What's your opinion/ experience of nut free schools?

[BagOfBags]

I'm beginning to think about schools for DS who has a severe nut allergy. What I'm wondering is what people think about nut free schools. My gut reaction is that they must be a good thing but how has it worked for you / your child in reality? Are nut bans actually enforced or do they create a false sense of security.
Ds's nursery is nut free and his key worker always sits next to him whenever there's food around to make sure he only eats his own. I'm not sure how much supervision he would get in reception.
Thanks for reading.

My sister has a nut allergy (and sesame, cinnamon and ginger)

She works in a school that is supposed to be nut free and hates it as the children in the school that have a nut allergy, I think there are currently 1 or 2, become less vigilant

Most schools have a no sharing policy and her school also requests no nut products which most parents respect with obvious nuts but they don't check for hidden nuts

You also have the problem of children eating nuts before school and then not washing hands/faces

You cannot effectively make a school nut free so it's much better to teach your lo about hand washing, avoidance etc

Our school doesnt ban anything. I think they want to enforce being vigilant and eating own food etc.

I suspect they dont have anyone severely allergic thought or maybe that would change.

my daughter has peanut butter sandwhiches!

As a parent to a none allergic child, I would probably be slightly miffed if I was told to remove a food group from DS1's lunch box. Nuts I would probably be OK with, but diary? eggs? They form a massive part of a vegetarians diet (we not veggie), and are good foods for growing kids. I don't see why nuts and other allergens to which there is an anaphylatic reaction should be treated differently.

BUT, and I think this is probably the crux of it, I wouldn't be checking every ingredient I used. So while I wouldn't send in a peanut butter I might well (I've googled this) not think about christmas cake or pesto. So you would still need to be vigilant, and trusting people who don't know ingredients in foods as well as you, who has a valid reason to. Visitors I'm very careful with (for example my dairy sensitive godson, or coeliac friend - I realise intolerances are very different to what you describe, but I've been shocked that I am unusual in making a gluten free cake when she is visiting. Apparently many just ignore the fact she can't eat normal biscuits and produce a packet without offering any alternative).

Personally, I think you'd be better talking to the schools about their procedures for protecting children with allergies from contact with the allergen - for example, as you've noted, supervision for young kids with allergies.

Good luck with your school search, it must be very scary sending your child into the unknown when something so prevalent in society has the potential to cause a lot of harm.

Our school has a nut ban, a child in DDs class is severely allergic. He's been known to us for years since before nursery and AFAIK there have been no incidents. The measures are as described above, segregate supervised lunches, teachers double-checking brought-in foods etc. But child is also aware and sensible and recall one event where they got very distressed after an accidental bite of a chocolate spread sandwich at a party (they thought it was something else!), luckily nothing happened! The only serious accident i know of was outside school on public transport where nut traces from other people's hands transferred... Obv everyone is epi-pen trained, it accompanies the child wherever they go, parties, school trips etc etc and parents are fairly watchful/protective

Speak to the school. See if they have experience. Explain your position. So far most people seem to have been able to make it work.

Op- you also need to go to your gp or consultant & get them to write an action plan for the school, order extra epipens to keep there etc

The biggest difference this year for us is that she has been prescribed twice daily antihistamine which seems to be keeping the severe reactions at bay (so far!)

Thanks again for all they replies, it's really useful.
It's the segregate bit that worried me changed it breakes my heart to think of DS eating his lunch alone

We already have spare epipens, care plan etc at nursery so I'm assuming it would be easy to set up similar at the school.
We've still got quite a while to go before we need to apply fit schools but I'll start talking to schools about what their policies are soon.

Oh dear, threads like this make me want to weep (not because of you though OP). You can have an anaphylactic reaction to ANYTHING. Nuts are NOT the only food that can kill you.

My DD (7) has a severe allergy to milk. A couple of years ago whilst on holiday she had a bread roll for breakfast which we realised after had milk as an ingredient. After a few minutes, she started coughing and then coughing so badly that she was practically retching. I thought she was going to be sick but no, this was was just a sign that her airways were closing up. She then got very distressed, said she had tummy ache and needed a poo (another classic sign of an anaphylactic reaction) and then, worst thing of all I could see her chest pulling in tight as she was struggling to breathe. We hadn't been prescribed an epipen at this point but luckily a huge dose of piriton brought her breathing under control. She was still left for some time after with swollen eyes and lips and a very sore throat.

