A Birmingham academy school has benefited from a smart sensor that helps it to tackle vaping. Like many secondary schools it had identified that its students were using the toilets to vape.
The numbers of young people vaping rose sharply between 2021 and 2023 according to the public health charity, ASH, although the numbers have now stabilised. According to ASH, as of 2025, 20% of 11–17-year-olds in Great Britain had tried vaping.
The King Edward VI Balaam Wood Academy located in Rubery, Birmingham contacted Ecl-ips following a recommendation from another school within the trust.
The company has cabled and installed twelve Halo Smart Sensors, manufactured by Motorola Solutions. These have also been connected to a cloud dashboard allowing the school to view the devices in one place making it easier to spot problem areas.
Martin Hathaway, Estates Facilities and Sustainability Manager, at The Schools of King Edward VI Trust said: “The system works. It does what it says – it detects vape emissions and alerts us in real time. I would recommend this system to any secondary school that believes they may have vaping onsite issues. “Whenever vape emissions are detected, the system sends an alert to our caretakers’ phones who immediately investigate, then the guilty students are managed to prevent it happening again.”
Since the installation the school also found that it is was not just the students who were breaking the school’s no vaping rules. The HALO Smart Sensors alerted staff to customers who had hired the sports hall in the evening and were vaping in the changing room toilets!
