Vaping is not an activity for young people, and yet we see more and more of our young people across the country engaging with this habit. Whilst it was developed to help people quit smoking, those who don’t smoke should never ever consider vaping. The role of us as a school, and you as parents, is to ensure our boys understand the known and the unknown risks associated with vaping and its impact upon our wellbeing, as well as enforcing the law in relation to this activity.

Simply put, the Smokefree Environment and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendments Act of 2020 prohibits vaping in schools at all times for all people, and the sale or gifting of vaping products is also illegal. At Lindisfarne College we are completely aligned with these laws, and we will treat any incidence of Vaping at school as a serious breach of our rules and expectations. In other words, any student caught Vaping, or in possession of equipment used for Vaping, will enter our discipline system.

In terms of the known risks, breathing any product into your lungs unnecessarily is not ideal, and that’s why non-smokers should not vape.  Research so far has found that vaping and second-hand vaping can irritate the lungs, increase coughing and worsen symptoms of respiratory conditions like asthma.  These are just some examples of risk to our physical wellbeing. There is also plenty to be concerned about in terms of our mental and emotional wellbeing.  Many vapes contain nicotine, including products that claim to be nicotine-free.  Nicotine can have some negative effects on brain development in adolescents. Nicotine is highly addictive which, although it helps to quit smoking as it replaces nicotine with less of the toxins found in cigarette smoke; it is far from harmless if you don’t smoke. 

What we don’t know yet, is as important as what we do. Vaping contains unregulated chemicals and flavours whose long-term effects are unknown.  Vapes can be laced with all sorts of other ingredients, many of which are likely to come with their own negative side effects.

The advice from the NZ Ministry of Health for parents is to:

• Talk to your children about vaping. This How to talk to your teen page has useful tips on finding the right moment, what to ask and how to respond.

• Treat vaping situations (such as vape shops or advertisements) as learning opportunities to ask them what they know, what they think, and how they feel.

• Explain that whilst vaping is potentially less harmful than smoking, it is still harmful.

• Explain that vaping is not for non-smokers, especially children and young people.

• Explain that vapes contain nicotine and that nicotine is a highly addictive substance which is very hard to stop once you’ve started.
• Explain that vaping will have an adverse effect on their physical activity and sports. 

At Lindisfarne College we place the wellbeing of each individual, and the wellbeing of our wider community, as one of our highest priorities.  Vaping is an obstacle in the way of this goal and we ask that you, our community, work with us to steer our boys away from Vaping now and into the future.

_{Me mahi tahi tātou mo te oranga o te katoa}

_{We should work together for the wellbeing of everyone.}

Article added: Friday 24 March 2023