Managing allergies and anaphylaxis in schools and preschools: a collaborative partnership

“It is essential that all early childhood centres schools and schools are prepared to provide care for children at risk of severe allergic reactions. This necessitates having systems in place to ensure all staff know the children at risk, and that staff can recognise the signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction and know what to do.” Dr Jan Sinclair, Paediatric Immunologist, Starship Children’s Hospital, Auckland.

Allergy New Zealand has developed guidelines and compiled resources to assist parents and caregivers, educators and school staff, and health professionals, to put these systems in place.

The three key objectives are to:

• Minimise child/student exposure to triggers (allergens) as much as possible
• Ensure staff are prepared at all times to respond appropriately in case of a life-threatening reaction (anaphylaxis)
• Ensure children/students with allergies are able to participate in the same educational and recreational activities as their peers.

June 2019

The Ministry of Education has recently launched a Guide to Allergies on the TKI website.

Allergy Awareness Week 12–18 May 2019

Resources for Schools and Early Childhood Services

Schools and ECEs are encouraged to support children with food allergy through activities to raise awareness and understanding. The resources below have been developed by our wonderful National Volunteer Network – please use them.

Go here for resources for Allergy Awareness Week, including:

• Allergy Awareness Week 2019 Poster 
• Allergy Awareness Week 2019 – Teaching Resources for Schools 
• Safety Tips Poster 
• Allergy Crossword Puzzle 
• Allergy Colouring Page 
• AAW 2019 Links to Teaching Resources.

We are very grateful to the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) for the guidelines and other resources including free on-line training, which we have provided links to in the sections below.
 

Guidelines for early childhood services and schools	Managing allergies in education settings	About anaphylaxis	Adrenaline autoinjectors
Training