Pembroke’s Henry Tudor School has become the latest to ban people from smoking outside its school gates.

It has made the move ahead of new laws due to come into force in March across Wales, which will see smoking banned in the grounds of school and hospital grounds and in children’s playgrounds across Wales.

The Smokefree Schoolgates campaign was originally launched by tobacco control campaign group ASH Wales in 2015 and more schools are now coming on board due to the new legislation.

Visitors to Henry Tudor School will now be greeted at the school gates by a banner asking them not to smoke, which was designed by one of the pupils.

Deputy Headteacher Andrew Barlow said: “Our main aim is to stop parents who pick up their children from smoking in front of other pupils and to stop older pupils from smoking as they leave the school.

“So far we’ve had a really positive reaction from both staff and pupils particularly those who have been involved in the design of the stop smoking banner. The school council are also happy because this was something they’d campaigned for.

“We very much hope this will result in a decline in pupils lighting up as they leave school and we feel it’s crucially important to de-normalise smoking in the eyes of young people and change parents’ attitudes towards smoking in front of children.”

Currently in Wales eight per cent of 15- 16-year-olds smoke at least weekly.

ASH Wales is campaigning for all schools across Wales to ban smoking at the school gates. Suzanne Cass, CEO of ASH Wales said: “We are really pleased that Henry Tudor has joined the many schools in Wales in making the forward-thinking decision to introduce smoke-free school gates and we hope that others will follow suit.”