The school holds drug information evenings about once a year for parents of children at Moss Vale High and at the primary schools which feed into it.

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education head teacher Jenni Raison said many parents had little idea of the sort of drugs their children were most at risk of.

She said it was important for the school to base their drug education programs around feedback from students, parents and the community.

"We are getting students from years 7 to 11 together in focus groups next week to ask them what they think are the big issues with drugs, and that gives us really rich information about what we should do next year," Mrs Raison said.

"The difference between what we think kids are doing and coming into contact with and what they really are is often more than we think."

One example Mrs Raison pointed to was the increased use of cannabis by young people, which had led to it becoming an education priority for younger years.

The information evening was designed to help parents understand what their children were being taught at school and to look at the real facts and figures on teenage drug use.

Many parents were surprised to discover the low percentage of youths using ecstasy, despite the media attention it got, compared with the high number of under-aged binge drinkers.

"We really focus on the dangers of binge drinking because not only is it bad for their health, but its also one of the riskiest situations they can put themselves in, in terms of drink driving, unprotected sex and other things," Mrs Raison said.

She said there were increasing numbers of alcoholic drinks on the market aimed at young girls and that girls were nearly level with boys in alcohol abuse statistics for the first time.