children and whilst I am not condoning smoking, people must take responsibility for their own actions and not continually blame others. I wonder what would have been said had somebody gone missing or had an accident while they were having a sneaky fag? If we took some cotton wool off young people, they might not feel the need to push so many boundaries!


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john smith, northallerton says...
8:39pm Fri 18 Apr 08

I am gratified to read the comments added to this debate, it restores my faith in human nature.
the individual who has made such a fuss over this is evidently shirking their responsibilities as a parent and should enter into a conversation with their child rather than blaming others.
as a parent i would rather know my child was supervised & safe hundreds of miles from home & deal with the long term health implications in a mature, open & honest manner after the event. something that is obviously not happening in this situation.
this is a prime example of common sense being eroded by legislature & bureaucracy, if only common sense were more common.

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parent, leicestershire says...
8:45pm Fri 18 Apr 08

Why on earth are these parents complaining? The teachers on this trip discovered the students were sneaking off to smoke and took the sensible precaution of ensuring they were supervised. Imagine the repercussions if a child had been injured or abducted whilst sneaking out. It seems the blame is somewhat misplaced here; rather than criticising the staff the parents should be chastising their daughter for placing everyone in such a difficult position.

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RTS, UK says...
8:54pm Fri 18 Apr 08

Can I just point out that in Austria the legal age to smoke is 16 NOT 18.
But for anti smoking zealots it's MUCH better for the kids to sneak off unsupervised. They say so above "It was the wrong decision" to supervise the kids whilst smoking. As for ASH - their opinion should be treated with the contempt is deserves; listen to their deafening silence to the skyrocketing of drink spiking as a direct result of the public smoking ban.
The teachers acted appropriately and have nothing to apologise for.

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mandyv, banitland says...
8:57pm Fri 18 Apr 08

There would have been a bigger kick off, if any of the children had sneaked away and got seriously hurt I think. The teenagers have been made criminals in this Country have been made criminals in this Country.
Teachers cannot do right for doing wrong anymore.

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timbone, Manchester UK says...
9:54pm Fri 18 Apr 08

I am not saying that smoking is not a potential health hazard, just as I wouldn't say that cars, aeroplanes or sirloin steak are not potential health hazards. What I can't get my head round though, is the hysteria about smoking. This story sounds like they are saying, it was discovered that some students were sneaking off to make bombs, so the teachers said they could only do it under supervision.

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Robert, says...
12:32am Sat 19 Apr 08

Haha! Says it all about Northallerton :)

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Alan Thrower, Harrogate says...
12:40am Sat 19 Apr 08

Eh? Kids should have been allowed to sneak off unsupervised to have a smoke in a foreign country? Is that what ASH are saying?

If they were banned, they'd have escaped the radar again and again as that is what kids do FFS.

The teachers took the sensible option of making sure that they were safe first and foremost and the smoking problem could be tackled later.

ASH need to get their priorities right! I suppose they'd have been happier if these kids had been abducted while they were smoking? Idiots!

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Diane, says...
7:18am Sat 19 Apr 08

After reading all the comments all i want to say is thank you to the staff for giving up their complete Easter holidays to give young people a wonderful opportunity.

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Black Adder, Ripon, North Yorks says...
11:38am Sat 19 Apr 08

First of all I can't believe that this is newsworthy.

Students smoke on school trip - SHOCK!
Teachers act to make sure they know where their students are at all times and that they are safe - SHOCK!
Crap parent blames someone else for their own failings - SHOCK!

Students smoke and if a parent can't control this one on one in the home teachers should not be expected to devote their time to it when they have 100 students to care for. Perhaps this parent is looking for an avenue through which to vent frustrations about their own failings?

Mick Hill - please grow some backbone and support your staff and the decisions they make. You have a great team at NC, willing to give up their time and take on significant amounts of extra responsibility to give your students fantastic extra curricular activities. They deserve your public backing.

It is however pleasing to see that the vast majority of comments are from people supporting the staff - they supervised two fantastic trips, and if there really were 200 students, a 0.5% dissatisfaction rate is a great result! I'd take that in my business every day. Well done to all.

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bean, Northallerton says...
2:24pm Sat 19 Apr 08

What a load of toss. Why is the College under fire, when it should clearly be these whinging parents thrown in one?

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college parent, northallerton says...
3:09pm Sat 19 Apr 08

Two of my children went on these trips, one the week before and one the week after, both retutning having thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
i did not know about the smoking on the trip but i fully agree with the actions of the staff to ensure the safety of the youngsters. this does not mean i am condoning smoking, and nor does it mean that the staff are, i just think that these parents should take a step back and realise that their child would have smoked had they been supervised or not, and that really the staff did the responsible thing. im sure they would be equally as horrified, had their child not been supervised at all times.

