School telling us to remove nut trees from community orchard

[Calling]

We are in a local voluntary group and local people planted an orchard in the grounds of a school, for the school.

Now, the school has written to say that we have to remove the nut trees because one pupil has a bad nut allergy.

There are fruit and nut trees, that the local people planted some years ago and we have put a lot of work into weeding and watering. The yield was actually for the kids and we are volunteering with the school with and nature sessions outside.

Before anyone says we are potential child killers, we do understand the importance of safety. There is a management plan in place, but the school has been asked by a parent to remove our trees.
I do feel disheartened - nobody in the school said no to nut trees originally.

Never seen anyone have an anaphylactic reaction to daffs. You?

You need to give the school a break. The senior leaders have several stressful issues to deal with every day and having a nut tree in a school, especially with Benedict’s law now, is a bad idea. They are just responding to the way the world is. There’s not a lot else they can do.

I would say that you are unwilling to fell the tress due to the risk of doing so, the expense and time. You ca say that if this doesn’t work for the school you will happily hand over care of the orchard to them. I would also ask them if they have done any research/risk assessment into whether the felling of a tree is more likely to shed/spread allergens than leaving it alone. Both my daughter and DH have allergies and have to carry epi pens. However, I cannot understand how a nut encased in a shell on a tree/the ground is any more of a risk than a nut in a packet in a shop. It would be far more sensible to keep the child away from the orchard…I am also very anti felling healthy trees.

Very easy to pull out though and look just like onions.

Can’t possibly have that!

I don't personally know whether nut free dining rooms are appropriate, I'll follow the advice.

But the food hall is one thing, not being able to enter a nature area because some volunteers chose nut trees is just different. As I said, I wouldn't grow wheat or have a milking shed either.

This!

Omg we've had ban daffs, knock schools down as fixtures and fittings lethal apparently.

Can the op & others not see 'nut trees' are a totally unnecessary and rather silly risk??

Well exactly it wasn’t that long ago a little boy died after coming into contact with cheese at school. Never come across a dairy free school.

Oh yes, school kids often dig up bulbs and eat them. Happens all the time.

Wow, are you dismissing anyone who is in danger from them?

Even one is one too many!

I would think this is an opportunity for the parents to teach their child about nut safety. That way, they will be prepared for other non nut free situations. While it must be very hard to have a severe nut allergy, they can't expect everyone everywhere to remove all traces of nuts. It just isn't possible. This is a lot to ask of volunteers and will deprive ALL the other children.

As volunteers, I would not agree to this.

Children are supervised in the world, but less so at school. I genuinely don't understand how people can't grasp this.

I find this sort of tangential example pointless really.

You think the nut trees should stay, I think they should go.

You don't have to bring lots of irrelevant stuff into it, it's ok for us just to disagree about what's under discussion.

That's very unfair. the OP is allowed to express her sadness about all the hard work while still wanting to do what's best for the child.

They are taking the laburnum down because their children were so uneducated about nature they ate the seeds?! Wow. The extent to which we are divorced from nature is insane.

Don't suggest it - TELL them if they want to fell the nut tree(s) then they will have to do it and bear the cost and labour.

No way are they safer in the wider world! The safest way is to teach them how to deal with an allergen world.

Surely it should be easy to manage risk in school cafeterias? If a volunteer put piles of cheese and milk in outdoor play areas unsupervised you'd have a point.

Well if the trees had TPOs then it’d be an offence to damage or kill them… ;)

From Google
A hazelnut tree is generally not dangerous to a child with a nut allergy unless the child directly touches, picks, or eats the actual hazelnuts or unroasted nuts produced by the tree. 1]

Direct Ingestion vs. Environmental Contact
Direct Ingestion: Eating the actual hazelnut poses a severe danger, as it can trigger a dangerous, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. 1, 2]
Environmental/Contact Risk: Simply being near a hazelnut tree, touching its bark, or playing under its branches presents a very low risk for contact-based reactions, provided the child does not put the nuts or shells in their mouth. 1]
Pollen Cross-Reactivity: The pollen from hazel trees can trigger secondary reactions like Oral Allergy Syndrome (milder itching in the mouth) for kids with birch pollen allergies, but it is distinct from ingesting the nut itself. 1]

Safety Management
Establish Protocols: Teach children clear rules like "no picking, no licking" around the tree. 1]
Supervision & Education: Ensure children know what the nuts look like and where the trees are located, and inform supervisors or teachers if at a school. 1]
Emergency Action: Always ensure a prescribed adrenaline auto-injector (such as an EpiPen) is nearby if the child has a diagnosed severe tree nut allergy. 1]

Would you like a guide on recognizing the early signs of anaphylaxis?
Yes, show symptoms
No, thank you

That's very dramatic. I know several children and adults with nut allergies, they manage it well, without hysterics.

I’m sorry but that’s ridiculous.

We have nut trees growing in rough woodlands all over our farm, where do the nuts end up?
Buried in the front lawn by the squirrels.

Nuts could appear from a large radius far beyond the school boundary, taking out trees doesn’t eliminate the risk.

I just cannot fathom volunteers having a planting plan and thinking oh nut trees in a school, great idea.
Don't think I've ever come across a nut tree so I doubt anyone will be scarred for life if they're removed.

The focus of your response to this is that we are divorced from
nature?! I mean, it’s true, but irrelevant. We are divorced from
nature in many ways - not many of us kill our own meat or grow vegetables.

The tree was removed because the presence of a poisonous substance is an unnecessary risk to the children. And supervision levels mean we can’t be 100 per cent sure kids won’t do something silly

You are the one who brought up bulbs, bluebells and laburnum.

I think it's quite simple OP. Yes it is disappointing but I think you just go back to the school.and say simply that you run a volunteer group and have no one qualified to safely remove trees. You also are not aware of the risk assessment so you don't know which trees need to be removed eg all or just the almond etc.
So as it is their land and their risk assessment then they will need to make the arrangements they feel are necessary to respond. And you will ask volunteers if they are happy to plant other trees once these are gone.