Pupils with allergies
School Meals – Dietary Requirements, Allergen and Food Labelling
At Quilters Schools we continue to check all the products we use in the school kitchen to take into account the legislation for allergen and food labelling that came into effect in 2014.
The ingredients that we are legally required to monitor are:
Peanuts, Tree Nuts, Eggs, Sesame, Soya, Gluten, Lactose, Celery, Mustard, Fish, Shellfish, Molluscs, Sulphites and Lupin.
The school offices and kitchen co-ordinate the information we hold and how we can safely provide meals for pupils that have severe allergies (we may ask for copies of any medical advice).
When your child joins either the Infant or Junior School you provide us with information about your child’s dietary requirements including food intolerance; this information is very useful to us as we will use it to prepare their lunch and when we arrange special events and cookery classes. This information may also be shared with outside providers when pupils travel on school trips.
Please advise us, as soon as possible, if any of the information we hold about your child should change during their time at either of the schools.
However, it is the parent’s responsibility to ensure each day that the school’s lunch menu is suitable for their child – the schools are unable to check everyone who orders a meal and take into account their intolerance or personal dislikes.
In the junior school we would expect your child to say if they are not to have a certain item of food such as a piece of fruit or yogurt.
Quilters’ schools are able to provide a vegetarian option each day for anyone that we have been advised of that is vegetarian; or for religious reasons may not eat pork or beef.
If your child has been medically advised that they should have a dairy, gluten free, dairy & gluten free or other specific diet please speak to a member of the office staff or our Catering Manager, if you haven’t already done so, to discuss how we can cater for your child. Your child will then be registered with the kitchen and school office that they are to only have the meals agreed, please be assured that they will not be segregated from the other children even if their meal is provided on a separate plate.
We work hard to ensure that all the food we produce does not contains nuts or traces of nuts.
Whilst writing we would like to remind you that we strive to be nut free schools (although this cannot be guaranteed) and would appreciate it if you could ensure that your child does not bring any nut products into school either in their morning snack (Junior school) or their packed lunch, including chocolate spread and peanut butter.
If you have any concerns about any of the matters raised here; or a specific item on the menu please speak to a member of the school office staff, we can then arrange for our catering manager to contact you if required.