To think this is NOT good enough?! I am furious!!

[Peanutsaga]

NC’d So dd (8) has a nut allergy and has an epipen that she brings to school. Long story short, a girl in her class brought in a cereal type bar into school with her lunch but it had peanuts and other nuts in it as well as chocolate chips (you know the ones!)
Dd informed me that she saw said girl with the bar and then avoided her for the rest of the day and she could even smell the peanuts. I called into the school to let them know that this had happened but in short I was told, that the school had informed the parents of the no nut policy and sent it out via letter and newsletter, and that there wasn’t much else they can do as they cannot police the lunch boxes every morning. Is that it? I feel really let down and nervous about dd at school now!!

Again, if the allergy is that severe then surely you just wouldn't send her to school at all.

Unfortunately I think once I was in the territory of my child having to worry about smelling nuts or secondary contact, I would have to remove them and keep them at home. I just couldn’t risk it, and I couldn’t expect others to be responsible for her to that degree.

Again, if the allergy is that severe then surely you just wouldn't send her to school at all.

What rubbish. A child must be given an education and relatively few parents are in a position to home school.

do schools ban nut products in lunch boxes?

@Iusedtobeapartygirl I never said the teacher shouldn’t be having her lunch...I was merely informing a pp of her whereabouts as they asked something about the teacher of course the teacher gets to have her lunch!!

I'm an allergy parent. YABU to consider anywhere a safe zone.
This is why so many Drs are now against blanket allergen bans.
Because it doesn't fully educate the child and because it creates a failed sense of security.

A child could've eaten nuts on their way into school stopped at the gate and is as much threat as that girl.

I can’t believe how many people are siding with the school here. My school is nut free. It has signs plastered everywhere, parents are told and reminded regularly and if someone does bring a nut product in, it is taken away and looked after before being returned at hometime. The parents of that child are contacted and reminded of the policy. Nut allergies are life or death situations and schools need to take them seriously. It won’t wash when a school is sued following a serious reaction (or got forbid a death) for them to say “we had a policy, but we couldn’t enforce it and didn’t have any procedures to do so”.

Of course there are risks everywhere, it sounds like op’s dd is well versed in avoiding them, but that doesn’t mean the school shouldn’t be proactively minimising the risk she comes across during the school day.

is it worth asking the school to issue a no nuts reminder and mention that there are actually children in the school with severe nut allergies (in case they think it’s just a blanket ban to be safe rather than sorry)

DS with a ut allergy here and I voted YABU simply because, they can have a nut free policy, which is great but it isn't possible to enforce. They cannot check everything in everyone's lunch for possible nuts, some are not even obvious and I very much doubt the parents of nut bar eating child realised what they were doing. It's been an error and maybe your DD needs to be more prepared to speak up when it comes to her allergy. She obviously didnt speak to the teacher after lunch to explain and it didn't have to involve, "making a scene". She presumably has this for life and needs to have the maturity to speak up.

A child must be given an education and relatively few parents are in a position to home school.

Then it’s a risk you must take, isn’t it? It is impossible to guarantee there will never be a situation where a child will come into contact with nuts in a school with hundreds of people in it. The risks can be mitigated but not eliminated.

OP I understand that you are very upset and rightly so.

But I wonder does anyone I know what the actual legalities of the situation are. Are the school only allowed to suggest a nut free lunch? Are they legally allowed to implement ie ban nut products and confiscate (return after school?) It may be the case that legally their hands are tied.

In reception DTs had school dinners. First school trip they went on I very stupidly sent one of them with a peanut butter sandwich in their packed lunch.

There had been absolutely no communication from the school at all that there was a girl with a nut allergy in the class. I got a soggy peanut butter sandwich handed back to me by the teacher at the end of the day (why they didn't just bin it I have no idea).

The school has to be responsible for communicating to the other parents.

It’s a tricky one. Parents are told not to bring nuts into school but kids could have had peanut butter/Nutella on toast for breakfast while wearing their school uniform. By the sounds of it your child needs to ingest the nut to require an epipen shot. I’m in your position, my son has an epipen for 2 types of nuts but only if he ingests the nuts will he have an anaphylactic reaction. I’m not sure I’ll worry too much about school as he doesn’t put toys in his mouth. He will be taught not to share food with friends.

The advice from a lot of allergy experts is that it’s better to make staff aware of how to keep a child with a serious nut allergy safe rather than introduce a blanket ban on nuts. People end up with a false sense of security if they think an allergic reaction can’t happen.