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timmy tim, northallerton says...
3:34pm Sat 19 Apr 08

i think that the colleges reaction to this is just typical of what we come to expect now. no support for their staff who give up lots of their own time to help the college and all the children. the college will lose good staff with the way they are treating them and the whole place will suffer. wake up and start backing up your staff instead of stabbing them in the back. this story even getting into the papers is so silly the it is the best laugh we have had all week but does show the managers in a very very bad way.

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anon, N, Yorks says...
4:31pm Sat 19 Apr 08

I hope the girl's parents read these comments and realise they are totally in the minority.

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mr annoyed, northallerton says...
7:12pm Sat 19 Apr 08

these parents are fools if they think their angel of a daughter does not smoke when out with friends in her social time in this country.
to suggest she may have become addicted whilst on this trip and to blame the teachers is completely laughable. it sounds like the father is the one in need for education as he sounds like an idiot. i mean, the comment about getting her GCSE's and lung cancer? unbelievable

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college student., northallerton says...
9:12pm Sat 19 Apr 08

as one of the students who went on the ski trip, and as one of the students who was part of the small group of underage smokers on the trip i'd like to point out that no one in this small group of people just decided to smoke because they were away from home.

i think that the staff on the trip made the right decision of taking us out in a group and letting us smoke under the supervision of a responsible member of staff, instead of having to go out without the concent of teachers. i wouldn't have felt comfortable doing this but smoking is an addictive habbit, you can't just kick it for a week because you're in a foreign country.

not once was ANY student encouraged to smoke, it was just safer for us to be in a group with a responsible adult.

if the parents allready knew about the girl smoking then they really need to question who's to blame here.
they knew their daughter was smoking before she went on the trip, they are just looking for someone to point the blame at.

i'd like to thank the teachers, for ensuring the safety of all the pupils on the trip, smokers or not, bearing in mind this was their own free time aswell. and thank them for making it an amazing experience for everyone :)

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chris, middlesbrough says...
9:21pm Sat 19 Apr 08

I think the girls parents were in the wrong to have made a complaint and, knowing the people that went on the trip.The smokers had been doing so for a long time before the trip.I feel the staff acted in responsible and thoughtful way. I think the parent should stop complaining about the college and sort there child out themselves, as if they already had there would be no issue.

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fallace, northernechosshit says...
9:25pm Sat 19 Apr 08

the parents are scratty and had no place to speak

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jayne l kitchen, northallerton says...
11:09am Sun 20 Apr 08

as a student at the college, who wishes to go on one of the following ski trips, this gives undue publicity which is totally uncalled for. does anybody reading this really believe this student didnt smoke before she went? and believe that students were encouraged to smoke? because of her actions. these parents should listen to themselves and think about how serious these allegations are! a big thank-you to all the teachers for giving up theire time!

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anon, North Yorkshire says...
11:26am Sun 20 Apr 08

Is it any wonder that teachers ae more and more reluctant to run school trips? I agree with the people above that if the pupils had not been supervised at all times this would also have been an issue! Teachers can not do right for wrong. You only have to listen to the TV and radio to realise that all the problems in the country, e.g. knifes, smoking etc are for teachers to sort out. Teachers play a vital role in this but parents need to accept responsibility for their own children instead of blaming it on others. The staff on the ski trips were absolutely fantastic and need praise for giving some many pupils the week of their life.

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Student, Northallerton says...
2:27pm Sun 20 Apr 08

I went on the ski trip. The teachers made a decision that respected the needs of the smokers and their safety. I would like to thank all of the staff involved in the ski trip for an extremely wonderful time.
p.s have some guts to stand up for your staff mr hill

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george, northallerton says...
3:08pm Sun 20 Apr 08

that parent needs to get a life, if he or she wants to smoke its their decsion the techers can't really stop them doing it. Get addicted from it as well oh my god u sad man, u probaly has been smokng before the trip!!!

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michael . a former student, northallerton says...
3:24pm Sun 20 Apr 08

i myself have been on the trips and i feel the subject on smoking was handled correctly, where smoking was not encouraged but was allowed under circumstances. a smoking area was allocated were there wud be staff to oversee the students, this was better than students bein told they cant smoke so they haveto find somewere to hide which they wud not be with a teacher, and they may get hurt or lost. because lets face it if smokers need to smoke they will smoke!!!

i beleve the father should own up and not be a coward not wanting to be named, he is bang out of order he obviously isnt a great father as he did not know his daughter smoked before the trip, what does that say???

he needs to be sorted out and someone needs to let him kno how wrong he was to over react this much and get the school this bad publicity.

also the headteacher mik hill well he doesnt have any faith in his staff and does not see it the right way either, or is it he got scared so he took the fathers words???

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Student, Northallerton says...
6:24pm Sun 20 Apr 08

Being on the 6th form trip the week before i feel that the teachers did an amazing job on the trip and i'd like to thank them now, and this whole thing has been blown well out of proportion as the students allready smoked and the parents just cant accept that their daughter smokes. it was an amazing week so please dont ruin what it was for people by some stupid story which is completely wrong in its views.

