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Half of pupils do not even remember the lessons they have received on smoking, alcohol or drugs

Pastoral issues PSHE Pupil wellbeing
Only around half of 11 to 15-year-olds say they get enough information about alcohol, drugs and smoking from their school, a major annual study has found. Many of the pupils involved in the research said they could not actually remember the lessons that their schools had given them on these topics.

The findings come from the annual Survey of Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use Among Young People which involves more than 6,000 students in 210 secondary schools.

Commissioned by the Health Service Information Centre and carried out by NatCen Social Research, the figures show that only 56 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds feel they have received enough information about alcohol, 54 per cent about drugs, and 60 per cent about smoking.

Given that almost all of the 210 schools involved had taught all their pupils about these issues at least once in the previous year, the researchers suggest that the problem might be related to the frequency of lessons and discussions.

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