Allergy Awareness Is an Inclusion Matter
Words by Circle expert Helen Burge and the GEC Founding CEO, Dr Nicole Ponsford
Across England, schools continue to face growing challenges around attendance, wellbeing and student safety. According to the Department for Education (DfE), around 500,000 learning days were lost last year due to allergy-related illness and medical appointments, highlighting a significant but often overlooked barrier to consistent participation in education.
When translated into pupil experience, this equates to roughly 2,600 pupils missing an entire year of schooling.
At system level, this percentage may appear small. Yet behind each lost day is a child who may be unwell, anxious, or excluded from everyday school experiences.
This is not only a medical issue.It is an inclusion issue.
Food allergies affect around 6–8% of children in the UK, meaning that on average two children in every classroom are likely to have a food allergy (Turner et al., 2022; Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, 2024). Evidence suggests that prevalence is increasing globally, particularly among younger children (Prescott et al., 2013; Nwaru et al., 2014).
When viewed through an inclusion lens, allergy safety becomes not a niche concern but a mainstream safeguarding, attendance and wellbeing priority for schools.
Learning from Lived Experience
Last week at the Aspens Connect Conference, I had the privilege of hearing Nadim Ednan-Laperouse, founder of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, speak about the life-saving importance of allergy awareness.
His message was clear: allergies are not a marginal issue. They are a growing public health concern, and schools must be equipped to protect every child, every day.
Nadim shared the story of his daughter Natasha.
In 2016, Natasha died from a severe allergic reaction after eating a baguette containing sesame seeds that were not clearly labelled on the packaging. She was just 15 years old.
Her death led to the introduction of Natasha’s Law, which came into force in the UK in 2021 and requires full ingredient and allergen labelling on pre-packed food prepared on site (Food Standards Agency, 2021).
The tragedy highlighted the critical role that awareness, training and systems play in protecting individuals with severe allergies.
Research consistently shows that rapid recognition of anaphylaxis and timely administration of adrenaline significantly improves survival outcomes (Muraro et al., 2014). However, studies also suggest that lack of training and uncertainty among adults responding to allergic reactions can delay treatment (DunnGalvin et al., 2015).
For schools, this makes allergy awareness not simply a medical matter, but a safeguarding responsibility.
A Major Shift in School Allergy Policy
The Department for Education has now launched a consultation proposing stronger statutory protections for children with allergies in schools — the most significant update to allergy safety guidance in over a decade.
Under the proposals, schools in England would be required to:
Stock spare adrenaline auto-injectors
Provide allergy awareness training for all staff
Publish a dedicated allergy safety policy
Strengthen Individual Healthcare Plans (IHPs)
Improve incident reporting and learning from near misses
These reforms build upon existing statutory guidance on Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions at School (DfE, 2015) and aim to create more consistent and proactive safety systems across the education sector.
The Inclusion Dimension of Allergy Safety
While allergy policy is often framed as a medical issue, there is increasing recognition that health conditions intersect with participation, belonging and wellbeing within schools.
Research shows that children with chronic health conditions, including allergies, are more likely to experience:
increased anxiety related to school environments
reduced participation in social activities involving food
feelings of difference or exclusion
higher levels of school absence (Shaker et al., 2016; Sicherer & Sampson, 2018).
Psychological research also indicates that children managing food allergies often develop heightened vigilance around everyday environments, including dining halls, birthday celebrations and school trips (DunnGalvin et al., 2015).
This means that the impact of allergies is not limited to physical health. It also affects social belonging and emotional wellbeing.
At the Global Equality Collective (GEC), our Kaleidoscopic Data research — capturing over 34,000 staff and student voices across more than 350 schools globally — consistently shows that physical health needs intersect strongly with belonging, safety and emotional wellbeing.
Students who report ongoing health conditions are significantly more likely to also report:
feeling anxious in certain school environments
avoiding particular spaces such as dining areas
feeling misunderstood by peers or staff
missing school due to safety concerns.
Traditional school datasets tend to capture attendance and medical information separately, but rarely capture the lived experience behind those numbers.
Kaleidoscopic Data helps surface these hidden insights, revealing how health needs, wellbeing and participation are interconnected.
Viewing Allergy Safety Through an Inclusion Framework
When allergy awareness is viewed through an inclusion framework, several key dimensions emerge.
Belonging and Psychological Safety
Children with allergies must feel safe in everyday school environments, including dining halls, classrooms, clubs and trips. Inconsistent systems can increase anxiety and reduce participation.
Psychological safety — the sense that an environment is safe and predictable — is a fundamental component of student belonging (Baumeister & Leary, 1995).
Leadership and Culture
Inclusive leadership plays a critical role in embedding health-inclusive practice across schools (Ainscow, 2020). Allergy awareness must therefore be modelled by leaders, not treated as a narrow operational issue.
