The school where a teacher lit a cigarette in the classroom has been warned that it will be prosecuted if it allows smoking on the premises.

Teacher Jim McIntee was reprimanded by the independent fee-paying Canterbury Rudolf Steiner School after he lit up and offered the cigarette to pupils during a lesson aimed at deterring them from smoking.

Now the school has been warned by the city council that it will be prosecuted if it allows smoking on the premises.

And an anti-smoking group has warned that even a single cigarette smoked as a child can encurage people to take up smoking in later life.

The incident prompted at least three sets of parents to remove their children from the school in Chartham, near Canterbury.

Since July, smoking has been banned in all public building.

Council spokesman Rob Davies said: “We wrote to the school warning them about allowing smoking in a public building and asking for an explanation about what happened.

“They replied and from our point of view it’s case closed. However, if it happens again the school will be prosecuted.”

Meanwhile anti-smoking groups have condemned Mr McIntee's actions.

Ed Yong, health information manager from Cancer Research UK, said: "Schools have an important role to play in educating children about the dangers of smoking but we do not think lighting a cigarette in the classroom is the right way to do this.

"Nicotine is very addictive and our research shows that trying a single cigarette can make children more likely to take up smoking several years later.“

A spokesman from Action on Smoking and Health agreed saying: "It’s hard to see how giving kids a cigarette in that way would prevent them from taking it up as a habit.

The teacher should have understood how he was breaking the law by smoking in a public place."