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.

Rhode Street School in Dinsdale, Hamilton promotes the benefits of a smokefree lifestyle like most schools in New Zealand but has taken a step closer to supporting its school community (including staff, whanau, and local residents) by aiming to become smokefree as a whole community.
By making it a priority through their school Charter, strategic plan and annual plans the school promotes and supports quitting smoking through positive role modelling, appropriate resourcing, and taking action with small achievable steps. Their “Street by Street Programme” is being developed and launched to support this.
Promoting the benefits of being smokefree has always been part of the school’s local curriculum plan which encouraged the students to make positive healthy choices. But when their students went back into the wider community they were often faced with tobacco advertising, peer pressure to smoke, and whanau smoking. The school however did not want to become the Anti-Smoking Police, instead adopting an inclusive approach that ensured a model of supportive encouragement is fostered to assist where needed and awhi those who want support.
Several of the school’s staff smoke as well as some board members, so the school’s Principal contacted HSC (Health Sponsorship Council) to assist in planning a sustainable programme that would support staff and board members to quit for life, leading onto supporting parents and whanau who also wanted to quit. Starting within their own whanau then moving to the streets and homes around their school, the Street by Street programme took shape.
“As principal it was incumbent upon me to lead this initiative and work with my board to implement the policy guidelines necessary to support the procedures we would implement as a school community. Selecting a leading support person within my staff to champion the programme meant finding someone whom the staff and parents of the school knew and respected. I also provided support for this person by teaming them up with our local public health nurse and meeting regularly with them and Smokefree staff to plan our strategies, organise resources, and launch the initiative in 2011 (initially to staff first and then our community).”
The school will continue to work alongside the many support agencies available to it through a coordinated approach and model from within the benefits of living a smokefree life. Walking the talk and taking it to the streets in a positive and supportive way will help this school and its students fulfil its goal to be a truly smokefree school.

Shane Ngatai, Principal of Rhode Street School: Ngatai@rhodestreet.school.nz

References

1 The National Administration Guidelines, (Ministry of Education) Nag: 5
2 Smoke free law in New Zealand. (Ministry of Health)