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Canterbury high school students have been using VR headsets and a cellphone app to learn about the dangers of vaping.
Rangiora High School is one of four schools taking part in a pilot of the Ministry of Education anti-vaping programme.
Acting principal Remihana Emery told Nine to Noon that students - particularly junior students - hiding in toilet blocks to vape was becoming a problem.
The school installed sensors and cameras in the corridors to catch anti-social behaviour.
He said the programme was a non-punitive way to combat vaping, and there had already been positive feedback from the students involved.
"One of the year 11 students from the level one health class said, 'Gee I wish I had access to this as a junior student.' So that just goes to show that the need for it is more so at the junior level, as an informative and potentially preventative way for students to think twice about their vaping."
The programme uses videos and quizzes involving teenagers in the app and the VR headset to help dispel some of the myths about vaping, and teach students about the dangers.
Emery said it was worthwhile for vapers and non-vapers.
"There's things that I have learnt even just doing parts of the programme that I have just jumped in. Some of it's actually really, really confronting.
"As teachers and as kura, our job is to provide information and guide. And if we can continue to give our students all the information we have, so ultimately they can make an informed decision on their choices on whether to be vaping or anything, I think that's a good thing."
He said the programme involved information about the nicotine contained in vape juice and advertising from tobacco companies. Emery said by using tools students already used every day, it met them where they were.
"The language that they use, the scenarios that they set, even the videos that are contained in the software, are all directed and engaging towards teenagers.
"Obviously, the cellphone is the number one tool that our teenagers are using these days… using a tool that is already relevant in the lives of the majority of our teenagers, that is probably the number one hook."
He would like to see the pilot expanded across the whole school.
