Can a school/college (sixth form in Britain) punish you for smoking outside of school hours/grounds?

No not really apart from lecturing you on the evil weed. When you’re not in school it’s not their problem.

It depends on the rules of your school. It is against the rules to smoke outside of school? If it is, then they can punish you.

My school used to punish people for smoking on school grounds or during the school day outside the school if you are in uniform.l if you are not in uniform or on the school grounds they cannot tell you off for smoking. My mates school had all the shops in the area get extra strict on iding students for cigs tho as a way of ensuring no under 18s got hold of cigs during school hours. i mean even to the extent that i saw some of the younger teachers getting id’d for cigs, they are about 30 years old!

It depends on your school policy, and it varies from area to area.

When I was in high school, I got in big trouble (detention and police called, as I was under 18 and in possession of tobacco) for smoking off school property, and before school hours, like you describe. The idea was that the school is partially responsible for me from the time I headed off to school to the time I got home, which, I think, is nuts.

Think it would depend on school rules, and whether you were wearing your school uniform.
They may think you are letting the school down if caught smoking.

It completely depends on the schools code of conduct. Some schools have stricter codes of conducts for athletics and other extra-curricular activities because these students are often representing the school off campus and after hours. There have been cases where the schools punish students (by suspending them from the extra-curricular activities) because of their actions that go against their code of conduct even when it’s not during school hours and not on campus.

@Seaofclouds They don’t mention anything about it in the code of conduct, and I don’t know how to check without sounding a bit suspect haha :P Thanks for your answer.

@TheOnlyException Most schools (at least here in the states) hand out the code of conduct books at the beginning of the year and also have it on the school’s website. If your school has a website, I’d check there first. If not, if you go into the main office, just tell them you are doing some research about school policies and you need a copy of the code of conduct.

I don’t know about you, but at the school my kids go to, if you smoke on school grounds it is against the law.

If you are legally allowed to smoke, given age and location, then it comes down to the school rules.

@Seaofclouds I will double check them, but as far as I can remember all it says is that I am not allowed to smoke ON school grounds.
Nothing about smoking near them. Thanks again for your answer.

Hey, I’m not sure what age you are, and I think this is important as the answer really depends on whether you are 18 or over, or under 18.

If you are under 18, I suspect the school may be able to take some sort of action. Firstly, if you bought the cigarettes yourself, and are under 18, this isn’t legal. As schools intend to take a broad view of how their pupils and students develop inside and outside of school, if they become aware that you are breaking the law, they will have some sort of pastoral responsibility for you, and probably wouldn’t be able to turn a blind eye. Secondly, if you are under 18, as a “child” in the eyes of the law, your school’s duty of care towards you may be rather more enhanced and all-encompassing than it would be if you were an adult student.

Having said that, the situation isn’t totally clear. As others have said, school policies vary from place to place, and so it’s hard to know how your school would react. Furthermore, the situation becomes a little more complicated, because if your Sixth Form was anything like mine, you’ll have free periods and gaps in your schedule where you can leave the premises, and thus, it’s not clear how the school’s duty of care would apply here.

If you are over 18, and thus an adult and legally able to purchase tobacco, I shouldn’t think your school would be able to take any action, provided you a) aren’t smoking on their premises, and b) not wearing any sort of school uniform. Pastorally, they may have concerns and want to try to discourage you from smoking, but as you aren’t doing anything that is illegal, I don’t really think they could take this further.

I think in your situation, I would be really frank and ask a trusted member of staff where you stand in terms of what the school rules are. You’ve clearly thought about this, and I see nothing wrong with approaching a teacher that you like and respect, and asking them. Whilst there’s a chance they might try to lecture you a bit (!), I think they would respect your honesty in asking for clarification.

@reverie wow fantastic answer! I am 17 at the moment, so yes I am purchasing said cigarettes illegally. My school is very very into pastoral care, when my parents kicked me out, my teacher overheard me talking about it with my friends and he took me aside and talked about it with me and then he told my head of sixth form who then went on to tell the headmistress… 0_o

I think it is better I be a little more careful where I have a smoke, maybe before I catch the bus to school would be better!
Thanks again for the brilliant answer!

Aw thanks, I’m happy to help! :) I think you’re right – just make sure to be careful not to get spotted! I think if they caught you, whilst they may have to tell you off, I doubt they’d take it further as I’m sure they understand what it’s like to be young and to have a lot of stressful things going on.

Sounds like a bad situation with your parents, I’m sorry to hear that. It seems like we went to quite similar-sounding schools, when I was at sixth form (which was part of my primary/secondary school), friends of mine that smoked (legally – they were over 16, and it was before the age limit was raised) got into a bit of trouble with the teachers for being seen smoking and smelling of cigarettes, even though they weren’t on the school premises and were wearing their own clothes. I remember my friends being irritated by it at the time, but I think in retrospect, I’d sooner that the school cared enough about the welfare of the students to make a fuss, even though the annoyance for students is understandable!

@reverie Yes, my school is quite a ahem ‘posh’ school.. 0_o
i.e. they would make a bigger fuss out of ‘innapropriate behaviour’ than rougher schools that get a lot of this behaviour quite in their faces haha
Sort of annoying really, but definitely understandable, and i will probably appreciate it a lot more in hindsight when i’m older.

Its quite funny about the difference between how schools handle the students behaviour outside of school really. Because one of my teachers, (one of the ones who smelled smoke on me, mentioned it in another question regarding this sort of thing), used to work in this extremely rough, racist, comprehensive.

a friend of mine and myself were the only ones to turn up to a revision session at lunch and she was acting absolutely mad, just to embarrass me in front of him, making jokes of a ahem sexual nature
later on i saw him at the bus stop and i joked that she was on cannabis, and he bloody believed me.

eep. wont be making that joke again 0_o
haha :)