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

Agree with @Iammetoday

Whose idea was it for the child to do the 1:1 maths lesson and why?

I don't like the sound of a teacher pushing food or anything else toward a child and expecting her to open her mouth and let it in.

*Dacadactyl · Today 19:24

Non issue.*

Except it isn’t. Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease for which there is no cure. It is not a minor intolerance. The only available treatment is the elimination of gluten from the sufferer’s diet. Any amount of contamination with gluten, even a crumb, is harmful to a coeliac.

This headteacher was very cavalier in their attitude, possibly just because coeliac disease doesn’t lead to anaphylaxis.

So many people don’t understand celiac disease. They think it’s just like a mild allergy instead of an autoimmune response with possibly permanent damage in the gut’s lining. So serious!

That headteacher is either ignorant or crazy. I would definitely complain.

As the mother of a daughter who is gluten intolerant, I would be outraged by this. My daughter (and I’m sure she can’t be the only one, especially at primary school age) HATES not being able to eat gluten, loves biscuits and probably would have eaten one in this scenario. She would have trusted the teacher to offer her something she was able to eat.

My son has a milk allergy and has to carry an EpiPen everywhere. If something like this had happened where milk had been waved in his face and droplets splashed on him/ on his desk I would be absolutely livid. A stupid error by a head teacher

Point missed

9 years old. It’s a very small school. Whilst I appreciate the 1:1 - the lack of remorse or seriousness around it was very disappointing, particularly from a headteacher. The school has duty of care

I’m glad you are entertained by this…just about sums up the intellect of some commenting on this post.

I know - It’s disappointing and concerning to see some of the responses. We are talking about a child’s health and a headteachers abuse of authority. Had my daughter not been confident enough to say no, she could have eaten it. I think people are missing the point around “duty of care”.

I didn’t say I wanted the head teacher sacked. What I’m saying is recognition that’s she’s wrong wouldn’t go a miss!

Do you understand what gluten does to someone with coeliac? Hell, as an adult it's absolute fucking agony, so to a child it'd be unbearable! I'd be apoplectic!

Oh, crumb on!

How do you know the exact story and what was said?

We have to get parental permission to eat anything in class outside normal lunch options! Amazed and surprised the head would do/say this, very odd...

Then you best home school her, things happen in life unless you lock her in he room and never let her out things like this may happen again

Stamping your foot and going 'I'm right why won't everyone say so' is not going to work

What a ridiculous thing to say

All the guidance for schools makes it clear that the HT was in the wrong here.

Was it one of these op?

Some really ignorant people on here tonight. Ignore them OP.

I don’t think some people know the extent to some people with coeliacs get ill. Crumbs or aerosolised gluten can be enough to make some people vomit blood. There was a poster not long ago who had to call in a hazmat team due to her reaction to gluten and people were telling her she was overreacting too. Maybe tell the peanut allergies that need a plane with no aerosolised peanuts that they are silly little people too.

Yeah I don't know what it is about this thread that's drawn in the nasty and uneducated.

Op you do need to make a fuss about this. The school need to change their processes - it could save someone's life. They should only use food in lessons when they have given a full list of ingredients and obtained written consent. Anything else is negligence and even if they don't care about the children you could point out they risk being sued or prosecuted (disappointingly it was only when I pointed that out to my children's school that they sat up agreed to change their policies)

The behaviour around waving it in her face and yum yum just make me feel uncomfortable in itself (not appropriate or necessary), but even moreso the handling of serious medical matters and then even when this is raised as a concern being dismissive. God forbid there be a child with anaphylaxis with this kind of treatment at a place they are supposed to be safe physically and emotionally. I would be raging (fellow coeliac here and would be fuming if was a child of mine was treated this way). Raise this higher up it is not okay and could be talking about risking children's lives that they are being so blasé about.

Sometimes I think the first few replies set the tone for a thread and OP I think you have been unlucky here.

I'm very surprised at the reactions to this. A lot of people just don't understand these things and things anyone who can't eat something is just being silly. Except peanuts. People are fine with the existence of peanut allergies.

