ANAPHYLAXIS AT BUNINYONG PS 

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that is potentially life threatening. The most common allergens in schools are food and insect allergies. The only way to prevent allergic reactions is to avoid being exposed to the allergen. 

We have students at our school with severe allergies to a variety of things, including:

• Nuts (all types)
• Milk & dairy
• Egg (raw & cooked)
• Kiwi fruit
• Grasses
• Pollens
• Dust mites

 Our school is supporting students at risk of anaphylaxis in the following ways:

•         training staff,

•         encouraging students with food allergy to wash their hands before and after eating,

•         encouraging students to wash their hands after eating something their classmate/friend is allergic to,

•         teaching students not to share food with friends who have food allergy,

•         teaching students the importance of getting help immediately if their friend with allergy looks sick,

•         educating students about allergies and anaphylaxis, and

•         teaching students that teasing someone with an allergy is not acceptable behaviour.

Food allergy is now common in school aged children. Children can be allergic to any food, and it is not possible to completely remove all foods from our school. To help manage food allergies, our school is following the National Allergy Strategy Best Practice Guidelines (2021) which do not recommend banning foods as this is difficult to enforce and can bring a false sense of safety.

Families in a class with a student with anaphylaxis will have received a notification from your class teacher around which allergens should be avoided in that classroom, in order to minimise the risk of a serious reaction. We request that parents please consider not sending food with these allergens to school if in that class. We also request that you have conversations at home with your child around the importance of not sharing food and washing their hands thoroughly before and after eating.

If you are wanting to bring in food (birthday cakes/treats), we ask you to please provide advance notice to the teacher, and include a list of ingredients, so that we may check the ingredients carefully. Any compound items that do not have a list of ingredients will not be consumed.

We will continue to work with and educate, at a developmentally appropriate level, our school community to help with the management of food allergy and anaphylaxis.

We ask you to support the school’s risk minimisation strategies outlined so that we can increase safety and provide an environment that meets the needs of all our students.

If you have any questions please contact Narelle Sullivan, our Assistant Principal for Student Engagement and Wellbeing.