Curriculum and Awareness
Health education can play an important role in reducing stigma and building peer awareness. Research suggests that improving understanding among peers can significantly improve inclusion outcomes for children with health conditions (Shaker et al., 2016).
Student Voice
Students with allergies often carry a hidden emotional burden. Listening to their experiences enables schools to design safer systems and support environments that genuinely meet their needs.
Staff Capability
Training is critical. Studies show that teacher confidence in recognising allergic reactions improves significantly following targeted training programmes (Warren et al., 2018).
Systems and Processes
Clear Individual Healthcare Plans, effective reporting mechanisms and transparent communication systems ensure that inclusion is embedded within school operations.
Environment and Accessibility
Food environments — including breakfast clubs, after-school activities and school trips — must be considered carefully to ensure safe participation.
Family Partnerships
Parents of children with allergies often report needing to advocate continually for their child’s safety (Cummings et al., 2010). Schools that build strong partnerships with families can significantly reduce anxiety and improve trust.
Strengthening Inclusion Through Data and Voice
Understanding the lived experience of children with allergies requires listening not only to students, but also to families.
The GEC Inclusion Index, built on over 34,000 student and staff voices, helps schools identify patterns affecting belonging, wellbeing and safety.
Our next phase of research will extend this work through the GEC Parent and Carer Voice Survey, designed to capture the perspectives of families navigating education systems when children have health or inclusion needs.
Parent and carer perspectives remain one of the least represented datasets in education, yet they often provide critical insights into attendance challenges, wellbeing concerns and trust between schools and families.
Alongside this research, the GEC Platform enables schools, trusts and local authorities to translate lived experience data into actionable improvement strategies. Working alongside existing MIS systems, the platform helps leaders identify inclusion gaps and prioritise meaningful change.
Through a 90 Day Inclusion Roadmap, schools, trusts and local authorities can gather insights, interpret findings and embed inclusive improvements across their settings.
A Call to Action
Nadim’s message reminds us that behind every policy is a child whose life could depend on our preparedness.
School leaders should approach the Department for Education consultation not simply as an administrative task, but as an opportunity to strengthen safety, inclusion and trust across their communities.
Now is the time for schools and nurseries to:
Read the DfE consultation on strengthening protections for children with allergies
Review medical and allergy policies against upcoming statutory expectations
Work closely with catering providers and suppliers to mitigate risk
Use Kaleidoscopic Data to better understand the lived experiences and hidden needs within your student community, supported by frameworks such as the GEC Platform
We also encourage schools to explore the excellent resources available through Allergy School from the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, which supports staff working with children aged 0–16.
The direction of travel is clear: allergy safety is becoming a statutory priority — and rightly so.
But policy alone will not create inclusive schools.
Only when we combine evidence, lived experience and inclusive leadership can we ensure that every child is able to learn, participate and belong safely.
Because inclusion is not measured by how systems work for most children —it is measured by how safely the most vulnerable children can participate in everyday school life.
Want to tell someone about your lived experience?
If you are reading this as a parent or carer and this has impacted your child/ren at school, we would love to invite you to participate in our National Parent and Carers survey. This is anonymous and is part of our next stage of research to unsurface the hidden voices in education. You can find more details here.
And if you are part of a school, trust, LA and parent/carer network, please share this for us!
Survey closes 9th May 2026.
References
Ainscow, M. (2020). Promoting inclusion and equity in education: lessons from international experiences. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy.
Baumeister, R. & Leary, M. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin.
Cummings, A., Knibb, R., King, R., & Lucas, J. (2010). The psychosocial impact of food allergy and food hypersensitivity in children, adolescents and their families. Allergy.
Department for Education (2015). Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions: Statutory Guidance.
DunnGalvin, A., et al. (2015). The psychosocial impact of food allergy in children and adolescents. Clinical & Experimental Allergy.
Food Standards Agency (2021). Natasha’s Law – allergen labelling for pre-packed food.
Muraro, A., et al. (2014). Anaphylaxis guidelines: update of the evidence base. Allergy.
Natasha Allergy Research Foundation (2024). Food Allergy Awareness Statistics.
Nwaru, B., et al. (2014). Prevalence of common food allergies in Europe. Allergy.
Prescott, S., et al. (2013). Food allergy: A global challenge. World Allergy Organization Journal.
Shaker, M., et al. (2016). Impact of food allergy on quality of life and mental health. Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.
Sicherer, S., & Sampson, H. (2018). Food allergy: epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Turner, P., et al. (2022). Managing food allergies in schools. British Medical Journal.
Warren, C., et al. (2018). Effectiveness of allergy education programmes for school staff. Journal of School Health.
