Why Sandringham Primary School banned milk and yoghurt

Sandringham Primary says it has been forced to take the extraordinary step of banning yoghurt, milk, Twisties and Cheezels from school lunches to protect a student with allergies.

Yoghurt and cheese-flavoured snacks like Twisties are off the menu.

A school that was destroyed by fire in February says it has been forced to ban many dairy products to protect a student with a life threatening allergy because its current makeshift classes don’t have washing facilities.

Sandringham Primary School Principal Louise Neave asked parents not to send dairy items such as yoghurt pouches. But a cheese sandwich is acceptable.

“As you may be aware, we have a child this year with severe allergies, or anaphylaxis, to dairy,” she said.

“This allergy is life threatening and requires adrenaline to be administered and would mean the child would have to go to hospital by ambulance.

“We are asking for your co-operation to keep this child safe.”

The historic school was destroyed in February and from term 2 has moved to temporary facilities, including portables, on a playing area at Sandringham Secondary College junior campus. The temporary site is called Sandringham Primary Village.

“Here at the new Sandringham Primary Village, we no longer have sinks in the classroom areas where the children can wash their hands immediately when they have food on them, so have had to adjust our practices accordingly,” she said.

“We understand that dairy is an important part of your children’s diet, but are asking if you could please not bring any yoghurt pouches or milk drinks to school, as they could easily be spilt and are difficult to clean up and contain.”

The devastating aftermath of the fire that ripped through the old school building at Sandringham Primary School. Picture: Sarah Matray

Ms Neave said if the Year 1 boy “touches any foods with milk proteins, he will have an anaphylactic reaction”.

“This includes any remnants left on your child’s hands or clothes that brush against him or are left on surfaces,” she said.

She asked parents and carers not to order milk drinks from the canteen as the children could have other drinks such as smoothies, juices and slurpees.

“We would also like you to consider not including other dairy products in the children’s lunch boxes that could be easily spilt or spread, this includes cheese dips, cheese wedges and cheese based chips such as Cheezels and Twisties (as the cheese dusting sticks to fingers). A tasty cheese sandwich however, is perfectly fine. If you are looking for suitable alternatives please ask us and we will endeavour to help you, but soy and coconut based products are a good option.”

Ms Neave urged families to speak with the school nurse or staff if they required more information.

Sandringham Primary has around 500 students. Prep to Year 2 returned this week and the rest of the students will come back on June 9.

Allergy and Anaphylaxis Australia president Maria Said suggested the ban was unmanageable.

“Banning a food is not something that our organisation supports,” she said.

“Children can be allergic to a variety of foods, and when you’re talking about dairy, which is a whole food group, it’s really difficult to manage even in a home, let alone at school.”

She suggested that banning foods led to complacency.

Ms Said made the comments on 3AW and it was unclear if she was aware of the specific details of this case. The Herald Sun sought to speak to her late yesterday.

A number of people took to community social media pages to criticise the ban. However, they did not appear to be aware that children could stick pack a cheese sandwich.

The Education Department has appointed an architect to design the new school which is expected to be ready for 2022.

Two teens have been charged over the fire.

Principal Louise Neave was just days into the job when fire destroyed the school.

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