Coeliac child starting secondary

[PatientVesta]

We had several cross contamination issues in Primary school, so very aware of the lack of understanding.

Now my child is starting secondary in September and the first question about her condition "is she a bad coeliac"?

Anyone with a bit of understanding knows that there is no such a thing as a "good" or "bad" coeliac as any gluten can be bad, even if not immediately obvious.

Then suggested we give a packed lunch as they can't guarantee no cross contamination, even though they assured us they cater for allergies on the open day.

What would you do in my situation?

Packed lunch. They probably have good measures for peanuts, but pasta will be served most days in a school canteen.

Bad coeliac 😱

Packed lunch.

Go and see the canteen & ask.
My DD with a coeliac friend says she can now buy packaged items including sandwiches which are safe.
She doesn't have a hot meal.

We went with a packed lunch - it's just easier than being last in the dinner line with only gluten options available.

Packed lunch. Im a caterer and when I get a request for gf I ask if it is a gluten intolerance or if they are coeliac. If coeliac then I take every precaution to ensure no cross contamination. This is a really bad response from the school that wouldn't give me confidence.

I would assume that a school canteen would have a VERY hard job ensuring no cross contamination no matter how helpful they appear. You need to take responsibility for your child’s food.

Packed lunch for us as well. Our secondary canteen was rubbish and pretty much the only options DC can eat are chips and the milkshake, which will do in an emergency, but definitely not for everyday!

Yes packed lunch.

dd has found that school labelling is non existent as well, something to do with ED’s and not wanting kids to be focussing on calories and other dietary nonsense. It’s a big school so possibly they have more with ED’s than allergies.

anyway she will only eat at school if pre packaged, labelled food is available. They only have a short lunch so often she’ll have fruit and take in a pack of oatcakes and eat properly when she gets home.

I find the gf sweet potato wraps are brilliant for packed lunches too as they don't fall.apart unlike almost every gf bread I have tried.

That is what drives me mad. There are all sort of measures for nut allergies (rightly so) but gluten is so overlooked!!

Really depends on the school catering. We had a meeting with them as it was a time of 'free school meals for all!' in primary. Technically they were prepared to cater, but it would have been the same simple meal every single day for the 3-4 years in that school. Packed lunches instead for us

With us it was the opposite, we believe with packed lunches she would end up always eating the same things. But in secondary I think there are so many more options and she might end up always choosing the "junkie" option anyway, so maybe a packed lunch won't be a bad idea after all...

My children's secondary have gluten free options marked on the menu, all standard cross contamination measures in place and their account is flagged so they can't buy anything with gluten in ( no buying cookies for friends 😂). Canteen staff know them and point them in the right direction if they are not sure about anything.

Also ask school about food tech and about how staff are made aware, especially if they use food as a reward in lessons (my pet hate!)

In contrast, when we were asking questions on open day, our catchment school said they didn't deal with restrictive diets as no-one at the school had any allergies 😮

I've actually found food tech very good at our secondary - they send over the recipes for each term in advance to me and I then have a call with them to confirm gf alternatives where necessary and send in anything extra that would normally come out of school supplies.

My god packed lunch! Don’t risk it.