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A, northallerton says...
3:43pm Mon 21 Apr 08

Oh my God!
I went on this trip, it was the trip of a life time.

In no way were we encouraged to smoke, it is not the teacher's fault that these students already smoked beefore the trip and planned to sneak off to smoke anyway.
This article is biased and skiing was the main priority of this trip, not smoking.

If smoking really affects this parent so much maybe he should take responsiblity, instead of blaming other people.

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Sally, North Yorkshire says...
5:32pm Mon 21 Apr 08

i think parents are blind not to be able to realise that their son or daughter smokes or smoked in the first place, it smells and is obvious!parents should have a MATURE and ADULT conversation with their child then they would not have to hide the fact that they have to smoke in secret!

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Parent of College Student, Northallerton says...
6:59pm Mon 21 Apr 08

As a parent of a student who went on the post 16 ski trip I just want to publicly thank all the staff who gave up two weeks of their holiday to supervise what was a fantastic experience for our daughter. I am tired of parents who constantly try and offload their responsibilities onto hardworking teachers. Lets get real! Children despite all the health warnings will smoke and if banned will simply sneak out unsupervised. In my view all the staff have done is be realistic about the situation and ensured the immediate safety of those in their care. I sincerely hope that the complaining parent thinks twice before making such a complaint again. I equally hope that the staff take heart from the overwhelming support they have received in the comments above and are not put off supervising future trips. Our daughter had a fantastic time and we as parents are grateful to all the staff in ensuring she enjoyed herself in a safe environment. THANK YOU!!

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timbone, says...
10:46pm Mon 21 Apr 08

I hope you parents who support the teachers let the head know, very loudly, he is obviously trying to be pc, he is just being weak and not staff friendly, and bowing to parents who should be told, "if you don't like what our responsible teachers' did, take your daughter elsewhere".

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student, northallerton college says...
11:16pm Mon 21 Apr 08

its great to see all the teachers getting so much support here. they really did do a good job and they should be thanked for that, not blamed for something as ridiculous as this. they were trying to do the right thing to make sure everyone was safe, and i really hope they will carry on organising such good trips.

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Yr 11 Students Northallerton College, Northallerton says...
10:00am Tue 22 Apr 08

There are so many smokers in the year group as there is that sneak off site at break, it wouldn't of been any different in Austria. At the end of the day you read all this stuff about MAdeline Macann being taken, they had some guts to take us anyway. If someone had gone off by themselves to have a fag and got taken or lost, it would of been the school that would of got the blame. The smokers age out there is 16 anyway out there, as for the people on the trip nobody started to smoke out there anyway. All the teachers wanted to do was keep us safe and at no point did they tell us smoking was good. From one person who has been trying to blame the school for their daughter smoking has put the school under all this fire. Northallerton College is a great school where the staff care about the well being and education of all its pupils.
Should there be and article written about all the support staff are being givin?

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anon, says...
5:21pm Tue 22 Apr 08

i agree, a better article would be ''students and parents give staff tremendous support after parent unrightfully complains''

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student at NC, says...
6:04pm Tue 22 Apr 08

I have been on the ski trip and felt that smoking was not condoned and the teachers did the right thing by supervising them, i don't know why the parents of this girl are on about. The ski trips are great fun and the teachers do a great job at organising them. things like this just ruin them.

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Milan, says...
2:55pm Wed 23 Apr 08

This is why teachers don't run trips anymore. It will be a shame for other students but entirely reasonable if the staff involved cancel this trip for future years. Of course, the parents will then complain that the students can't go ski-ing. Maybe they should take them away themselves.

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student, northallerton says...
5:11pm Wed 23 Apr 08

The father of this girl said: "Teachers should be setting an example, not encouraging such a dangerous habit."
i went on the trip, as it seems did quite a few people who have commented here, and at NO point waas anyone encouraged to smoke. it was run by the p.e department, and the leader is completley anti-smoking. these parents really need to get some perspective.

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Chynna, chilliwack bc says...
9:28pm Tue 6 May 08

Sorry for spelling mistakes- if made, im in a rush. but wow, i was just browsing the internet and came across this news letter. my opinion is that: i think the parents are over reacting just a bit. i understand where they are coming from in a sence of they love and want the best for their child. but whats done is done. im 16 almost 17, and i smoke. im not condoning smoking, but as a smoker i can say the teens would have snuck off and smoked anyways...and for the parents who didnt know there child smoked and then found out they smoked on the trip... i wonder why you didnt know? they were probably to affraid to tell you because you would freak out.. and look (You Did)... because you freak out on your children they dont tell you things and they lie to you.. so please think about your teens feelings. theres got to be a reason they dont tell you these things. talk to them without flying off the handle.have a mature adult conversation with them.. you'l be surprised with what you get out of them.

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SMOKING CONCERN: Northallerton College, North Yorkshire SMOKING CONCERN: Northallerton College, North Yorkshire

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