Excellence in Schools 75
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Another student, openly struggling with vaping addiction, shared: “Now I can’t just walk out. This stricter approach has actually helped me start breaking the habit.” A Model for Others Our approach at GEMS has been proactive, deliberate, and ongoing and the results are clear. Term after term, we’ve seen improvements not just in vaping reduction, but in creating a healthier, more aspirational school culture. By combining high expectations, modern detection tools, targeted education, and reimagined infrastructure, we have made meaningful progress. We encourage other schools to explore similar interventions- whether that’s rethinking shared spaces, investing in detection technology, or creating open forums for dialogue. The key is unity: a collective commitment from staff, parents, and students to say, with absolute clarity, that this trend will not be allowed to harm the futures of our young people.
(never within cubicles) to ensure safety and traceability in case of alarm activation. This change significantly reduced opportunities for group vaping. Toilets are now functional, respectful, and secure environments. As a result, behavioural incidents fell, and students reported feeling safer and more comfortable. This adaptation is now under consideration across other GEMS British and International schools. We also tightened policy, limiting toilet use during lessons to emergencies only. Leadership teams report this has reduced opportunities for distraction, improved attendance in class, and boosted engagement. More time in lessons has meant more learning-students have responded with greater focus and purpose. A Year 10 student from one of our British Cluster Schools reflected: “There was nothing stopping me before, I knew I could just leave to vape.”
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GEMS WELLINGTON ACADEMY
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