Resource Review: School Allergy Action Group
Allergy UK – The New School Allergy Action Group Resource Kit
At a glance
- A free user-friendly toolkit to help develop a whole school allergy awareness policy
- Reflects European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) guidance on supporting pupils with allergic conditions
- Official guidelines, action plans, policy tools, articles and useful resources for the whole school
- Case studies learning channel showcasing good practice
- Completion certificate
Do you have a whole school allergy awareness policy and procedures in place?
Do you have a named person responsible for development of management plans for individual children?
All schools should have a policy to protect children but the reality is that many are poorly prepared to protect students. Teachers have a fragile knowledge of anaphylaxis triggers, symptoms, and adrenaline auto-injectors and so looking after food allergic children can be overwhelming.
The need for age-specific, whole school, allergy-aware management policies is crucial and has to go far beyond simply banning food allergens, such as nuts.
A must-have for every secondary school is a downloadable seven-step toolkit hosted by Allergy UK, a multi-agency informed programme that fosters good practice, risk awareness, and management of emergencies.
Based on European and UK clinical guidelines, this unique toolkit is incredibly well-informed and full of practical policies for schools to embed an allergy awareness culture within their communities.
Secondary schools can download the toolkit and work through the seven steps at their own pace, with a completion certificate after each stage.
To get started there are questionnaires which shine a light on the current practice and policy on food allergies in your school and an ice breaker card sort with a comprehensive task list of items needed for holding a preliminary meeting about allergy awareness.
Schools are asked where they want to be in relation to food allergies and include a party food challenge to give everyone an opportunity to see what decisions and challenges allergic people face in their daily lives.
The toolkit challenges us to consider whether a peanut ban helps and how schools can help empower students to make informed choices for themselves for life in the real world.
It also talks about the importance of time management when treating anaphylaxis, prompts schools to compare current food allergy management practice in relation to clinical guidelines and how to raise awareness of food allergy throughout school.
A template is provided for drafting your own your Whole School Allergy Awareness and Practical Management Policy and Action Plan with next steps advice, review progress pointers and ideas for tackling new food issues as they arise.
There are a variety of supporting resources available including articles, fascinating factsheets, allergy recipes, resources for caterers and you can also sign-up for allergy alerts.
This toolkit will have tremendous impact and ensure all vulnerable children with allergies have the support to achieve in school. It makes a giant stride in safeguarding children with medical conditions and gives schools the life skills desperately needed to ensure provision is effective and tragedy is avoided.
Allergies are particularly stressful for students and they have a huge impact on their lives but this resource can help by ensuring schools can cater competently for their needs and level the playing field by being allergic disease champions.
It gets everyone involved and asking the right questions so that food allergic students are integrated into daily life and schools are actively engaged in keeping their allergy knowledge up to date.
The verdict
- Raises awareness and helps staff recognise the onset of an allergic reaction, including anaphylaxis, and know how and when to get help
- Intelligently feeds into personalised emergency management plans
- Powers collaboration across the school for understanding allergic disease
- Helps dispel misconceptions, myths and misinformation especially among parents
- Tackles allergy bullying
- Promotes an ‘adolescent-centered’ self-management approach for students
Upgrade if…
You are looking for a comprehensive, practical and empowering educational programme on allergy aware management that will dramatically transform your approach, protocols and direction for keeping students safe and healthy.