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.

People with tree nut food allergies are NOT allergic to the whole tree. The allergic reaction is to a protein in the nut kernel only. This could easily be resolved by cutting off the nuts long before they're ripe (over the summer when the kids won't be there anyway). Further explanation: https://community.aafa.org/db/ask-the-allergist/record/could-my-child-with-food-allergies-react-to-pollen-or-leaves

Who did you get the grant from? Contact the funder to ask if they have any advice. The Orchard Project may also have advice (and get you more/younger volunteers to help with transplanting, if it comes to that).
https://www.theorchardproject.org.uk/

Tbh as I've volunteered on many gardening and nature conservation projects, this school sounds very disinterested and I'd find a new home for my orchard.

I know that in many places removing the nut trees would not be recommended by allergy / anaphylaxis organisations ( unless peanut, which is different to tree nut ). I would seek advice from a UK equivalent.

@Calling so what’s the problem? You don’t like the way they asked you?

What’s the deal with nut allergies and horse chestnuts/conkers?

My primary and secondary schools both had horse chestnuts in the playground, and there’s a couple of local primaries which also have them.
obviously you don’t eat conkers, and I think they’re technically seeds , but is there to same knee jerk reaction? You’d have to put at least as much effort into eating a hazelnut in its shell as a conker

@Calling
I'm not understanding why everything has to be dismantled on the word of one person
The child with the allergy just doesn't do the nature sessions as there are
Plenty of pictures on-line and they can view them that way instead.
Also I'm genuinely wondering that if that child be out and about in the general populace
How do they then cope?

What I don’t understand is why other allergies are not treated with the same severity as nut allergies. Who decided nut allergies wins the top trumps? Dairy allergies kill more children every single year but have you ever heard of a school banning dairy? Or a plane? But nuts they do, despite overwhelming evidence they are not airborne.

Why did you decide not to apply that to milk? Why cant milk be banned but nuts can be?

Schools can never guarentee being nut-free and it's better to understand how to manage the risks in the environment than to rely on a false "nut-free" facade.

We're supposed to be nut-free, now "allergy aware" but in recent months I've had two incidents, one where a student forgot about being nut-free and was caught eating nuts out of his pocket in class... in the same room as a potentially anphylactic classmate (cue getting out wet-wipes instantly, summoning the cleaning team and sending off for handwashing to reduce cross-contamination. Also an incident of hand cream containing nut oils being used and shared in class (more hand washing and stern warnings, and now alerting our allergy lead)

It's safer for young people to recognise and understand the risks than a false sense of their absence. An allergic child needs to recognise the difference between a safe acorn and a potentially hazardous hazlenut. Hazelnuts could potentially be on site from wildlife or being picked up as curiosities.

And yes, I know what it's like to watch your child's facial features disappearing into a swollen mass before your eyes because they reacted to milk and eggs the first time they consumed them. Managing a toddler in a world full of their unrestricted allergens was stressful. I remember watching hawk-like as some muppet let their toddler shed cake crumbs all over the stay and play which was a potential reaction bingo, and having to helicopter food-loving DS to ensure that he didn't touch or eat it.

The risk of hazelnuts releasing allergenic proteins growing outside is low and needs management but not necessarily elimination.

The onus is on the school to protect the child. If that means it can’t enter the orchard, then it can’t. Simple as.

And the nut shell is covered by a softer casing.

This is absolutely insane. How on earth is the child supposed to have contact with the proteins in the nut itself?

This is madness.
Don’t volunteer to remove it. The child will have to avoid nut trees for life, I can’t see how one more makes much difference

if it's in a field with a high ratio of children to low adult supervision at play times and said conker or daffodil bulb will put your child into anaphylaxis, then yes.

Surely the child is going to need to be able to recognise the things, nut trees for instance, that imperil their life? Isn't it best to begin this in a controlled school environment?
The path to our primary school is entirely lined with beech trees, and in autumn with beech nut cases, and beech nuts. Would they be a danger and where does it all stop? What if children eat peanut butter before school and come in contaminated?
It seems that the only half safe way to protect the child is to teach them to protect themselves. Wash your hands, don't rely on other people washing theirs etc.

So you think schools should ban milk seeing as cows milk protein allergy is far more deadly in children than nut allergies?

when the shells rot down or wildlife break them open.

Do dairy allergies kill? I had no idea. I thought anaphylaxis was rare from dairy and that it basically made you fart lots, or caused really bad exzema.

I know nut allegy can be fatal.

Cows milk protein allergy is the number 1 anaphylactic killer in children.

@PinkCatCushion is crazy @Calling , ignore her. You never said any of that stuff and she’s being hysterical.

I completely understand why you feel upset, you have clearly put a lot of work in here, for free, and chopping down trees is always awful.

I also agree that neither you nor your volunteers should be asked to assume the risk of removing an established tree. If the school think it is necessary ( it isn’t, the only argument is to eliminate any risk, however theoretical, which is neither realistic nor in line with the guidance, but hey ho some people are unreasonable) they should pay to have it done professionally. I also wouldn’t be working with them again as they have damaged the relation ship and are taking advantage, but I’m also a bit of a bitch.

Shows what I know. That is terrifying, as it is usually first given to babies.

At least nuts tend to be once they have teeth.

Couldn't a fence and signage be put around this particular tree. Seems better like others have said to educate others of cross contamination allergies etc but they can’t go near it. They had something similar in Northumberland (I forget what the name of the estate is) with fence and signs for poisonous and illegal plants.

It is yes, a quarter of all deaths in children due to anaphylactic reactions is a result of cows milk allergy. Yet nowhere bans milk, schools give it out to children, they spill it on the floor etc. I will never understand why we have decided nut allergies must be taken seriously at all times and yet happily ignore the most dangerous one.

"No, that doesnt work for me"

What a shame that the school did not consider this when the trees were planted.

It is remiss if a school to allow a nut tree to be planted in the first instance. This has been planted on school grounds. So foolish.

Those crazy people on this thread demanding that the OP digs up and replants 8 5-year-old trees 🌳 for free in her spare time - have you ever dug up a tree? Do you realise how much work and expense this is for the OP who is a VOLUNTEER??? Why don't the parents of the allergy kid pay for the trees to be removed by a professional?

I believe because less of the nut protein is required to cause a severe reaction.