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.

Thank you for the info share. I genuinely believes nuts whilst not as prevalent were more serious. I will delete my comment.

Yes apologies I have worded that badly. I will delete the comment so not to spread inaccurate info.

Absolutely, but if 3% of children are allergic to dairy you wouldn’t plant a yogurt tree or build a milk fountain on the school field and just give the allergic children an EpiPen and tell them to hope for the best, or be excluded from the field.

While children need to learn how to deal with exposure, introducing unnecessary risk is foolish. Nut trees are not particularly common and there are plenty of other species of tree that could have been planted instead.

I'd ask what specific nuts the child is allergic to so you can plan accordingly.
I'll bet it's peanuts and they haven't got a clue they aren't a tree nut.
Dd is allergic to walnuts, but has no problem being near the trees, she just can't eat them.

Surely the most logical thing is to close the orchard to the children in the years that the child with the severe nut allergy attends if they are worried about cross-contamination from another child? That will give all the trees time to establish anyway.

Advice is not to go nut free for the reasons listed repeatedly below.

Sp you're actually saying that the parent who is trying to keep their child ALIVE should be bullied by everyone else who's lucky enough not to have that problem because someone is being precious over a tree they planted!?? Really!!?? THIS is why I hate people!!

I don't think she's saying that at all. The OP is a VOLUNTEER and the other volunteers are in their 70s and 80s. It literally says handover responsibility to the school.

I’m sure the parents of the young boy with a dairy allergy who died in school when a pupil threw a cheese slice at him would disagree. Young children don’t always understand risk, so they shouldn’t be given the responsibility of mitigating their own or those of their classmates.

No school in the land would try to be dairy free. That case is incredibly sad and an awful situation, however no one has said a proportional response is to ban dairy.

Why is there a different response to nuts?

Sadly it’s a very commonly held belief which is very sad because Benedict’s law came about after he died in school from being given milk and his parents have worked so hard to make schools safer. No need to delete your comment.

Whose bonkers decision was it to plant a nut tree in a nut free school in the first place?

Nut trees are very common. I’d be surprised if there’s a single park, orchard, nature reserve etc. that doesn’t have at least 1 Hazel tree.

The tree itself is not a risk to a nut allergic child so the comparison of a milk foundation doesn’t work, tree nuts and enclosed in a hard shell and the shell does not contain the allergen. It’s shelled nuts that are a risk and even then only when ingested usually for anaphylactic level reactions or significant skin contact for more rare anaphylactic reactions.

As has been shown in the post multiple times this overreaction of eliminating all nuts spreads the message that a nut allergy is the only serious allergy to consider which dilutes how seriously people take other fatal food allergies.

Nut Free is a huge risk. If another relative packs a child Nutella rather than chocolate spread how would the school know?

Easily done if grandad/grandma has the child as a one off overnight.

Do people think that none English speaking family’s will check the ingredients of all food products before making pack up? What about food bought from the multicultural supermarket - most of which isn’t even labelled in English.

Not a chance in hell would I rely on a school to protect my child. Do people really think 600 kids plus staff follow the ban and check the food in their lunchbox? Some kids can’t remember a PE kit or a water bottle or a coat.

Muesli prior to school. A hazelnut latte in a heat proof mug. A cereal bar or nut bar. Seeded/nut bread. I can see why allergy aware is a better approach.

At secondary kids share food, buy items on the way in. I think Nut Free gives a false sense of safety.

Ask if the school can arrange a risk assessment with the co operation of the child’s consultant and the school nurse with the SENCO before any tree work goes ahead. What has been asked of you is a somewhat knee jerk reaction. Also if the child is allergic to peanuts this is not the same as a tree nut allergy, although I am fully aware that multiple allergies may need to be assessed for.
The school may need to put the orchard off limits at certain times of the year to children, for example if pollen is an issue. However this is for them to organise not you as an unpaid volunteer. Hope a compromise can be reached for you OP.

We have a hazelnut tree in our shared hedge and the squirrels make a massive mess with the nuts, hard shells and soft shells everywhere. If someone was allergic it would be difficult to avoid them.

Thank you for taking that on board. No need to delete your comment. I think it’s important that people understand how much parents of dairy allergic kids are having to fight for recognition and mitigation.

It is quite clear that the trees were planted several years ago, long before the nut free primary aged child joined said school. Possibly before they were even born.

Could the school fence the orchard and manage access? Managed access would only be needed whilst an allergic child was enrolled.

Just a quick google , show this to the school or research your own info.

Simply being near or walking past a nut tree is NOT dangerous for someone with a nut allergy. Nut allergy is almost always triggered by eating the nut protein — not by breathing in pollen or just being near the tree.

I think at the end of the day you just need to ask yourself this - if something were to happen to this child because of your refusal to remove these trees after if was brought to your attention would that bother you?
You can probably trust the kid in question to stay away from the tree it’s every other kid in the school would need to be worried about.
By the way I do think you should revert back to the school and get them to organise it so that the responsibility is out of your hands.

Well I wouldn’t because I don’t work in a school. Such enormous responsibility. Hats off to all who do.

Ok so I am a parent of a child with a severe nut allergy.
From scanning the posts the trees are not in the main grounds of the school I.e the kids could be running about unsupervised at lunch etc.
They are in a separate area that is visited for sessions.
if so then this is a ridiculous and over the top request.
As you say nuts are very hard to get into. I’d be a bit concerned if they were in a playground (and couldn’t be fenced off) because kids probably would be trying to crack them open with stones.
But in a supervised group visiting it’s an OTT request- nuts in a shell are not dangerous.
What I would say is that it is terrifying when your child gets diagnosed with an allergy and especially when they first start school as it’s when you have to hand over your child’s life to someone else.
The school probably haven’t even thought about it they’ve just passed on the parents request.
Online advice from various organisations states it shouldn’t be necessary

I'm not sure guilt is the best approach here especially with a bunch of volunteers who are probably more empathetic than most.

Cool calm heads are needed. A proper risk assessment (no rushing ahead then finding it's a peanut allergy) and quotes for professionals to do the removal. Or fencing. Whatever the solution, it's the school that needs to sort it.

Yes, but probably not before it became a nut free school. Most UK schools have been nut free for well over a decade. DD’s infant school was and she’s in sixth form now…