Is this a suitably bad reaction to something other than nuts for all you disbelievers? It was certainly a far worse reaction than my neighbours DD ever had to nuts and yet her mum forced the school into having a nut ban.

So DD goes to school where nuts are banned. It's mentioned regularly in the newsletters and on the website. But its also a school where despite knowing that a child could have an anaphylactic reaction to milk products, we've had class/year parties where parents have been asked to bring in pizzas, cheese sandwiches, lumps of cheese.....

On school trips (her year only), they are told over and over, bring a packed lunch but NO nut products. There is no one in her year with a nut allergy!

So I would say to you op, don't use a nut ban as a reason for chosing a school. They aren't enforceable, and from my experience don't give me any confidence that the school really understands food allergies. To me they are just paying lip service to something because they feel they should do.

Instead I would continue to reinforce the belief in your dc that the world cannot be a guaranteed safe place with regards to food and that they shouldn't swap food with friends or eat something without knowing what's in it.

Sorry for the epic post but nut bans do get my goat. They aren't enforceable and just continue to put out the belief that only nut allergies are bad

I interpret segregate as sit with a selected few kids, who are friends, and whose parents have been primed and are happy to be really careful with lunch choices.
I started typing this in my epic post above, and took it out. Perhaps I shouldn't have,

If DS1 was close friends with a child with allergies, I would be much more careful with scanning ingredients - probably because I'd know their mother, and could chat things through, and pick up info about good alternatives, or what to be careful with. The parents would have a choice on whether to accept a restriction in lunchbox contents. Or maybe you could sit with Jack, Harry and Joe for the first half of the week, and Ruby, Isabel and Grace at the end of the week.

if I had a child who was anaphylactic to anything I would not be sending them to some schools... used to be a mid day supervisor in our local infant/primary combined....

the standards of hygiene were pitiful.... tables would get a wipe down - the floor however, would just get swept.... so any potential allergens would still be there for PE/assembly - where they had to sit on the floor etc in the afternoon.

if you tour a school - go into the lunch hall esp if it is shared use - and look behind things and under things... and look for sticky smears on the floor/windows - you will get an idea about how seriously they take food allergens.

minty wow that's terrible, my commiserations. Have you spoken to the school and teachers?? Does your DD get additional support, as the school can't go non-dairy overall? My other DDS class has gone non-eggs for a similar reason. No egg cartons allowed for class projects for example, and regular reminders to not send in home made treats for birthdays stick with packaged instead so teachers can police content. And Of course it is much much simpler to exclude nuts From everyday life than eggs or dairy.

minty I feel your pain. DS (nuts, milk, egg allergic) is in nursery at the moment and he on one occasion came home with a white chocolate coin because the staff didn't want him to feel left out and they thought white chocolate would be ok (not quite sure how that train of thought went)! I suppose it was well intended but it gives me sleepless nights. I hear so often about the dairy not being as bad as the nut, or people offering lactose- free products, conflating his allergy with lactose intolerance. So many people just don't seem to get it. I had hoped that schools might be more used to it as I thought dairy was quite a common allergen but nothing has made me feel comfortable and I do worry about what will happen once he is in reception and eating in a large dinner hall. My approach so far has concentrated on making sure he has a really good understanding of his condition and knowing to ask about ingredients etc, not to use yoghurt pots for craft etc.

mintyneb, that's very similar to what happened to my DS just over a year ago when he was 2.5, which is why I get a bit bothered about people thinking nut allergies are the only dangerous ones. We've been told to call 999 if it happens again as it took so long to bring under control, and then the consultant will prescribe an epipen.

He goes to school in September and I'm concerned about what will happen there, although they have assured me that they can deal with allergies. His pre-school are great but have taken the view that he can't have anything unless they've shown it to me first and I've okayed it and they usually forget to do that! It's good in one respect but means he misses out on things (they provide snacks and do cooking/baking/trying new foods most weeks, but children bring their own lunches).

