Dear Parents and Guardians,
This is a letter to inform you that we have several children at DBIS with life-threatening nut allergies. Please be vigilant and mindful when you, or your helper, are preparing your child’s lunches for school.
These allergies are so severe that any contact with nuts (ingesting or indirect contact with someone who has touched or eaten any kind of nuts) could lead to an anaphylactic reaction requiring emergency medical intervention.
Examples include:
- almonds
- Brazil nuts
- cashew nuts
- hazelnuts
- macadamias
- pecans
- pine nuts
- pistachios
- walnuts
- peanuts
To ensure the safety of children at school, we need to insist on your cooperation in the following:
- We are a Nut-Free School.
- Please do not send nut products to school with your child. This includes Nutella, peanut butter, fruit-and-nut bars, chocolate bars, pesto etc. If your helper is making your child’s lunches, please make them aware of the above.
- If you are making things like homemade pesto for school lunches, please do not use pine nuts or any other form of nut in the recipe. If you are sending in nut-free pesto or butter, please let us know that it is nut free (pop a note into your child’s lunchbox or inform the class teacher). Again, if your helper is making the lunches, please make them aware of the above.
- Please read packaging labels very carefully and discuss this with your helper, or anyone else who may be involved in the preparation of your child’s lunch and/or snacks that may be brought to school.
If your child has had any nut products before school, please ensure they wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water, clean their teeth and drink a glass of water before they arrive on campus.
Any birthday celebration/party/shared lunch snacks must not contain nut products.
Please do not hesitate to discuss this with us if you have any questions.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Kate Yarnall & Jess Peeters
Heath and First Aid Coordinators