This is a page dedicated to our Making Schools Safer Project and includes all the resources that we have produced as part of this project, from allergy awareness presentations to teach pupils, to links to our free online e-learning AllergyWise courses. We hope that schools use these resources to help raise allergy awareness with their staff and pupils.
We are in contact with over 26,000 UK schools to ensure that they are aware of our resources as set out below.
Our AllergyWise for Schools Online Training Course
This free online course is designed to ensure that all staff are fully aware of:
- The signs and symptoms of anaphylaxis
- How to provide emergency treatment
- The implications for management of severely allergic children in school
Find out more about our AllergyWise for Schools course
Our AllergyWise for Healthcare Professionals Online Training Course
This online course has been designed as a ‘train the trainer’ course for school nurses, first aid trainers, community nurses and nursery nurses with responsibility for training others. This course has been accredited by the Royal College of Nursing and includes topics such as:
- How to recognise the symptoms of a severe allergic reaction
- How to use all currently licensed adrenaline injectors, including EpiPen, Emerade and Jext
- How to manage risks in school, early years and other community settings where severely allergic children and young people are cared for
- How to run your own anaphylaxis training in your school, nursery or other care setting with our easy to follow step-by-step guide
Find out more about our AllergyWise for Healthcare Professionals course
Spare Pens in Schools
From 1st October 2017, the Human Medicines (Amendment) Regulations 2017 has allowed schools in the UK to buy adrenaline auto-injector devices (known as AAIs) without a prescription to use in an emergency on children who are at risk of a severe allergic reaction (known as anaphylaxis) but whose own device is not available or not working. This could be because their AAI(s) are broken, or out-of-date, for example.
Find out more about Adrenaline Auto-Injector Generic Pens for Schools
KS1-2 Schools Allergy Awareness Resource Pack
We have developed an allergy awareness resource pack for infant and primary schools allowing them to facilitate an allergy awareness session with their students. This includes materials such as lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and word searches.
Download the KS1-2 Resource Pack
KS3-5 Schools Allergy Awareness Resource Pack
The newest addition to our Making Schools Safer Project, our KS3-5 resource pack is designed to facilitate an allergy awareness session with secondary school students. This aims to improve student’s knowledge of severe allergies and to raise an awareness of the emotional impact that severe allergies can have. This resource pack includes a presentation and a lesson plan with included activities and videos.
Download the KS3-5 Resource Pack
Labels for Pupil’s Adrenaline Auto-Injector Boxes
Our printable labels are an ideal way to label boxes containing individual pupil’s adrenaline auto-injector pens. These can be printed off, filled in and stuck to the pupil’s medical box. This means that key information such as the pupil’s allergies and adrenaline auto-injector expiry dates are clearly visible on the outside of the box.
Click here to download our labels
Take the Kit
As part of the campaign, we have shared our Take the Kit video. The video highlights the importance for students to carry their medication with them at all times. The social stigmatisation of carrying Adrenaline Auto-Injectors and the extreme pressures on teenagers to ‘fit-in’ and seem ‘normal’ can lead to students not carrying their medication with them at all times. This is a risky and potentially life-threatening action. We hope that teachers will share this video in their lessons with all the students to raise awareness of anaphylaxis.
#TakeTheKit Watch. Share. Raise Awareness.
Living with Anaphylactic Allergies – Izzy and Ben’s Story
A powerful animation involving two characters, Izzy and Ben, who both suffer with anaphylactic allergies. They share their story into how allergies have influenced their daily lives and the emotional impact it has had on them.
‘FAQs in Schools’ Factsheet
This is a factsheet that we have created to help answer some of the questions frequently asked by schools surrounding allergies. These include questions such as ‘how many adrenaline auto-injectors should an allergic pupil in school have?’ ‘How do I administer an adrenaline auto-injector’ and outlines the responsibilities of the school, the family and the pupil.
View the FAQs in Schools Factsheet
Allergy Action Plans
Allergy Action Plans are intended for children at risk of anaphylaxis, developed by the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) Paediatric Allergy Group.
These plans have been designed to facilitate first aid treatment of anaphylaxis, to be delivered by people without any special medical training nor equipment apart from access to an adrenaline auto-injector (AAI). They have been developed following an extensive consultation period with health professionals, support organisations including the Anaphylaxis Campaign, parents of food-allergic children and teachers.
There are four plans available; a generic plan for individuals assessed as not needing an AAI, and a personal plan for individuals prescribed an EpiPen, Jext or an Emerade.
Please note that it is the parent/carers responsibility to get their child’s allergy action plan completed (with healthcare professional help) and provide this to the school.
Download the four different Allergy Action Plans
Annual Risk Assessment
The headteacher of Fitzmaurice Primary School in Wiltshire and a supporter of the Anaphylaxis Campaign has produced a detailed Annual Risk Assessment that your school can download and undertake to help ensure pupils with allergies are kept safe.
Download the Annual Risk Assessment
Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions Guidance
Schools across the UK must ensure they support pupils with medical conditions so that they can have full access to the school curriculum. This includes pupils with severe allergies and those at risk of anaphylaxis. In order to safeguard children with severe allergies, schools should ensure they consult with the pupil and their parents as well as (with consent) the pupils health and social care professionals, to enable arrangements to be put in place which effectively meet the pupils medical needs.
Specific guidance has been developed for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on supporting children at school with medical conditions. Please view these below.
English Guidance – Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions at School
Welsh Guidance – Supporting Learners with Healthcare Needs
Scottish Guidance – Supporting Children and Young People with Healthcare Needs in Schools
Northern Ireland Guidance – Support for Pupils with Medication Needs