My ds is in reception and the school take his allergies very seriously. If he ingested any trace of milk, egg, peas, lentils, banana, kiwi and/or a few other foods, he could have an anaphylactic reaction, and getting traces on his skin would lead to hives and swelling.

Obviously I wouldn't expect the school to ban all these foods! He has a support worker sitting next to him at lunch time, with a empty space the other side of him, but he does sit at the same tables as the other children. All children have their hands wiped by an adult when they finish eating. They also wear cover-all plastic aprons (like painting aprons)so that they don't get plastered in yoghurt etc - and feedback from other parents about these aprons is very positive as the uniforms stay clean for longer and it saves washing!

The school check packets and boxes which are broughtfor craft activities. They include ds in all cooking etc but always consult me about ingredients and usually adjust recipes so that he can cook the same as everybody else.

Nut bans are impossible to enforce, which actually makes them dangerous. They also lead to the attitude that only nut allergies can be life threatening (in evidence on this thread! !) when in fact milk and egg allergies are quite common and of course people can have anaphylactic reactions to absolutely anything.

Our school has a nut ban. And even goes so far as to list a selection of approved but free alternatives to cereal bars. Although if course they are ones full of sugar.

I use a lot of products that do say "not suitable for but allergy sufferers" though and unless someone wants to buy me a new kitchen all my cooking ingredients are in a cupboard containing nuts because my dds eat them.

It does annoy me a bit tbh because my kids are dAiry free and nuts are a good source of fats and oils and I do find it limits a lot of what I would like to make to send in.

Obviously I comply I wouldn't freak of not complying but I do think that if you ban one allergen surely you ban them all and it's unfair that we can't send nuts but a child who is allergic to egg or dAiry or whatever still has to love with the danger.

It isn't fair how nuts are seen as the only dangerous allergy as anything can be just as bad. And how do schools answer to those parents

Wouldn't dream.

some allergens are more risky because they are more likely to be airborne. At my DDs primary there are children with very severe nut and banana allergies, and consequently we have been asked repeatedly to not put these items in packed lunches.
...and still there is a hard core group of parents who send their children in with PBJ sandwiches.

Parents are told not to supply any nuts in lunch boxes at my children's school.
I know of at least one parent who sent her child in with peanut butter sandwiches everyday because that's what her child ate and she obviously didn't care about anyone else.
I'm sire there are many parents like that.

I know of at least one parent who sent her child in with peanut butter sandwiches everyday because that's what her child ate and she obviously didn't care about anyone else.
I'm sire there are many parents like that

Have you been on mn long? Surely you know tht there are hundreds here who's children have major food issues or sensory issues and literally will only eat certain things. Are you entirely sure that this is a mum who couldn't give a shit or could she have a child who only eats peanut butter sandwiches and she faces a kid wih doesn't eat at all if she differs from normal?

I really feel for those of you who have DC's with severe dairy/ egg allergies. As difficult as it is to have nut allergic DS i know that it's more difficult to avoid them than nuts. (DS is also mildly allergic to eggs, we used to avoid completely but he can now tolerate in in baked goods and is gradually growing out of it). I also think, as others have said and has become apparent on this thread, people don't understand that these allergies can be as serious.

I really get that it's not fair to ban one child's allergen but not another's. It's just that as 'nut free' schools do (supposedly) exist so I wondered how that would work for DS.
Thanks again for all the comments and advice.

Gileswithachainsaw - in the case I was talking about the child didn't have any issues with food and could have had alternatives, mum was proud of the fact she was going against school rules.

In that case orange I apologize. But I did have to ask because lots of oRevts have kids who would only eat one type of sandwich.

Given so many things possible contain traces I'm not sure how much safer the children are anyway.

For instance out of curiosity I just looked at my dds skin care products. All but one contain nut oils and he goes to school after using them.

Products containing nut oils are unlikely to cause a bad reaction, even if ingested Giles because they've been heavily refined. Skin products with nut oils in do cause skin irritation for DS though.