We have been working closely with our wonderful parents and carers of children with allergies to help make Clanfield Junior School a truly allergy-aware school. We want to reassure families that we take this responsibility very seriously.

After listening to parents share their experiences — including the worry of eating out, the trust they place in school to keep their children safe, and the exhausting day-to-day routines that allergy management can involve — we knew how important it was to act.  As a result, we have begun a whole-school journey to educate everyone at CJS, not just those with allergies, so that understanding, care, and awareness are shared by all.

We are proud to share that we have signed up to the Natasha Allergy Foundation and created a clear allergy policy for our whole school community. We also self-assess using the Natasha Allergy Foundation benchmarking tool, which helps us reflect on our practice and identify next steps. We use the Foundation’s resources to help educate both staff and children across the school.

We have made thoughtful changes to the way we plan trips and activities, always working closely with parents and carers and taking a case-by-case approach so children feel safe and included.

Each child with an allergy has an individual care plan, and we have strong systems in place for managing medication. We have also invested in spare EpiPens, which are kept safely in the school office for emergencies, giving us added reassurance.

All of our staff have completed allergy awareness training, including governors and members of the PTA, so everyone understands how important this is and how they can help.

We’re also making allergy awareness part of everyday learning. Children have enjoyed activities such as cooking dairy- or egg-free muffins in DT, and we now have Allergy Ambassadors — children with allergies who are helping to educate and raise awareness among their peers.

This is just the start of our journey. Our next step is to continue building children’s understanding of allergies using high-quality resources and real-life learning, and we’ll keep you posted as this work continues.