Teacher sacked for allowing pupils to smoke

A teacher from Northamptonshire has admitted to providing cigarettes and matches for her pupils at Sir Christopher Hatton School in Wellingborough. She was sacked in January last year, for gross misconduct. This was confirmed by the General Teaching Council (GTC) when she was officially reprimanded.

The school has 1,200 students aged 11-18. Eccles had been employed as a supervisor for the “school exclusion unit”, a section of the school catering for troubled pupils and ironically, those who were caught smoking.

A conclusive report was published by the GTC. It claimed claims that Eccles had behaved inappropriately by allowing her pupils to smoke in the first instance. However, to provide tobacco was grossly unacceptable.

Eccles admitted the charges during an interview and claims she gave 2 pupils from a year 9 class, cigarettes and matches on 6 separate occasions. The committee of professional conduct under the GCE argued that she had completely failed to monitor pupils who were under her supervision, placing their safety and welfare at risk.

Experts may well argue that the revelations merely serve to strengthen the case for greater education concerning the importance of smoke cessation, particularly in adolescents. The government will need to raise awareness of the potentially fatal conditions that can result from smoking.

Cause for concern

Smoking is fast becoming one of the largest causes of preventable deaths. With more and more young people beginning to smoke, schools must surely become the first port of call next to parents, in terms of education concerning its dangers.

With almost 3,000 teens becoming addicted to tobacco before the age of 18, the government must also begin to look at educational schemes. Right now, around 10 million cigarettes are being purchased with 15 billion being sold per day.

Anybody who is worried about their health and would like to kick the habit can seek the advice of a trained health practitioner. If you are eligible, you may receive a prescription for the successful smoke cessation treatment; Champix.