School Stories

On this page you'll find links to stories about smokefree activities and initiatives in New Zealand schools. These may provide ideas and inspiration to other teachers and students.

If your school has a successful project that could be included here, or if you know of one that does, please contact us.

Rhode Street School

Smokefree Schools: Why care?

Preamble: Schools are required to provide a safe physical and emotional environment for all students, and to comply in full with any legislation currently in force or that may be developed to ensure the safety of students and employees.
NZ law mandated in 2004 that buildings and grounds of schools and early childhood centres become smoke free. Read Principal Shane Ngatai's guest editorial in the February 2011 edition of the smokefree schools newsletter.

Keeping Kids Smokefree-Auckland Schools

Weymouth, Manurewa, Kedgley and Papatoetoe Intermediate Schools linked with researchers at the Centre for Tobacco Control Research at Auckland University to try and make a difference in their school communities. The Keeping Kids Smokefree survey and intervention ran for 3 years from 2007 at the schools to see if influencing parental smoking behaviour could reduce smoking uptake by their intermediate aged children.
Read more….

Corinna School

Corinna School in Porirua is proud of how its years 7 & 8 students are embracing the new inquiry-based smokefree/auahi kore teaching resource designed to build student resilience. The students are identifying with the stories and, as a result, are actively engaging with the learning activities.
Read more...

Flaxmere College

Hawke’s Bay is an area with high youth smoking rates, especially among Māori and females. Finding effective ways to reduce youth smoking is always challenging. In 2008, Hawke’s Bay District Health Board (DHB) approached Flaxmere College to see if it would take part in a pilot to look at ways to help schools deal with smoking, and to introduce a ‘smokefree culture’. Read more.

Manaia View School

The school’s smokefree project is a collaboration with the Health Sponsorship Council (HSC) and other agencies but the school took full ownership for developing the initiative and making it work for the local community.Read more...

Kapiti College

Queen Charlotte Kapiti CollegeStudents from Kapiti College in Raumati have been showing other colleges how to combat youth smoking. Students have developed their own smokefree strategic plan, which includes a peer-led quit smoking programme believed to be unique in New Zealand colleges.

Queen Charlotte College

When Year 13 students at Queen Charlotte College in Picton, realised they were all smokefree, they decided to let everyone know it! The students formed a smokefree section of the school's health committee and decided to make a smokefree poster out of the Year 13 school photo.

Taumarunui High School

In 2008, the newly appointed principal of Taumarunui High School decided to tackle the increasing problem of smoking in the school. A Smokefree Coordinator was appointed and the school has since made huge efforts to promote smokefree both in the school and community.

Tikipunga Primary School

Staff at Tikipunga Primary School in Whangarei are 100% smokefree because they want to be role models for their students as well as parents and the community. It’s about walking the talk and empowering students to stay smokefree.

Alfriston College

Alfreston College takes a holistic approach to smokefree. This whole-of-person approach incorporates the school's smoke-free policy. The school is pleased with the way that a combination of public education and the school's smoke-free policy is impacting on the health of students Read more