A Practical Guide 

A smokefree school involves the whole school community. When parents, whānau and staff are working together with a shared understanding of what keeps young people smokefree, it increases young people’s chance of remaining smokefree for life. 

Our Smokefree School/He Kura Auahi Kore: A Practical Guide to Being a Smokefree Community is designed to support schools to embrace the smokefree kaupapa. The resource will help you to gather information so that you can understand the issue your community faces and plan an ongoing smokefree initiative that will meet your school’s particular needs.

Supporting visitors, parents and caregivers

School visitors, parents and caregivers are important smokefree role models – as children often copy what they see.  

Being exposed to second-hand smoke can affect children’s development and behaviour- their school performance can suffer and they can have trouble paying attention. Although schools cannot tell visitors, parents, and caregivers to quit, they can provide positive messages to support and encourage them to take action. Ensure they are aware of the school’s smokefree status and boundaries. A great way to let visitors know that your school is smokefree is to promote it when they sign in at the school office. Download a visitors book suitable for a school office/reception are available to download and print

Invite the your local stop smoking service or regional public health nurse to school events (such as sports days, school camps, galas) so they can provide advice and behavioural support to encourage people to become smokefree. They can also provide access to subsided nicotine placement therapies like patches, gum and lozenges and give people advice on how vaping can some people quit smoking.