Nut allergy

[Hopebridge]

Just interested to know in primary it's a nut free school. In secondary it isn't. Is this a choice of the school? Appreciate that so many allergies exist and kids can carry epi pens. Just was surprised to find it didn't follow through the education system. Is this the same for everyone?

It would be impossible to guarantee a nut free environment in secondary. Anaphylaxis UK doesn’t recommend nut bans. They lead to a false sense of security and complacency. I say that as a parent of DC with allergies.

That makes sense. My close friend has a DD with an allergy and thought it was unusual but that is a great way to explain :)

A lot of kitchens will be nut free so the dinners should be fine, but schools cannot police what 1000+ pupils bring in as snacks or in their own lunches.

Also primary environments are harder to control in terms of kids sharing food, or touching things and not washing hands and the allergic child having less awareness and needing more protection from exposure. At secondary they can handle that themselves.

My DD has nut and sesame allergies and starts secondary in September. I understand why secondaries can't be nut free, but I must admit I'm very worried about it. She doesn't like school dinners generally, so will be taking a packed lunch, but it's the thought of others having peanut butter, then touching the doors etc afterwards that is worrying me. Or even just eating it sitting next to her. I've no idea if she'll react from just smelling it - we've avoided having nuts in the house.

@Thmssngvwlsrnd
I feel for you, I felt exactly the same when my ds went to secondary. I spoke to school and he had a clear idea of what was safe from the canteen and took a packed lunch but also had various things at break time like muffins etc
I equipped him with wipes etc and he knew enough about cross contamination to keep himself safe - I just had to trust him and see it as another step in him negotiating the big world on his own with his allergy!

He's off to uni soon - that really is a new level of worry unlocked 😳

Even if parents agreed not to send nuts in within a few months /years most of them will be making their own lunches, buying stuff in shops on the way to school etc. The average year 8 is not going to be checking the ingredients list on a meal deal they buy on the way to school, unless, hopefully, if they have an allergy themselves.

I have a nut allergy and honestly I think the anxiety and stress is harder for the parents than the child themselves. We have control over what we do (although there can be a fine line in finding your level of acceptable risk and being over cautious) but you parents have no control and have to let them get on with it, which is so, so hard. It's definitely part of the learning process for your teens though

My child's secondary isn't nut free. I can see both sides on this - but for us personally as vegetarians and for a parent who has made packed lunches since day dot - I am glad to be able to use peanut butter, nutella, cereal bars etc. I think the situation is very varied. The local grammar is nut free.

I have a peanut allergy and I react to the smell. I think if your child did, it would be obvious by now. Even with a nut-free house, she will have been places where she would have been exposed to the oil.

Have you tested her separately for peanuts, btw? Because you said she's allergic to nuts and sesame, but peanuts are neither (they're a legume).

@Thmssngvwlsrnd Anaphylaxis UK do not recommend nut bans in school with good reason. As your children get older and gain independence, there is an expectation that they have to learn to manage any medical condition themselves. Being in school is actually a lot safer than going to the shops / days out where there are other members of the public. In school there are generally members of staff everywhere and lots of training around allergies and EpiPen use if needed. A night out at the local cinema is actually far riskier! Learning to manage the risk of any medical condition is something affected children need to do as they get older to allow them a level of independence where possible.

I say this as a parent in a very allergic household!

My youngest is allergic to multiple things including tree nuts and peanuts and neither his primary nor secondary schools were nut free. Or free from any of his other allergens come to that. As others have said, the main allergy advocacy groups don't support nut free schools and nor, in my experience anyway, do most health professionals working in the field.
My DS's school did have procedures in place regarding food served by school and in food tech lessons eg the cashless catering system knows which pupils have allergies and also what the ingredients of the meals of the day are so an alert will come up for the serving staff if a pupil tries to buy something they are allergic to. However it is absolutely impossible to effectively police the food brought onto the premises in a typical secondary school and it is safer that pupils with allergies do not believe the environment to be free of their allergens when it cannot possibly be so.
You can't keep an allergic child in a bubble. Sooner or later they will be going out with friends, on school trips, sports tours or whatever and at some point they need to be able to manage their allergies themselves. The sooner they learn to do that the better in my opinion.