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

@Iwillnotdancewiththedevil You've just fabricated all of that! Ffs

That poor teacher. She lost her career because she briefly forgot something. How awful

https://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/six-year-old-school-girl-wins-compensation-after-suffering-severe-allergic-reaction-at-school/

https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/25/birmingham-boy-mohammed-ismaeel-ashraf-death-allergic-reaction-school-neglect-inquest

https://theallergyteam.com/benedicts-story/

https://www.sparepensinschools.uk/for-schools/reducing-risk-of-allergic-reactions-in-schools/

There's nothing fun or funny about food in the classroom. It should be risk assessed just like any other hazard.

And for those trivialising coeliac, I know people who have been seriously ill from tiny amounts of cross contamination. If crumbs on clothing then fell onto her food later it absolutely could cause issues. As parents we accept these risks for the dinner hall but they shouldn't make their way into the classroom

This.
Would it be funny or no big deal if it was a nut allergy?

@SquirrelFeeder seriously bore off. You haven't a clue

Of course it's fabricated, I wasn't bloody there 😂
But I was giving the context of why crumbs falling on the desk is a problem, despite how ludicrous it sounds to people unaware of contamination issues.

It’s all gone batshit on here. It’s like we’ve wandered into a Flat Earthers convention. Why are people saying this doesn’t matter?! That the OPs DD can’t possibly be harmed?!

Did you miss the bit that said this wasn’t the only thing happening at the time. So no, she didn't just lose her job for "briefly forgetting" something that could have killed a child.

There's a huge amount of ignorance on this thread.

This is very weird behaviour from an adult!

You’re missing the point and it’s a primary school. Coeliac Disease is serious. Duty of care - she’s a headteacher of a village school - 99 pupils, 5 in my daughters year. I guess it was fair of her to laugh about it too??? Have you seen a child in pain that has coeliac disease after eating gluten?

I’m a teacher and while we might not know about every single child in the school it is part of our professional duties to know the children we are teaching - there are systems in place for this in every school!
I am pretty sure that every lowly teacher (ie me!) would get a total bollocking for something like this, basically putting a child’s life at risk.
The headteacher is a twat.

🙄 really

Honestly OP you need to take this to governors if the head isn’t taking it seriously. I work in a village primary and am also a first aider. We have in every class an allergy list that teachers refer to when planning any lesson that involves ingredients that could provoke allergy.

99 pupils in the school? I teach more children than that (in secondary) and I am well aware of allergies, epi pen carriers, those who have inhalers etc.!

Non issue.

@Dacadactyl child health and possible hospital admission is a non issue is it?? Go away.

you're determined to be a fanny on this thread.

Sure.

I'm sure the parents or Karabir Cheema, Benedict Blythe, Mohammed Ismaeel Ashfan and all the other children who have died in school due to allergies would agree with you.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7292231/Heartbroken-mother-releases-image-13-year-old-dying-hospital-pupil-threw-cheese-him.html

Headteacher was a twat, and so are some of the people on this thread.

that about sums things up, yes.

Mistakes happen but as soon as she found out about your daughter's inability to eat the biscuit she should have apologised, cleaned up well and moved on with the lesson.

My son has a range if IgE food allergies and most people we come across are ignorant and, to be fair, I was too before I had my son.

However, there's a difference between ignorance and a complete lack of caring / professionalism.

I haven't read all the replies, but this is certainly not force-feeding a child?

OP didn’t say force feeding. HT tried to get DD to eat a biscuit. DD might have thought it was safe as school were aware of her allergy.

Is this your daughter’s account of what happened? Because it probably didn’t happen the way you describe.

Yes. The HT should probably have had a GF biscuit if it was a lesson for a coeliac child. And it is great that your daughter knows what she can’t eat.

But it’s unlikely that the HT a tried to shove the biscuit in your daughter’s mouth and then laughed at her as she ate it.

The school should be ensuring that dietary requirement lists are checked for any activities involving food really.

That is not true.

Coeliac disease involves an inflammatory response and causes damage to the small intestine