Pupils can turn up at lunchtime at Darton High School

Errant youngsters are also being allowed to take cups of ­coffee into classrooms and being allowed to turn up for lessons at lunchtime in a bid to get them to stay at school.

Education chiefs claim the moves will raise standards, but campaigners last night reacted with anger at the prospect of children dragging on fake cigarettes while sipping mugs of ­cappuccino at their desks.

The relaxed, flexitime-style ­initiative is just one of a series of measures being introduced at secondary schools in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Health officials worked with education staff to devise the scheme after research showed one in three children in Britain’s most deprived areas smoke by the time they reach 14.

Barnsley Primary Health Care Trust has dedicated “indefinite” taxpayers’ funding for the nicotine replacement treatments.