Perhaps the best approach might be to ask the school for their plan for what to do if a student has been eating nuts with regard to keeping your daughter safe. If your daughter knows that she can talk to a member of staff immediately who will then activate the plan-ensuring hand washing, table wiping etc then she might not worry all day?

All the official advice is against nut bans precisely because of this. There is no such thing as a safe zone. Banning leads to complacency whereas adults and children need to be vigilant and take appropriate action just as your daughter did.

I find it quite sad they aren’t taking it seriously. The bitter truth is that kids have to die before schools crack down on students taking the piss. I still remember that poor boy who was murdered by another boy throwing cheese at him knowing he could have a fatal reaction - that school has since cracked down massively but it’s all too late now

YANBU - contact school again and the governors and also the LEA to get further clarification....I think the school can confiscate nut products btw... The school then need to reiterate to the parents that this will happen if they supply nut foods.
My school confiscates energy drinks so the school can definitely confiscate nut products.
Kids are actually the best ones to police this, because they love it if someone has the forbidden item and will def shout them out.

If this were my daughter I'd tell her that if she finds herself in this situation she needs to tell a teacher immediately and they need to call you to pick her straight up from school and only return her once the classroom has been thoroughly cleaned (even if that's the next day).

If there is knowingly a child eating nuts in the class then there is a imminent danger that your daughter could come into contact with them. Even being in the same room and smelling them can be enough for some people you go into anaphylactic shock! You're very lucky her allergy isn't as bad as that. If the other child went to wash their hands even the tap would have traces of nuts on it, absolutely everything they come into contact with could potentially. The school need to be taking this more seriously.

Usually lunchtime supervisors wander around keeping an eye on everyone, there's no reason why they can't glance at what everyone is eating/what's in their lunchboxes while they're eating. They are not taking the situation seriously enough and you really need to put your foot down here.

Also agree with pushing them to send out a strongly worded letter to everyone and contacting the parents of the child who sent in the nuts.

They have a responsibility to keep her safe at school and they need to step up. This is life threatening! Really put your foot down op and don't take no for an answer. If anything ever happened to your daughter while she was in their care you'd never forgive yourself for not doing so when you had the chance. It's also worth having a look to see if there are any organisations with information packs or who would be willing to send someone out to the school to give them additional training because it sounds like they really don't understand this condition or what they should put in place to safeguard your child. Good luck!

Yabu. My son has a host of allergies - and I mean LOADS. You cannot expect one teacher to be checking lunchboxes, keeping an eye on your child and only your child etc - they have loads of kids to look after! All the school can do is re-iterate. You can tell them again and again, but some parents just forget etc. Maybe you can suggest that the school put the allergy children on one table etc?

I’d encourage your DD to talk to a teacher when this type of thing happens - she doesn’t need to make a scene, but mention it so that the risks can be controlled. It will come down to your daughter to manage this during her life, rightly or wrongly... I had to teach my younger sister to be aware of chicken, peas, nuts, eggs, she was allergic to loads. It’s just not possible for the school to do any more than they’ve done.

Usually lunchtime supervisors wander around keeping an eye on everyone, there's no reason why they can't glance at what everyone is eating/what's in their lunchboxes while they're eating.

There is a reason. A child could have a peanut butter sandwich and this wouldn’t be visible. A child could have a granola bar with nuts and you would have to actually read the list of ingredients to see this. A child could have a homemade piece of walnut cake and you wouldn’t know what was in it. Even if you asked them, they might not know what is in it. To guarantee no nuts at school isn’t possible.

@peachescariad do you expect the school to check the ingredients of every single product in every single lunch box?

I am bit surprised at some of the answers - yes of course they can’t search all lunch boxes - but they can call up the parents of this girl and remind them about the no nuts policy and why it’s in place. It’s likely they thought they were buying normal museuli bars without nuts. I totally feel for you - must be a nightmare.

Usually lunchtime supervisors wander around keeping an eye on everyone, there's no reason why they can't glance at what everyone is eating/what's in their lunchboxes while they're eating.

Have you ever been in a primary school dinner hall? It’s total chaos!

I’m imagining the child’s parents didn’t even think about the nuts, it’s easily done with bars like that. I buy the popcorn bars from Aldi sometimes and totally forget they contain nuts.

I think the school are right, they have done all they can. They can’t check through every child’s lunchbox, it’s not feasible.

only return her once the classroom has been thoroughly cleaned (even if that's the next day)

This is a ridiculous suggestion and OP has no right to demand this at all