School giving me no notice

peachyprice

What ingredients is your son allergic to?
It seems strange that she keeps choosing things with the ingredients he can't have, almost as if she's deliberately doing it on purpose.
Is it things that she can't possibly bake without that he's allergic to?

alexandrajj

peachyprice wrote: »

What ingredients is your son allergic to?
It seems strange that she keeps choosing things with the ingredients he can't have, almost as if she's deliberately doing it on purpose.
Is it things that she can't possibly bake without that he's allergic to?

He is allergic to a number of common ingredients (so that part is understandable). For the rest of the ingredients, she just says she is not sure if what she has bought will "upset" him or not. errr, how about look at the list of contents and see if anything from the list you have is listed there. I think it is easier and safer for her (who can blame her for watching her back) to just ask me to bring in stuff for him.

KellyWelly

Couldn't you just write her a letter and put in it that your son is allergic to X, Y, Z which you realise are commonly used in her bakery lessons. Tell her that he needs the school to provide the subsitutes A, B, C which he can tolerate. Add that whilst you have been happy to help in the past with purchasing the items for the school you are no longer able to do so due to budget constraints and that you also consider it unfair that you are the only parent who has had to contribute financially and especially when this has been due to a medical condition.

Keep the letter nice and good natured and there should be no reason why there would be a problem. In all honesty the teacher has probably just taken it for granted that you will supply the things and hasn't considered the implications.

Good luck.

milliebear00001

Hiya, I'm a primary teacher too. What you've described does sound like a disorganised (possibly harrassed!) teacher routinely forgetting your son's specific needs. Clearly, this is unnacceptable. Are the other parents asked to provide ingredients? How much notice do they get, and in what form are they notified? Arrangements for your son, should be no different to arrangements for the rest of his class.

If you've already spelt out your need for greater notice, then you can either (generously) give her another chance to put things right, spelling out again, that you expect arrangements for your son to be just the same as for the other children (notice, ingredient provision etc) or you can ask the Head to intervene. Either way, don't just seethe inwardly!

peachyprice

Is he allergic to flour, butter and sugar?
There are enough recipes for KS1 she can do with those, without the need for additional ingredients.

LondonDiva

If your son is allergic to so many things & you make a massive fuss, would you be happy for the teacher to stop offering a treat that from the sounds of it the children really enjoy?

Nothing to stop the teacher then going to extremes and only offering one session every 6 months if you're lucky because she is miffed.

I would go in gently and see what compromise you can come to. Could you buy a pack of special flour etc? What allergies does your son have?

All those suggesting that the school provide xx amount of special food, there is a very limited budget for such things and in the majority of places, parents are asked to provide ingredients (with more notice) and a lot of children's teachers pay for the cost of ingredients out of their pocket. Would this place a serious strain on the school or teacher's budget?

I would really think carefully before going full steam ahead look for a win/win solution. Seems as though you could end up with the teacher refusing to cook with the children which would be a real pity.

Savvy_Sue

peachyprice wrote: »

Is he allergic to flour, butter and sugar?
There are enough recipes for KS1 she can do with those, without the need for additional ingredients.

Flour and butter are not uncommon allergens!

KellyWelly

Our school doesn't ask parents to provide anything for cookery, it is purchased out of our budgets. It's not right that she should be paying for ingredients if the other parents aren't especially if it is for a medical need. The ingredients won't be that expensive and should be factored into the teacher's budget and spending. It's not as though she is insisting the school spend £20K on adapting the building to meet her son's needs.

shop-to-drop

When my KS1 son did cookery in school we had to send in money for ingredients. Do you think others will have paid? I'd be surprised if school are paying for so much cooking by one class if not. Maybe the teacher is buying the ingredients herself.

picnic

are all the other parents getting just a few hours notice?? or, as others have asked, is the school providing them??