What level of supervision is there for your ALLERGIC CHILD in your school at mealtimes

[Eaney]

I ask this cos I think there is little or no supervsion in my DS's school. He has severe allergies and has a packed lunch. Twice last year he accepted a choc bar from another child. When I spoke to his teacher her approach was to spaeak to the children and to the mother of the other child not to the lnchtime supervisors.

Recently I am having problems with DS eating little or no lunch and when Ispoke to his teacher the school made a special effort to chech his lunch box for 3 day. He is now back to not eating.

He is just 6 years old and I wonder if it reasonable to have so little supervision especially when he is severely allergic.

My dd doesn't have allergies, but the school has quite a good allergy policy. Chocolate, sweets and nuts are not allowed in lunchboxes (and are removed by teaching staff or lunchtime supervisers if they see them), and there are A4 sized photographs of the allergic children in both their classroom and the dining room with details of their allergies. When the children first start they are given badges with their names on, and the children with allergies have the details of their allergy on the badge.

Thanks for that. Anyone else have an allergic child at school that I can compare school policy with?

Son is allergic to dairy produce, eggs, and nuts. He has an epi-pen. When he first started he sat with children who didn't have chocolate and peanut butter in their lunch boxes. He is now in year 3, and as far as I know he sits next to who he wants now. (I will check up on this though)They don't have a peanut ban in the school.
He has always known about his allergies and would never accept sweets/chocolate from anyone.
There is a picture of him in the register and in the staff room and the office. He has two epi-pens at school and the teachers are epi-pen trained.

Rummum

Hi. Daughter severely allergic to all nuts has epipens at school and staff trained to use them. Photo up in staff room - but its better if it is on the register to deal with staff covering absences. Now at secondary school where kitchen staff initially panicked because she wanted school lunches.

I'm not aware that she had any special supervision at primary school at lunchtime and she sometimes couldn't eat her food because it had been knocked on the floor. The school did have a policy of banning nuts and sweets were not supposed to be included - but things like penguin biscuits were allowed. The staff also used to hand out unsafe sweets at Christmas and one teacher encouraged children to bring in nuts for a party - head banned them (th nuts, sadly not the teacher).

I'm afraid you won't like this but the only solution is to train your child never to accept food unless a responsible adult has checked it first. If they are given sweets at school its best to bring them home and swop for something safe. I made sure any swap was a good one (bigger bar/ more sweets/ child's favourite) to ensure they were happy to do this. I used to supply a cling film wrapped plate of food for parties and attend the Christmas party (where food was sent in by parents) to ensure things like cakes with marzipan were eaten only by the helpers. I also used to provide a "treat box" with safe items so that she wouldn't be too left out if the teachers handed things out. They didn't always remember to use it. I also used to invite the kids around and explain to them why they shouldn't share food and I've done letters for children at brownies/ guides. The party food was always nice enough to ensure they wanted to keep it - not a time to worry about healthy eating.

Sorry no comfort for you. We went through a bad time when she had to have it emphasised that she might die and needed to be very careful. She had a talk to the school nurse, which helped a bit. The thing that helped most was an anaphylaxis campaign child meet up where she realised she wasn't the only one.

DD school has a no chocolate, nuts and juice rule for packed lunches. Not sure of anything else, as dd not allergic.

My school has a no nuts rule. There are also A4 pictures up with details of allergies, symptoms and what to do on them for staff to see.

All staff have annual epi pen training.

Children bring in their own food for parties. Any sweets given out. The children in class know of allergy so make sure they bring in the list of ingreidents for checking before the allergic child eats. This is a junior school so a bit older.

My friend has a dd who has severe allergies. My dd knows not to give her any of their foods. She also is VERY well trained and never eats anything wihtout having it checked by an adult first. Both girls are 4. DD friend has never had to rush her back to hospital since she was weaning. However, she has started school in Sept - I do know she went in and spoke to head and welfare in great detail about all her allergies. She has an epipen in school, but not sure about anymore details.

DS was excellent at not accepting sweets from others but went through a bit of a rebellion a while ago. It hasn't happened lately but then again he hardly eats anything at lunchtime. I think he is getting fed up wih his restricted diet.

I don't think they have a ban on nuts or seeds which would help. The school nurse was a bit concerned with the lack of supervision at lunchtime but I'm not sure what is reasonable to expect.