St Andrew’s Church School Nut Free Policy
For more information on how we approach food allergies and what can and cannot be brought into school, please see below.
St Andrew’s Church School aims to be a Nut-Free school. The school aims to protect children who have allergies to nuts while also helping them as they grow to take responsibility for what foods they can safely eat and to be aware of what foods may put them at risk. We do not allow nuts or nut products in school lunch boxes.
Parents and carers must notify staff if their child has any known or suspected allergy to nuts and provide all medical and necessary information. This will be added to your child’s file and if necessary, a meeting organised with school staff.
The most serious risk to allergic children comes from nuts, which can cause severe, life-threatening ‘anaphylactic’ reactions within seconds in a susceptible child.
Our “Nut-Free Policy” means that the following items should not be brought into school:
- Packs of nuts
- Peanut butter or Nutella sandwiches
- Fruit and cereal bars that contain nuts
- Chocolate bars or sweets that contain nuts
- Sesame seed rolls (children allergic to nuts may also have a severe reaction to sesame)
- Hummus or houmous as it contains tahini which is made from sesame
- Pesto which contains nuts
- Cakes made with nuts
- Self-serve pastries covered in almonds – for example almond croissants
- Any home-cooked meals for packed lunches that are made from nuts
- Any shared food for after-school events with nuts or nut oils
Our suppliers provide us with nut-free products. However, we cannot guarantee complete freedom from nut traces.
The school requests that parents and carers observe the nut-free policy and therefore do not include nuts, or any traces of nuts, in packed lunches.
What types of food are nuts?
Almonds
Cashew nuts
Hazelnuts
Pistachios
Walnuts
Brazil nuts
Nut oils
Peanuts
All product packaging must be checked for warnings directed at nut allergy sufferers and if the following or similar are displayed, the product must not be used in school. Packaging must be checked for:
o Not suitable for nut allergy suffers;
o This product contains nuts;
o This product may contain traces nuts;
Staff
Most St Andrew’s staff have EpiPen training and those who work in the class with any child who has an EpiPen have regular top-up training.
Children
All children are regularly reminded about the good hygiene practice of washing hands before and after eating which helps to reduce the risk of secondary contamination.
Further Information
Allergy UK: https://www.allergyuk.org/living-with-an-allergy/at-school/
Anaphylaxis campaign: https://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/