Advice from a teacher/ TA School lunch

[Crosswhatdoyouthink]

If a child has just started at school and has an illness that that involves not having a certain ingredient in their diet ,is it considered acceptable / the norm for the child to eat meal on a separate table from the other children ?

Not something I've ever seen. If it's an allergen, school will either make sure noone brings the allergen in their packed lunches or in extreme cases they may pass the child eating elsewhere with supervision. Most schools are nut free anyway but you should definitely make sure school is aware of the issue

It was up to the parent. We've had kids sit on their own tables, in a classroom with a friend, away from children if there's a known allergen etc.

I think you need to provide more information.

During Reception when they had their free milk, DDs class had a milk table and s water table for snack time.

Child has Coeliac so Gluten Free ++ . So not an allergy. School has provided GF food . The parents have expressed that the child is treated exactly the same as other children and specifically asked that child eats with the other children . Am just wondering how it works in schools generally..we are new to having a child at school.

At my child's school the vegetarians have to sit together. He has never complained and it means he has made friends with some other children he wouldn't perhaps have otherwise but if he wasn't happy I'd have said something because it seems very unnecessary (I work in a school).

I may be wrong but my understanding of coeliac disease is they can't eat any gluten containing products so being near other people eating gluten won't be an issue as they aren't actually ingesting any gluten themselves

There is a coeliac in my DDs class at Reception. She sits in the dining hall with as the rest of her class.

They manage allergies with different coloured plates and laminated cards on their trays that state their allergies. They also have a TA on the table to keep an eye on them. My daughter is on the same table as she also has dietary needs, then the other 4-5 seats on the table are friends.

Schools are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. There will always be someone moaning.

One of the schools my kids were in had allergen free tables and a non-allergen free tables, someone with Coeliac would have gone on the allergen free table as the issue was with kids (surreptitiously) swapping food, not concern about someone so sensitive that being near the allergen was a worry (that was dealt with by not having the allergen in the building). But most schools they’ve attended have just told kids not to share food and they’ve all sat together.

In my school any dietary requirements are indicated by relevant children wearing lanyards in the lunch hall and given their food on a coloured tray (often red). They sit with, in and amongst their non-dietary requirement peers unless parents have requested otherwise.

Thank you. That is what I thought would be the approach at school. It was managed well at nursery !

Absolutely not moaning but asking for advice!

Exactly.

Perhaps work with the school and try to understand the action they have taken and why. You don't know how good their knowledge OF celiac is and they may be treating it more like a nut allergy.

Go in with an open mind and gather information. For eg there may not be enough staff to watch her to ensure she doesn't take food from others.

I'm not sure what you're asking here. Do you want your DD sat at a different table? Or is that what the school are proposing and you object?
In either case, it seems unnecessary

Perhaps seating them at another table is the school policy and risk assessment on managing dietary requirements, and they are therefore treating this child the same as the others with dietary requirements.

OP, speak the school and ask them.

DS1's best friend was allergic to fish and ate at a separate table with friends who did not have fish in their lunch. He had a lot of anxiety around his allergy though so not sure if this was to help with that.

When i was in primary, there was a girl who was allergic to everything. She had her own 1-1 TA all the time, ate lunch separately and you had to wash your hands before you could play with her.

so it happens but feel like it’s extreme cases!

Yes that is the plan for tomorrow but just wondering what is the usual procedure. We did emphasise to the teacher at home visit ,that the child was to sit with classmates.

That is now the plan for tomorrow,we had made it very clear that child should sit with the other children. Child is very aware of not sharing food etc. Thank you for your advice.X

How did you get on today OP?

I am not in the dinner hall, but frequently pop in and out through lunch.

I regularly see kids with dirty hands touching other kid's trays/food; a million crumbs in all directions and food spraying from mouths all about the place. They watched over by a team of 2, who care amazingly and lovingly for our children, but have limited English (brilliant in more dominant languages in our school though...) and so a slight language barrier with class teachers. They are fast and messy eaters as 7 year groups need to get through there in 30 minutes to allow for cleaning before it becomes the P.E. hall

I cook regularly for coeliac family and would see our school dinner hall as one ginormous cross contamination risk. Find out what yours is like carefully, before you get them seated in with everyone, just in case it's like mine!

At DS school TAs don’t supervise children closelg after Year 3, so children with serious allergies (ie anaphalaxis) must eat away from other kids. Usually kids with the same allergen eat packed lunch on a seperate table with individuals eating in the classroom with their teacher. Celiac disease isn’t classed as a serious allergy