Overhaul of allergy safety in schools begins thanks to mum's campaign

Schools in England are being told how to better protect children with allergies after a five-year-old boy died from an allergic reaction at his school near Peterborough.

From September, every school will need to keep emergency adrenaline pens on site, train all staff to spot and respond to allergic reactions and publish a clear allergy policy.

Helen Blythe from Stamford - whose son Benedict died at school from an allergic reaction in 2021 - believes the new measures are a huge relief for worried families.

"As a parent, all you want is for your child to be safe and for parents for children with allergies that worry that they won't be safe at school is significant," she told us.

"This coming in is a huge weight off their shoulders."

Some of the campaign work from Helen included setting up the Benedict Blythe Foundation.

The Allergy Team and the Independent Schools' Bursars Association (ISBA) also launched the schools allergy code to protect children with allergies and set out how schools can keep pupils safe.

"For parents, for teachers and actually for the children themselves, we hope that this is a relief that this is coming in and that they will feel significantly safer," Helen said.

"The ripples of this are going to be huge; children are going to grow up in an education system, much more knowledgeable about allergies, and also for the people who work in schools.

"One and a half million adults are going to be trained as part of this, this initiative, and they're not going to leave that knowledge in the classroom.

"Every child should be safe from allergy at school, and this will do exactly that."

"It's an amazing legacy for our little boy, and while we miss him and wish he were here, we know that there will be other children, other families that will be protected as a result of this, and that's an amazing thing."

The Department for Education’s new guidance will affect around 680,000 children and 1.5 million adults working in schools.

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