allergies in australia

[hayleyhew]

does anyone know how good the schools are with allergies in Australia as we are emigrating next year? Is it easy to find a school free from allergens?

I think it's the same as everywhere, some are good, some aren't. I don't know how allergic australians are but I have noticed that the higher the number of severe allergies in the country the more likely your needs are going to be taken seriously.

Have you arranged for the testing yet? don't worry that much yet, having a reaction to sesame doesn't necessarily mean your child is allergic to peanuts, etc.

What part of Australia?
P.S. Good choice......we've got the best country on the globe!?!?!

We are not sure yet - waiting to see if my hubby can get a sponsor (will find out in Jan) if not will have to go over on own if can pass TRA or study. So all up in air at moment. Brother is going to McKay so this is where we want to end up in end.

hayleyhew do you mean Mackay?? I am in Brisbane and the school my dd attends is excellent with allergies. They have 13 peanut anaphylactic children enrolled. Legislation does not allow schools to ban peanut products but quite a few do ask parents to not send peanut products to school in newsletters etc. Our school also does anaphylaxis practice drills where only the deputy and the child involved know it is going to happen. Not sure on Mackay but South East Qld only has two allergy specialists. The wait is 2 years for first appt but once you have been seen you then have annual appts.

My advice would be to check with the schools in the area you are intending to settle and go from there.

Food labelling is much better in Australia and NZ than the UK, so I would say awareness was high.

But standards will vary from school to school - which allergens will they have to be free from?

I think you need to work out where you are going and then contact the schools individually.

education department website.

My post focussed on peanut allergy as my guess would be that you have v little chance of any other allergens being excluded from schools.

When we were in Australia, my daughter's dust mite allergy became worse during winter because of the ducted heating used over there. They blow warm air through ducts in the floor and if you're in rented accommodation, you need to make sure that they've recently cleaned the system through, otherwise dust is just blown up into the room. You can get filters to put over the floor ducts but it still wasn't brilliant (we were in Melbourne, and ducted heating was very common there - don't know if it's the same all-over but worth checking and being aware of)