|  Schools
in Sheffield are taking part in a Smoke
Free Class competition to help prevent young
people from taking up smoking. 10-14 year
old pupils from 22 classes across the city
will declare their smoking status each week
to see which class can remain smoke-free
for the duration of the competition. Incentives
come in the form of prizes including a whole
class trip to Alton Towers, CD players and
cash for schools.
Organised by
the Healthy School Standard team and the
Sheffield NHS Stop Smoking Service, the
competition is based upon a successful smoking
prevention campaign, currently run in 15
European countries. Around 450 young people
in Britain start smoking every day. Sheffield
is the first city in England to run the
Smoke Free Class competition and aims to
reduce the number of young people starting
smoking in the city.
Giles Ratcliffe of
Healthy Schools says: “Young people
are often influenced by their peers, which
can mean they decide to experiment with
cigarettes. However this competition is
a way of using the positive influence of
class mates to give the group as a whole
the incentive to stay smoke free.”
Participating schools
include Pipworth Junior School, Stocksbridge
High School, Abbeydale Grange, Chaucer School,
Lowedges Primary and Pyebank Junior School.
The competition will end on Friday 14th
May, and the winning class will be presented
with prizes for both the school and the
students.
Margaret Lowe, Healthy
Schools Coordinator at Stocksbridge High
School says: “This competition is
effectively discouraging experimentation
with smoking. It’s a great idea to
have a prize for each of the students as
well as for the school, because it gives
them a real incentive to stay smoke free.
“We have also
used the opportunity to consult with parents
about their thoughts on smoking, which we
will use to inform and update the school’s
smoking policy.”
Josh Hutton (12)
of class 8TA is participating in the competition.
He says: “I’m hoping that we
win and go to Alton Towers. I think we’re
doing well as a class because 3 people were
smoking in our class but now they’ve
given up. They don’t want to let their
friends down.”
For further
information about the competition, please
contact Giles Ratcliffe on 0114
226 4724 |
