The Nelson Thomlinson School
Cumbrian school sparks outrage as it installs CCTV cameras in its toilets to catch vaping students
-
by Dave Cross
Share on:
The Nelson Thomlinson School is a co-educational 11-18 Comprehensive School and Sixth Form located in Wigton, Cumbria. It has 1263 (48.6% boys 51.4% girls) on its roll, of which fewer than 10% are on free meal support.
The school has made no mention of the toilet surveillance on their Facebook page or Twitter account. The most recent communique on the website from the Headteacher is a letter from September 2019.
The local paper reports that parents were recently notified that cameras would be going up inside the toilets “for the safety of the youngsters.”
It cites one parent saying: “I can’t believe they’re doing this; the children need to have privacy. When they go to the toilets and come out it's not right that they will be getting filmed. I don’t understand why they think it is ok to film them. I have a daughter and I don’t want her being filmed while she is in the toilets.”
Sam Northwood says that there have always been cameras in the toilets, the school is simply replacing them with upgraded models to deter outbreaks of vandalism and “the illegal use of vapes in the toilet.”
Northwood told the News and Star that the cameras would not be filming children inside cubicles.
The truth is that this isn’t a simple upgrade, the school is expanding its surveillance – as the Headteacher told journalists: “We have indeed begun to extend our CCTV coverage, which already exists in a number of communal areas around the school site; all parents have been made aware.
“The toilets themselves (cubicles/urinals) are not covered by cameras – for obvious reasons.
“The original cameras were installed two decades ago and have proved over that period to be of great benefit in helping to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all pupils at our school and to maintain the best possible environment for them.
“We are very grateful to the many parents and children who have responded so positively to news of the recent extension.”
In 2013, Ofsted inspectors wrote: “The quality of leadership and management from the headteacher and senior leaders is a strength of the school. They, together with the governing body, have a very clear view of how well the school is doing and what it needs to do to improve further. Senior leaders and managers demonstrate a clear commitment and determination to drive the continued improvement of teaching and students’ achievement.”
Action being taken by The Nelson Thomlinson School mirrors some of the extreme measures adopted in some American schools including handheld metal detectors, closing toilet facilities, removing the doors from cubicles, and even calling the police to arrest vaping teens.
ASH UK and Cancer Research UK’s annual survey looking at teen use has shown that most youths who vape are or used to be smokers, constitute a very small minority, and represent a group whose numbers continue to drop.
Photo Credit:
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous vape companies to develop content for their websites.
Join the discussion
Trading Standards Welcomes Clarity
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute says it welcomes the “clarity and action from government to tackle youth vaping” with the plan to ban disposable vapes and related announcements
-
by Dave Cross
UKVIA Writes To Sunak
The UKVIA has sent a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to 'express profound dismay and disappointment' that the government has decided to proceed with a ban on disposable vapes
-
by Dave Cross
FOI Shows Disposables Ban Folly
389 Freedom of Information requests made by leading online retailer Vape Club and one by the BBC demonstrate the extent to which a ban on disposable vapes is a complete act of folly
-
by Dave Cross
ASH UK’s Coordinated Comment
Action on Smoking and Health has coordinated a series of responses to the Governments proposals to include interested parties
-
by Dave Cross
