On Thursday, P7 had a visit from Lisa from Smoking Matters. They spent the afternoon doing a multitude of activities to help them reflect on why people start smoking, and to raise their awareness of the impact smoking has on health.

We learned about changes to the law regarding smoking in cars with children and the changes to packaging to reduce the temptation to buy cigarettes.

We learned that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, so when you start smoking, it is incredibly difficult to stop.

The children worked in groups to answer true/false questions about smoking.

They discovered that cigarettes contain up to 4000 chemicals and, using gloves and safety coats, they mixed some of the chemicals in a bowl. The mixture looked and smelled disgusting!

The children compared exercising with and without limited lung capacity. It was a shocking sensation to not be able to take a full breath!

They looked at images of smoker’s fingernails, tongues and teeth. Lisa took photos of two volunteers who agreed to have their images aged as though they had been smokers. All of the pictures were very off-putting.

We worked out how much smoking a pack a day would cost for a year and more. We decided we would rather spend the money on something else! 

We learned that electronic cigarettes are just as harmful as normal cigarettes to non smokers. 

Finally, we prepared the phrase, “No thanks. I don’t smoke,” in case we are offered a cigarette in the future.

I hope you remember that message, boys and girls. We care greatly about your health.