Headteacher used a biscuit in Maths and tried to feed our Coeliac daughter and when told not to, laughed about it

[RLBo]

Our daughter has Coeliac Disease - (the school is well aware of this as she is hyper sensitive). She had a 1:1 Maths lesson with the Headteacher who used a non gluten free biscuit to demonstrate fractions, the head teacher broke the biscuit apart and put it in our daughters face and said 'go on eat it, it's yours' pushing the biscuit towards her. Our daughter said 'no I can't eat it, it will make me ill' to which the headteacher laughed and said 'oh I will eat it then, yum yum yum' putting crumbs all over our daughter and the desk.

I was shocked at this behaviour and made a complaint. To which the reply was; the headteacher said she had forgotten that our daughter was Coeliac and that she wasn't wrong in doing this?

How would you respond? because in my eyes, it's once again a school brushing something that is serious under the carpet and dismissing it.

Interested to know your thoughts

Yes she should be sacked for offering your child a biscuit that she didn’t even eat

Forgetting... it happens.

Reaction afterwards was off. I would expect a headteacher to have better understanding of allergy protocols.

But the child was smart enough to say no thank you and didn't eat it. What's the problem?

How old is she? Is it usual to have one to one lessons with the headmaster??

You’re over reacting. She didn’t actually force feed the child did she? She probably has 100’s of pupils in her school. She can’t remember everything 🙄

What kind of fractions can you even break a biscuit into? Assuming it's a digestive or something... I'd be lucky to get a clean break in half. ...

So the Headteacher taught a maths lesson, demonstrated a fraction by snapping a biscuit in 2, offered your daughter half, your daughter reminded her it would make her ill, so Headteacher ate biscuit as joke but some crumbs fell on your daughter's desk?

Certainly she should be sacked.

Get a grip! What is the world coming to !

🙄

HyggeTygge Children are taught not just about equal parts of a whole but unequal parts of a whole.

These are my thoughts also.

Full moon, half moon, total eclipse...

Although are Jaffa Cakes cakes or biscuits? I've forgotten because I can't eat them either

I expect the head teacher has her peanut abacus to hand too. Evil cow.

🙄

My dd is Coeliac I would be annoyed by this, I'm a teacher just for reference. I would request that all staff see her health care plan (presume you have one?) And kindly remind the headteacher- if had been nuts and she forgot it could have been a different story but as mum's of coeliacs know a crumb can make our daughters sick and would be stressing that and expect an apology to the child. If she was teaching she has a duty of care to be aware of the children's health care plans and medical needs!

Exactly. Protractor's at the ready!

I think it puts the child in an unfair position. My ds has a specific medical diet and it’s a lot for a child to have to remind adults all the time that they can’t have the treats their friends take for granted. Fair enough re forgetting, but be decent and apologise. I’d be annoyed and a bit concerned if my HT forgot this about my child and then dismissed it when I complained. The adult in the situation should be the responsible one, though it depends on the age of the child as to how much. A biscuit is a weird thing to use for fractions though.

I get it OP as my son has coeliac, I think the head and the school needs to recognise that the mistake was careless. I would ask them to have a little research check so they understand what coeliac is and how serious it could be should anyone digest it and also about how easy it is for cross contamination.

Sadly coeliac disease isn't understood and many don't realise how serious it is.

This thread is demonstrating exactly why it is so hard for people with allergies to keep themselves safe.
There should be a protocol in which before food is used with children a check is done to see if said child/ren are allergic in any way. What if it was something which could cause anaphylaxis through airborne contamination? Would that be the same reaction? Teachers can’t be expected to remember every allergy, but they should have the sense to check.

The responses you've had are weird.

The Headteacher behaved unprofessionally at best, possibly negligently, and the response to the complaint is inadequate.

The next step for a complaint is presumably the governing body.

The key question is how does the school ensure it isn't 'forgotten' again given their legal duty to remember these things.

putting crumbs all over our daughter

This hyperbole is totally unnecessary OP. Come on now....

Ps I don't think you need to 'get a grip' you haven't said you want them sacked so not sure where that has come from.

I think you are massively overreacting here. The headteacher didn't try and make her eat the biscuit. Just offered it to her. There'll be hundreds of kids in that school how do you expect a teacher to remember their dietary requirements... especially as this is a slightly older child who will know them themselves. I mean its not the lunch lady, but even if it was its no big deal because your daughter remembered and didn't eat it! I hope you didn't encourage your child to feel hurt by this as though it were a personal attack.. I hope you spoke to her about how sometimes people just forget but well done to her for remembering.

Very serious.

Given how dangerous coeliac and allergies are, any use of food in the classroom needs to be risk assessed and proper checks done. I can't believe people don't understand this.

Children have died in school because of their allergies.

Completely agree with this reply.
I'd certainly complain to the governing body. This is completely unprofessional and unacceptable.
It shouldn't have happened in the first place but I'd be sure it won't happen again.

Agree with every word of this.

And I am deeply disappointed how many people are trivialising this