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!!

Yes because hair is a lot easier to police than an allergy.

See it's hard from the other side as well as parents may not even realise there are nuts in things...and sometimes just don't think and obviously the school can't check everyone's lunch box. All they can do is speak to the parents.

Our school does police lunch boxes.

Unless the force every parent to produce a detailed list of what brands and products they use they are not policing lunchboxes.

And the fact that the child survived shows they are not perhaps as in need of special treatment. Sometimes the parents get addicted to the attention.

Yeah, the little kid must be faking it because they didn’t die; it’s all just attention seeking. Pass me those peanuts and I’ll just chuck them at them

Really?

The school should be taking the nut bars and giving them back at the end of the day. That's what happened when my DS accidentally picked up the wrong snack to school. I hadn't noticed he'd picked up his Nutella snack pot instead of the fruit bar I had for him. I was relieved that the teacher had noticed because I would hate to be responsible for anyone having an allergy attack. No one NEEDS nut snacks.

Going by local chatter (small village) I figure there are at least 3 severe nut allergy suffering children and one teacher in a school of less than 200. And two of my schoolyard mum friends insist on sending their DC to school with Nutella sandwiches because "Billy will only eat that and I'm not starving my child! The allergic kids should just not eat my kid's lunch then!"

Billy eats almost any sandwich. Billy has eaten lots of different ones on play dates at my house. Billy simply wants chocolate sandwiches for lunch (what child wouldn't opt for chocolate over savoury?) and Billy's mum is pandering to him and placing innocent children in danger. Pisses me right off.

OP you need to tell your DD to notify a teacher ASAP who MUST take the dangerous item away! If that teacher doesn't, tell her to try another. And another.

Lunchtime supervisor here....our school is but free and we are allowed to "confiscate" items containing nuts (given back at the end of the day) though it's not always possible to know what items contain nuts.
I bought my son some fruit and fibre bars to put in his lunchbox....not a nut was shown on the box but I casually looked at ingredients and it contained peanuts. I doubt every non allergy parent would check ingredients and may be unaware....we do try our best and regularly send reminders in the newsletter to not send anything containing nuts.

We do have several other allergies which we can't ban (e.g soya, beans, fish, milk,) and on days they're on the menu I try my best to sit the allergy child away from anyone eating what they are allergic too...and keep a close eye out for any reactions.

The school is kind of right that they cannot police all lunch boxes (though they could police the ones around where your DD sit/or in her class) but they could have reassured you a bit more "I am really sorry, we will have a word with the parent concerned and send out a reminder to all parents that they are not to send in items containing nuts and shall do all we can in future to prevent this happening again"

Exactly this is something your dd can manage herself by washing her hands to ensure she doesn’t accidentally consume nuts.

Nothing the school can do can help with this.

Yeah obviously even she is older has a job,college social situations she will have to manage the condition herself so it's a good thing she is super aware now. It's awful for your child to have the allergy but there are always going to be dangers about and it's not prevention(as you can't ban nuts) it's how she manages it.

I have a nut allergy, our school is nut free, however we still get Nutella sandwiches I am an SMSA and everyone brings me the sandwiches as I can smell nutella, hazelnuts are one of my main ones that bring me out in a rash. We get lots of cereal bars removed from wrappers and crepes in clear packaging which are usually choco-hazelnut I personally never ever risk it and remove it from the child until the end of the day, some are given school dinner as a replacement, I write a little note saying please be aware we are a nut feee school please ensure all items are suitable if you are unsure please contact the school office thank you 😊

@JaneDarcy
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.

Yes it's perfectly legal to ban certain items. Just like certain workplaces ban staff from bringing foods containing nuts for their lunch breaks. Can you imagine the backlash if a factory process worker in a nut free food factory inadvertently contaminated the product? People could die.

It's good that your DD is hyper alert. Both DSs have peanut allergy and it's something they had to learn to be. They are adults now but still very allergic.

I don't think the school can search every lunch box but a frequent reminder to parents would be a good idea.

@LongLiveTheQueenBee
And why is the school unable to ban the other foods?

An allergy that Requires an epi pen is no worse or better because of nuts. They can all have the same effects. I don’t have a nut allergy, but this hasn’t stopped me getting blue lighted when my epis haven’t worked. The last time was by accidental egg contact in work a few years ago.

ffswhatnext

Schools can’t ban any and all foods for which an allergy is present. What constitutes an allergen for one child is part of a normal healthy diet for another. What are they going to do if a child has a water allergy? Ban water? Or a contact allergy? Put everyone in hazmat suits?

