Vaping – KS3 form time activities

In these 3 form time sessions, students learn about social pressures around vaping, its impact, and the effects of nicotine on the adolescent brain:

• Vaping: What and why? 
• Vaping: The impact 
• Vaping: Nicotine

Includes a "Guidance for teaching about vaping" document to support one-to-one conversations with young people.

Curriculum

Supports the Health Education curriculum

By the end of secondary school, students should know:

• The facts about legal and illegal drugs and their associated risks, including the link between drug use and the associated risks, including the link to serious mental health issues.
• The physical and psychological consequences of addiction, including alcohol dependency.

Supports the PSHE curriculum

KS3 – Students learn:

• H23 – the positive and negative uses of drugs in society, including the safe use of prescribed and over-the-counter medicines; responsible use of antibiotics.
• H24 – to evaluate the misconceptions, social norms and cultural values relating to drug, alcohol and tobacco use. 
• H25 – strategies to manage a range of influences on drug, alcohol and tobacco use, including peers. 
• H26 – information about alcohol, nicotine and other legal and illegal substances, including the short-term and long-term health risks associated with their use.
• H27 – the personal and social risks and consequences of substance use and misuse, including occasional use. 
• H28 – the law relating to the supply, use and misuse of legal and illegal substances. 
• H29 – about the concepts of dependence and addiction, including awareness of help to overcome addictions.

Supports the Biology curriculum

KS3 – Gas exchange systems

• The impact of exercise, asthma and smoking on the human gas exchange system.

Learning outcomes

Vaping: What and why?

After this activity, students will be able to:

• understand the basic effects and legalities of vaping
• understand the impact of social pressure on decision-making

Vaping: The impact

After this activity, students will be able to:

• explain the social, health and environmental impacts of vaping

Vaping: Nicotine

After this activity, students will be able to:

• explain the effects of nicotine on the brain
• understand the signs and impact of addiction