If your thread had been about how your HT had used non-mumsnet approved behaviour management strategies such as asking a child to move seats, asking a child to stop talking (in front of the rest of the class!!!!) or making a child stay behind for 23 seconds at playtime to speak about it then everyone would be calling for her to be sacked. Luckily she just neglected to check details or something minor that one day could just kill a child. But no big deal. At least she is nice to the kids and makes lessons fun.

I'm an ex teacher and while I do love any teacher support and acknowledgment of the conditions causing shortages I'm not sure I can quite get on behind letting allergies be the place we slip. Of course you check the allergies of every child you teach. It's not a crazy or unreasonable thing to ask at all. Nobody is saying that a HT should know the allergy details of 1000 kids off by heart but she should sure have looked at the details of any children that she was going to teach with food!

"No harm done" never sits right with me. If things could just as easily gone badly then "no harm done" means "we have been afforded one more chance let's sort this out immediately" not "let's leave things as they are".

I assume the HT simply thinks that if DD eats a biscuit she might be a bit nauseous (like one might get from eating too many sweets). It's not acceptable.

But this is the point I made upthread - I don't think many people at all know this about coeliacs.

Most teachers only have rudimentary first aid training. We are not allowed to administer medication unless in an emergency for a reason - we are not medics. Expecting teachers to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all types of allergy and the consequences of allergies is unrealistic and unfair. I didn't know that coeliacs can't be in contact with gluten. I would have thought before reading this thread that I could have eaten a biscuit next to a coeliac child. I thought it was about ingestion only, not aerosol spray, which I have always only associated with nut allergies.

We rely on parents giving us this information and on it being recorded accurately, and made easily accessible, for us to keep children safe.

If it were not clearly stated on this child's medical notes what coeliac disease is and what that entails for her in terms of what provisions need to be in place then the Headteacher may well have had no idea about how dangerous the biscuit was to this child. Teachers do not have time to look up every medical condition a child in their school has and so are reliant on the information given to them by the parents/school nurse (if there is one)/office staff responsible for recording said info.

I'm just playing devil's advocate here. It's very easy to go in baying for this teacher's blood, but if we're being perfectly honest, I think many people would have a limited knowledge of coeliac disease and what it entails, especially as it has become conflated with gluten intolerance these days.

That's not to excuse the teacher's behaviour - there is some negligence here - but approaching this as a learning opportunity for the whole school rather than as an opportunity to 'go nuclear' and get heads rolling would be the most fruitful plan of action to ensure safety for everyone going forward.

That being said, I do wonder what arrangements are in place for lunchtime. If your daughter is this allergic to gluten, what does she do when her friends are eating sandwiches around her? Surely if the biscuit was such a danger then being exposed to anyone else eating anything wheat based would carry the same risk? Does she have to eat in a separate room?

Enidspyton, the OP states that her DD is hyper sensitive and School are aware so I'd imagine OP has been very clear about her DDs condition. I agree that there isn't enough awareness. When I was diagnosed three years ago I thought it was just a faddy, snobby thing and had absolutely no idea of what it actually meant. I am a silent coeliac which means I don't have a reaction as such (some coeliacs are in agony for days) but when I had my endoscopy there was significant damage to my stomach lining. Even a crumb of gluten can damage a coeliac. I'm 45 and a bit rubbish with the whole cross contamination personally but I can tell you now, if it was my 9 year old daughter I'd be very cross.

Okay, let's take the issue of coeliac disease away for a minute.

The fact that the head teacher said she wasn't wrong in this - and the yum, yum comment to the child raises alarm with me. She had no intention to think about her behaviour when a parent complained, no apology, etc. Why was she playing with food anyway, when a folded piece of paper could better explain fractions? Her conduct was not befitting a Head Teacher.

Now, add in the child's individual issue. It is perhaps forgivable that the HT did not realise this at the time, but it is negligent. Think of the rules in place these days re nut allergies, etc at lunch breaks. I find it incredulous that a professional woman should act in this manner. It needs highlighting with Governors as a serious issue. I'd be livid if I was dismissed like this after raising a complaint.