A school that wanted to serve alcohol to sixth formers at social events has been told it cannot do so.

Queenswood, a private girls’ school in Hertfordshire, said it wanted to introduce an “educational” system of alcohol vouchers for 16- to 18-year-olds at occasional evening social events.

However, a provincial council health adviser criticized the idea, saying it risked “normalizing” alcohol consumption and had no educational basis for it.

Welwyn Hatfield Council rejected the application, citing the lack of a proposed school alcohol policy as one of the reasons for rejecting it.

It is legal for 16 and 17 year olds to drink beer, cider or wine during meals as long as they are accompanied by an adult.

The decision to reject this request was made in a council meeting earlier this weekhe Local Democracy Reporting Service saying.

Stephanie Hall, the school’s catering director, told the council’s alcohol and regulated entertainment sub-committee that pupils with parental permission could drink up to two glasses of beer, cider or wine with a meal at events held around of the three. times a year.

The school’s deputy headteacher, Ceri Stokes, said other schools had organized “social drinking” events and she felt they had been “educational”, allowing students to come up with “tactics” on how to say no to drinking.

He said the purpose of the proposal was “to get them to learn skills.”

For some girls who had never been in that situation, she said, the school, near Potters Bar, wanted to “give them little tools and tricks so they can prepare themselves.”

However, Aideen Dunne, public health consultant for Hertfordshire County Council, suggested the plan was more social than educational.

“This is not an evidence-based approach to youth harm reduction,” he said.

“Any intervention that seeks to normalize alcohol consumption among young people should not necessarily be considered to benefit students.

“We don’t necessarily need to give young people resilience and skills by giving them alcohol. We don’t give them drugs…we teach them about harm,” he added.

Welwyn-Hatfield councilors raised concerns about the proposal, with one saying it was “a shame” the school had not submitted a proposed alcohol policy alongside its application.

The school said it would have an alcohol policy if granted permission, but councilors cited the current lack of one as a reason for rejecting the application.