I agree that schools can’t police everything g and everyone, but when it was pointed out, it may have made the OP feel better had they said they would reissue the information about allergies in several forms once more, to remind parents about the seriousness for some children. I would probably hesitate to approach the parent directly, unless it happened again, because I can see how being singled out could escalate things.

Op. I'm assuming your daughter doesn't have an airborne allergy. As such, maybe talk to your gp again about the risk he or she sees with the scenario you describe occurred.

Do you really not understand that people can DIE just from being in the same room as someone who has just eaten nuts? So of your child was affected like this you'd really just leave them in a room knowing that he could have a reaction and die any minute? Don't be so ridiculous.

The only one being “ridiculous” is you

My child takes this risk everyday he steps out the house! As a teacher you should absolutely be aware of the official guidelines around children with allergies.

You simply can’t ban allergies , one allergen does not override another.

education is a priority and key and children with allergies MUST be aware of their allergens and how to manage there allergies.

No point in putting a bandage over something so life threatening, or having a unrealistic idea that there is such a thing as a safe zone... the only damage that is doing is potentially killing someone with something that is an impossibility more so in an environment like a school canteen, for all you know the children had nuts on/in cereal that morning, the child in the OP would still be at risk, cereal bar in a packed lunch box or not

Could you email the class rep and ask them to remind parents of the fact that there is a child with nut allergies in their class and that there was an incident where a child brought a bar with nuts to the lunch room. Hopefully the parents will recognise themselves and correct their behaviour.

@mantarays
That’s the point I’ve been making.

Realistically they cannot ban foods because of allergies. By having whatever free zones it creates a false sense of safety.

Even if they did control what everyone ate in the building they have no control about what is consumed before school and staff going out for lunch. And let’s be honest, we don’t live in a world where everyone washes their hands after going toilet. I doubt they are washing their hands never mind ensuring there’s no crumbs of whatever anywhere else.

Do you really not understand that people can DIE just from being in the same room as someone who has just eaten nuts? So of your child was affected like this you'd really just leave them in a room knowing that he could have a reaction and die any minute? Don't be so ridiculous.

Do you not understand that every single time you put your child in car, even with car seat, seat belt etc they could die? or cross the road, or go in a swimming pool or many other activities.

Well what else can they physically so op?

Sometimes these things are not deliberate though, in one school I taught in there was a ban on nuts, but then they were inadvertently brought in to school. The child in question was staying with a family friend because Mum had had an accident and was in hospital. The family friend made them the same packed lunch as their own children at another school. How was that anyone's fault? Children with allergies need to be aware I'm afraid for their own safety.

ffswhatnext

Sorry! I agree entirely.

Obviously I also have to come at this with honesty and say that if I were the OP I probably would be upset, because it’s her daughter at risk and of course she is going to find it hard to be reasonable. We all would. The truth of the matter for every parent on here is that our own children are the most important things in the world, but when we send them to school their needs have to balanced against those of everyone else.

In a previous sch where I worked we found the best way was to educate the children about allergies and the consequences of not taking them seriously. Our children got very good at identifying any offender and alerting a member of staff who would confiscate the item into a sealed bag and returned to a parent at end of day with a note saying this was a nut free school. Most cases were accidental and parent felt awful but it worked.

There’s no saying the other parent will change what they send in. They may be more aware about allergies and how to avoid cross contamination.
The other child maybe more than aware and would wash hands immediately afterwards.

At times I have sent my dcs to school with things I’m allergic to. It was a treat for them. Yes it was a risk, and they were more than aware how to eat it as safely as possible.

Same with they sometimes bought banned foods when outside of school and home.

If I thought about the ways I could come into contact with someone and habe a reaction, I would never leave home. Never mind Male my way to a safe free zone.

Like others I think you can ask the school to send a reminder to all parents and/or that girl’s parents. They should have said they would do this. But you can’t ask them to police lunches, it’s near impossible as many things have “hidden” nuts.

TBH I suspect if you pushed things further the most likely consequence would be your DD eating lunch alone, or with other nut allergic kids. Which would be safer but not in her best interests in other ways.