How does your school manage dietary requirements for school lunches?

[MilestoneMum]

DD came home today with a sticker on her cardigan saying "No xxx please".

I guess the school think this is a good way of making sure children do not get given food they shouldn't, but I just felt a bit uncomfortable that my YR pfb is being literally labelled.

Are there any other ways a school could manage dietary requirements for school lunches successfully?

Does your pfb normally have school dinners or was this the first time she will have been served food by the school kitchen team?

With a lot of kids in a school it takes a while before every childs intolerance’s are known by every one who serves food. New staff may benefit from the assistance of stickers, as may new to school dinner children.

Better a sticker ( which your pfb could remove after lunch if she wanted to) than an allergic reaction surely.

I've seen a school that used coloured wristbands for no pork/meat/dairy etc. Sticky labels are probably cheaper and more visible with long sleeves etc. Older children are more reliable for stating their requirements and making sure they get the right meal, but for younger ones it can be a bit daunting to speak up. So labelling is probably a safe option, particularly with an allergy which is more "subtle" than no pork.

Safety is the paramount issue, so for young kids labelling seems a good idea.

My child is allergic to all protein, so basically food.

He is fed through a tube into his stomach, I'd be happy for a sticker saying no food.

At that age they are very unlikely to speak up when they see the dinner ladies and you can't expect the dinner ladies to remember exactly what each child can or can't eat I would rather a sticker than an allergic reaction.

It could be something as simple as a new person serving the meals today (regular person ill ) and school/teacher didn't want your child to be fed something that would risk her health.

DD gets a coloured band (dairy, soya, oats &barley free - some days has a specially cooked meal for her). Seems to work well.

I tell DD in the morning what she is having too & she is pretty good about querying things although she is only 6.

Our school lunches are on a computerised system which flags food allergies.

I think the sticker is a fab idea so the kitchen staff can clearly see what she is or isn't allowed.

Our school has a rather ineffectual system where they have notices up on the wall but then often get the wrong children! It's poor tbh. One time my class's dinner lady came to see me in a panic because the kitchen had given a vegetarian a meat dinner and they dinner ladies only realised when she only had one mouthful left!! Mum was fuming and complained about the kitchen's method (rightly so) but they haven't changed anything as far as I can tell! may suggest the stickers!!

Having a computerised system is great but it doesn't identify the child to a new member of staff who can't link the face to the name on the system - a label does.

We have photographs of the child and their individual needs posted inside the serving hatch

It sounds like a fantastic system. I used to work with some orthodox Jewish children, and they would get upset about not being able to have things they saw other children have (like going to the ice cream van in the park), the accepted that they couldn't when you explained it wasn't kosher, but it didn't occur to them that it might not be kosher. A sticky label would have helped other adults when interacting with them, because they would have just accepted any food.

I think it's a great idea. My DD can't have dairy and she is often too shy to ask and just assumes an adult will know what she can and can't have.

Oh and I'd also like a sticker that says 'no dairy doesn't mean I can't have eggs' - seriously, why do people who know she can't have cows milk protein ask does that include eggs. Unless they have modified cows to lay eggs these days???

Our school uses wrist bands too. I like the sticker idea tho'. Nobody can forget what 'red' stands for that way. I think this is just part of life with allergies.

Lucky

Stickers sound like a great idea. I always think it must be a really hard job to work in school at dinner time!

"Uncomfortable at your child being labelled" honestly, I never say this but get a grip. You sound slightly unhinged. I feel sorry for teachers having to field parents like you. The vilification that they would receive if your child had an allergic reaction. A sticker saying non dairy..big bloody deal. Try to imagine your child being labelled as non functioning autistic and having it all over their records before they're actually in school. Now there's a label to feel uncomfortable with.

My two (multiple allergy) dc's have packed lunches to ensure they are not given stuff they can't have by mistake. Tbh there is never a single lunch served by school which caters for their allergies, so packed lunches are just safer all round.

We have the same system as mrz, photos of children with dietary requirements written underneath, stuck up on the wall in kitchen, just beside serving hatch.