Allergy AWARE

Dear Parents and Carers

We are seeking your help to support the students in our school with severe allergies.

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that is potentially life-threatening.  The most common causes of anaphylaxis in schools are allergies to food and insects (bees).  To help manage allergies, our school is following the National Allergy Council's Best Practice Guidelines for Anaphylaxis Prevention and Management in Schools.

The Best practice Guidelines recommend an Allergy Aware approach, which means we are supporting students at risk of anaphylaxis in the following ways:

•  training staff
• educating students about allergies and anaphylaxis
• teaching students that we all have different needs and to be respectful of others
• teaching students the importance of getting help immediately if their friend with allergy looks sick

For food allergies, we are also:

• encouraging students with food allergies to wash their hands before and after eating
• encouraging students to wash their hands after eating something their classmate or friend is allergic to
• teaching students not to share food with friends who have food allergy

Food allergies are common in school aged children and avoiding the food is the only way to prevent an allergic reaction.  Therefore, we have put a range of different things in place to help keep these students safe.  In younger primary classes, we may send letters home to suggest ways to support a child with food allergies that are additional to those listed above.

We ask you to support the school's Allergy Aware approach so that we can increase safety and provide an environment that meets the needs of all our students.

Thank you for helping our school be "Allergy Aware".