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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School dinners. Can staff really do this?

224 replies

SoyUnPerdedor2 · 14/09/2018 18:46

Trying to keep it vague as haven't been able to get a meeting yet.
My dd returned to school after summer holiday. Same school she has been to, for a couple of years. Since she a tarted age 4.

Same staff. Same head. Same catering team.
Small village school. Single class intake.

Dd is key stage 1. So gets free dinners. All ks1 get them.

Dd has a dairy allergy. She has had this since birth. School are fully aware and kept her dairy free in the previous years.

Yesterday, I got a phone call after lunch. Asking me to collect dd as she had got an upset stomach and had pooed in the classroom.
As soon as I got near her, I could smell poo. Not normal poo, but the awful smelly stuff she made as a baby, before we got her allergy sorted.
So I asked what she had eaten. Macaroni cheese. Normal macaroni cheese. With real cheese.
Apparently, she has been taken off the allergy list, due to a paperwork issue?
School haven't updated her care thing, so gave her normal food. Knowing it would make her poorly.

Who is my issue with here?
School? Teacher? Office staff? Catering staff?
Dd is not old enough to fully understand food restrictions. She usually asks if it's OK for her. But with new kids starting, lots of noise.. I would not put the blame on her.

OP posts:
MyLegsHurt · 14/09/2018 20:03

but the school did know about the allergy so why are you blaming the parents

The school knew the allergies the year before. In my school it's up to the parents to inform catering EVERY year of dietary needs of children as the menu changes every year. Parents need to take some responsibility for the dietary needs of their children with changes to menus for goodness sake. As I said but you chose to ignore it's the same with administration of medicines.

GuyGarveysWife · 14/09/2018 20:03

Aww, I hope she’s okay. I read about a 6 year old girl who suffered anaphylaxis from a dairy allergy last month. Things like this can have catastrophic results and I wouldn’t say your daughter has got off lightly :(

Beach11 · 14/09/2018 20:03

Take it to the school Governors if the head doesn’t take action as this is a health & safety and duty of care issue. It wouldn’t have happened to a child with nut or seafood allergy.
Hope you DD starts to feel better soon x

MyLegsHurt · 14/09/2018 20:03

There is no way that this is a class teacher responsibility

Agreed - but teachers are responsible for everything according to MN.

Tr1skel1on · 14/09/2018 20:07

That is awful & should never have happened. I work in a school kitchen, we take allergies extremely seriously.

We assume a child is still allergic / intolerant to something until either we have it in writing or the child's parent tell us otherwise. Start of a new term makes no difference. The catering staff should have already ordered in special food, had special food storage area set up (to avoid any risk of cross contamination) etc

We know exactly which children we need to look out for.

OP raise merry hell with the school, luckily your child didn't have an anaphylactic reaction, another child might do.

myrtleWilson · 14/09/2018 20:07

Fair enough Mylegs but that policy may not be the one in place in the OP's school, or it may be in place and she may have confirmed no change in allergies. But from the schools point of view if they have a child with allergies and they don't hear from the parent's that there has been a change surely the existing information remains in place - you don't just wipe it out (and you chase the parent to confirm). I would have thought the same would be in place for medication too.

Belindabauer · 14/09/2018 20:08

Surely someone could have thought, hang on a minute, x cannot eat good with y in it.
Are the catering staff new?

myrtleWilson · 14/09/2018 20:09

Blush ignore the errant apostrophe - parents parents parents parents not parent's hangs head in shame

MyLegsHurt · 14/09/2018 20:09

Take it to the school Governors if the head doesn’t take action as this is a health & safety and duty of care issue

Oh behave yourself! Perhaps the parents should have ensured the kitchen and new teacher knew of the dietary requirements of the child at the beginning of the new term.

According to a lot of posters on MN it's the sole responsibility of the school. It's not! If the OP had competed new paperwork for a new school year and it had been ignored then I'd be agreeing with them but they never said they had done this. Menus often change in a new school year.

As usual on MN it's "lets bash the school staff".

Auntpetunia2015 · 14/09/2018 20:10

I used to run a school office. And yes while we send home paperwork at the beginning of the year for parents to update us on allergies etc. We didn’t remove anyone off last years list unless we got specifically told to. Your dd is used to them getting it right, she’s not going to question them.
The head saying it’s a paperwork issue isn’t good enough as long as you filled in this years information and sent it back then it’s a school issue. I’d complain formally in writing so that they have to follow their procedures and it doesn’t get brushed aside. Hope your dd is ok. As a coeliac I know her pain.

Glumglowworm · 14/09/2018 20:11

YANBU

I can’t believe some posters are saying she should be home schooled because of an allergy which should be very easily handled!

Your poor dd! She never should’ve been put in that position by the school.

Yes mistakes happen, but mistakes have consequences. This mistake could have caused anaphylaxis and even the death of a child. It actually caused a six year old to be very unwell and embarrassed.

I would want to know what went wrong and what the school were going to do to prevent it happening again either to your dd or another child.

