Vape detection for schools
The toilets are where it happens, and a camera is never the answer. A sensor is.
You already know which toilet block it is
Every secondary school we walk round has one, and everyone knows which.
Vaping in school toilets is a pastoral problem, an attendance problem and, increasingly, a safeguarding one. It is also the hardest place in a school to do anything about, because the one tool that would answer the question — a camera — is the one tool that must never go there.
An environmental sensor does not take pictures. It reports readings: a vape index, air quality, particulates, noise, occupancy. When the index rises, named staff get an alert saying which room and when, and somebody walks round. That is the whole mechanism, and its modesty is the point.
Three sensors, and the one that matters
For toilets and changing rooms the SV23 is the usual specification. The SV21 has no vape index at all, and the SV25 adds measurements most schools will not use.
- SV23 for toilets. Vape index, TVOC, particulates, air quality, noise and motion.
- SV21 for classrooms. Temperature, humidity and CO₂ — an air-quality argument, not a vaping one.
- SV25 where it earns it. Adds carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, light and pressure.
- No images, ever. None of them has a camera, and none records audio content.
How the alert should feed your behaviour policy
Get this right at the start and the sensor does its job for years without ever causing you an argument.
The vape index scores likelihood from one to a hundred, and it is designed as a prompt: it tells a member of staff where to go and when, while it is still happening. That immediacy is the whole value — a member of staff walking in is worth more than any amount of after-the-fact evidence.
Write your policy so the sensor sends someone to look, and the sanction rests on what they find. That is Verkada’s own guidance and it is what the schools who get the most out of these do. It also keeps you on solid ground with a parent, because the case rests on a person, not a number.
Specify it as what it is — an air-quality sensor. It sits outside the fire strategy, alongside your fire alarm rather than as any part of it.
The privacy work, done before installation
A sensor in a toilet is still processing information about identifiable people, in a place where their expectation of privacy is at its highest. Getting this right protects the school.
Tell people
Staff, pupils and parents should know the sensors are there and what they do. A sensor discovered is a sensor that becomes a complaint.
Write a DPIA
Short, specific: what is collected, why, who sees it, how long it is kept. The ICO expects one for monitoring of this kind, and we will give you a starting point.
Nothing in the cubicle
Sensors go in the communal area of a toilet block, not inside a cubicle.
No camera nearby that identifies who went in
Verkada's guidance suggests cameras outside such areas; we will not fit one that turns a sensor alert into surveillance of an individual by the back door.
The operational side nobody quotes for
Decide the response first
An alert with no agreed response becomes noise within a fortnight. Who walks, what they say, what is recorded.
Start with two or three blocks
The ones already in your behaviour log. Prove it, then extend.
Expect a spike, then a fall
Schools typically see a rise as pupils test it, then a marked drop. Stratford School Academy reports a 67% decrease in vape events over three years — their figure, in Verkada's published story.
Tell the pupils
Deterrence is most of the value, and it only works if they know.
Watch for displacement
It moves to the block without a sensor. That is a good sign and an argument for the next two.
Use the air-quality data too
CO₂ and temperature in classrooms is a genuine estates argument that helps justify the spend.
A sensor reads the air. It does not watch anybody
This is the one place in a school where surveillance is both most tempting and completely unlawful. The sensor exists precisely so that you never have to have the camera conversation about a toilet block.
- No lens, no microphone recording speech. It measures air quality, and the vape index is a likelihood signal rather than proof that somebody vaped.
- It is not a smoke or fire detector. It does not replace your fire alarm and must never be described as though it does.
- The alert names the block. It goes to the pastoral staff you nominate, so somebody walks down rather than a camera looks in.
- Pair it with the corridor, not the cubicle. A camera on the corridor outside gives you who went in and when. That is the lawful half of the picture.
Questions we get asked
Can we prove who was vaping?
Will it go off constantly?
Do we have to tell pupils?
Is it a fire detector?
Sources
Everything on this page is taken from these. Checked 25 September 2026.
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