Nut free schools

[JustACountryMusicLoverInCowboyBoots]

I we've just had the back to school reminder that our school is nut free and that 10% of the pupils have severe allergies requiring an epipen. Pupils are not allowed anything containing nuts or seeds or that may contain them like cereal bars. No hummus etc.

My question is what happens when children with severe allergies go to high school where there are no such policies (not at the high schools that our primary feeds into anyway) and it would be more difficult to police? What happens at college and in the work place? What if a child has Nutella at breakfast or seeded toast or similar and has residue on their clothes or skin?

Severe allergies can be fatal so I understand school's stance. It's impossible to eradicate the risk completely so is it a case of minimising as much as possible? That brings me back to what happens at high school etc though?

Snacks have to be fruit or vegetables for break although many take in cereal bars despite the weekly reminders in the newsletter. My child has school dinners just in case anyone thinks I'm saying the rule is ridiculous.

At secondary they have more options for eating separately and the children are much better able to take responsibility for their own allergies. Primary school age they are not, and its impossible for schools to reliably police and of course its their fault if a kid dies.

In high school children are more able to manage their allergies themselves.

It's about minimising risk, although I believe Allergy UK don't advise a full nut ban because it gives a false sense of security.

The senior schools have the same rules around here and I agree, it's difficult to police but all the schools can do is make it against the rules.

I'm not sure about workplace rules, it's an interesting question.

I suppose that by the time the child gets to secondary school and then college and adulthood, the onus is on them to know what they can and can't eat. Whereas primary age children still need more guidance and protection.

The schools round my area are not free too, but they don’t ban ‘May contain’. Not even sure how that would work, so many products have that on and I wouldn’t be checking everything I bought just in case. I’ve never seen a nut ban at any work place I’ve worked at.

Presumably older pupils are for more able to recognise what they should/should not have, and wouldn’t eat random food a mate offered them. They are able to
tale some of the responsibility, and so the environment can be less stringent.
but also, it would be impossible to police.

The average secondary school pupil will have more capability to manage a severe allergy by themselves than a primary school pupil will.

So they ban healthy granary bread, that's new as my dc always had that as it's all I buy. My dd also had permission for peanut butter as she has food issues and it's one of the only things she ate then (she started school in America and every kid has peanut butter sandwiches there it seems, unlike actual peanuts it doesn't transfer into the air)

Both my kids senior schools are nut free - I suspect they all are. And senior kids should be able to avoid any illicit nuts themselves.

My work place went nut free when someone with a severe nut allergy started. A lot of staff work there though, so I don't know how well it is adhered to. At least with teenagers and adults you can trust they won't share other people's food without checking.

Wow. 10% of pupils have anaphylactic level allergies? That seems like a very high number, so if your child continues to high school with the same cohort then maybe high school policy will also change.

Lot's of secondary schools are nut free, though as you say they can't police it 100%. Secondary pupils are also much less likely to go out with breakfast remnants on them, and the child with the allergy is more likely to be aware of minimising there own risk. Children/teenagers are also generally quite happy to make sure they don't kill their friend. I've only ever seen parents complain about nut free rules.

My dd has a life threatening airborne peanut allergy and I’m worried about her going to secondary school, I’m not sure if they are nut free but my older dd says she has never been told not to bring nuts to secondary school so even if it is nut free they aren’t making it clear or policing it.

She is 9 now and getting good at checking labels etc which is something that we will continue to work on. I’m not sure when I would be confident that she would administer an epipen herself though which is really the crucial step to independence with an allergy.

Its important that secondary schools give children with allergies the chance to learn to live with their allergy in a relatively controlled environment with responsible adults on hand.

Overly draconian practices in primary schools really irritate me. Banning ‘may contains’ is unenforceable and an unenforceable rule is meaningless. Allergy UK do not advocate nut-free schools; I agree with them but saying this earned me a flaming on allergy groups.

One of DC’s friends has a severe nut allergy - including ‘airborne’. The risk of a severe reaction is much lower through inhalation so whilst their primary school is nut free, by secondary school he should be to deal with any reaction quickly himself and alert school staff swiftly.

They are not. Your children’s schools are fairly unusual. I would be very interested to know how they police that.

Primary school kids also suck their thumbs, get very up close to their friends and sneeze/cough/drool/don’t wash their hands properly/wipe their sticky food hands on their school jumpers.

even secondary schools when I went to school decades ago went nut (or whatever) free if there was someone with a severe allergy there.

but by secondary, as an allergy sufferer, you know not to kiss a boy who’s eaten recently without knowing whether it contains an allergen, you likely don’t hold hands and hopefully don’t drool or sneeze everywhere. You also know not to take bites of other people’s food.

it’s hard hard hard to spend every day having to be frightened and defensive of food - the thing that you need to live and a thing others just take easy joy from. It’s also hard knowing a whole institution/all your friends and enemies/bullies have to adhere to something that inconveniences them just because of you.

its good there’s more knowledge but there’s still discrimination and it sucks

It's their fault if a child dies? Really?

I've just thought about all the PTA events where there are homemade or shop bought cakes brought into school. No one polices that.

The secondary school definitely isn't nut free. No mention at all on the website or communications sent home.

I agree that a secondary age child is likely to be more able to manage their allergy.

@DrMarshaFieldstone as a parent of a child with a life threatening allergy I do actually agree with you. It’s impossible to police may contains, and banning them makes life difficult for everyone, while the risk from airborne exposure from them is negligible. Although my dd doesn’t eat may contains herself we do have them in our home and never had any issues. I always taught her never to eat food given to her by anyone but me and certain trusted adults so I’ve never been worried about her taking food from other children at school.

i guess if schools used a case by case approach there may be times when they would have to ban May contains depending on children’s individual needs but as a blanket policy it’s over the top.

I can confirm that not all secondary schools are nut free, as my DD has peanut/tree nut allergy and her school isn't nut free.

Granary bread doesn’t have nuts in it. Least not the ones I buy. So easy to find nut free alternatives.

Yes, I am a parent of a child with allergies too. I should have mentioned that.

Allergy UK take the view that ‘nut free’ schools breed complacency and make it much less likely that other contingencies will be followed. It is far more effective to ensure children wash their hands before and after eating, wipe down all surfaces, and enforce a strict ’no food swapping’ rule.

It often contains seeds, however, and OP said the rule is nut and seed free with no “may contains”.

The last two secondary schools I've worked in have been nut free. I think it's something terrifying like 1 in 5 fatal anaphylaxis incidents happen in school. (although kids probably spend about 20% of their lives in school, so maybe that's not a surprising stat)