MyLegsHurt · 14/09/2018 20:13

Fair enough Mylegs but that policy may not be the one in place in the OP's school, or it may be in place and she may have confirmed no change in allergies. But from the schools point of view if they have a child with allergies and they don't hear from the parent's that there has been a change surely the existing information remains in place - you don't just wipe it out (and you chase the parent to confirm). I would have thought the same would be in place for medication too.

If that policy is not in place then that's a school issue. You'd be surprised at the number of children whose allergies change in a new school year. It shouldn't be up to a school to chase parents. It's a parents responsibility to inform the school every new school year (and more often of required). We don't have a crystal ball.

Littlebluebird123 · 14/09/2018 20:14

OP - did I read it correctly that you spoke to the head who said it was a paperwork mistake?
If so, I would be contacting the governors. It's completely unacceptable. I would consider it a safeguarding issue.

It may well be the case that the canteen staff didn't have the correct information so that is a mistake. However, the school has responsibility for the care of the children so the buck stops with them.

I work in a school and was informed of 2 new children with severe allergies/medical conditions. I will almost certainly never be with them during break/lunch nor have sole responsibility for them due to the type of work I do. But our policy is that everyone knows the high risk kids so everyone is aware in case there is an issue. We have photos and names of the children with the explanation in various but hidden places( ie inside cupboard of the kitchen) so staff can always double check.
Without minimising the trauma for your daughter, if that was a child with coeliac's it would also be causing permanent damage to their body. It definitely needs addressing!

I hope she's ok and feels better soon.

Sirzy · 14/09/2018 20:15

School should assume the allergy is still there unless they are informed otherwise! This is one instance when “better safe than sorry” is very much key.

therealimposter · 14/09/2018 20:17

It's a safeguarding issue. I'd go straight to the head, then the chair of governors and see how seriously it was taken.

honeysucklejasmine · 14/09/2018 20:17

God I hope DS grows out of his allergies before school. It's scary enough at toddler group snack times, when I can supervise, let alone trusting someone else to monitor him.

(And no, he doesn't check for himself because he's 11 months old.)

Willow2017 · 14/09/2018 20:20

A child who has a severe dairy allergy doesnt suddenly get over it during the summer hols!
School have known about it for 2 years they should have the same procedures in place this year.

greathat · 14/09/2018 20:22

As a teacher that's awful and a safeguarding fail. I would be asking how things have changed to stop it happening again

shouldwestayorshouldwego · 14/09/2018 20:25

keyboardkate if your dc are jealous of those who get 'special food' then maybe choose a food to omit for a week - gluten or dairy maybe and get them to try eating without that for a week at half term. Get them to check all the labels. To make it more challenging you could cut out dairy and soya as many have to. At the end of the week they can weigh up whether they still would rather have the special food but none of the food they have to give up.

bookmum08 · 14/09/2018 20:28

At my daughters school any child with a food allergy or other dietry need has a lanyard with their name, picture and in big letters what the food issue is. They live in the classroom and handed to the children as they line up for lunch. That way whoever is serving food or whatever can clearly see if a child is allergic or cannot eat something without actually relying on the word of a small child.
As for the wally who thinks children with allergies should be homeschooled - well of my daughter's class of 28 that would be about 4 children. In some classes much more. Food allergies are actually very common.

tolerable · 14/09/2018 20:30

are you scotland?-we have "GIRFEC"(from my experience,its a nice thought-doesnt happen.)complain .gettin right for every child involves the most emotionally taxing,energy burning ass pain ever if you are forced to object to what any given person in any given day does-and they putchu through hell. despite which.no way.thats fkin awful

Stressedout10 · 14/09/2018 20:30

As someone who works in the catering industry what they did could be classed as a crime food allergies are not to be messed with so please ignore the ppl who say accidents happen

GiraffeObsessedBaby · 14/09/2018 20:33

My son has CMPA he's only 10 months old but I live in fear of him not outgrowing it before school because I hear of so many stories like this. But Jesus Christ OP! I'd be losing my shit at the school. Seriously be sending at the very least a letter to the governors.

To those saying it's not the schools fault as it's a new school year it doesn't matter for medical conditions these ALWAYS remain on the records unless you are told to remove them. It's basic care procedure at any level of education.

Also home school? Feel sorry for non allergy kids being left out? Get a fucking grip.

I really hope you're little one is better soon and that the school make sure that if any of her classmates are aware of the situation (not sure from your op if she was ill in class or in private) that they deal with that too.

AmIRightOrAMeringue · 14/09/2018 20:35

I agree that's not good enough. Luckily no lasting damage done but must have been unpleasant for her. The bigger issue is that for some kids this could have been fatal. There should be procedures and measures in place to make sure this does NOT happen. So it's probably not so much an individuals fault as the system they have in place for checking they haven't missed anyone. I don't know how schools work but I'd think the head would need at least to be aware and involved. If something happened on a site where I was in charge, I'd want to know

Sophieelmer · 14/09/2018 20:37

I’d write to the governors as the heads respons wouldn’t be good enough for me. I would also be encouraging my dc to take more responsibility for their own health, this experience may be the spring board for her doing that anyway. All the dc I know with restricted diets question what they are being served and some even read food labels themselves.