Allergies in Schools

I’ve been working with the Department for Education, and the Department for Health and Social Care to update allergy policy in schools - read on to find out about my work on Allergy policy.

Jodie Gosling MP with staff at ALP school Nuneaton, presenting a certificate that congratulates the school for being ‘Allergy Aware’.

I recently visited ALP School in Nuneaton to celebrate their renewed ‘Allergy Aware’ Status from Anaphylaxis UK!

This award reflects the dedication and care shown by school staff to create a safe inclusive environment to support pupils with allergic conditions, and ALP have now earned it for 4 years running. It was great to join the CEO of Anaphylaxis UK, Georgina Jones, to visit the school and see first-hand how safeguards have been put in place to protect the allergy community. As an allergy sufferer myself, and a parent of allergic children, I was impressed by the creative solutions to meet needs of allergic children, especially those who are pre-verbal).

My visit came at the perfect time, as the Government committed to improving support for children with allergies in our schools. Whilst a quarter of children have their first allergic reaction at school, previous policy prevented schools from holding their own adrenaline pens, putting these children at increased risk.

Schools must now provide allergy awareness training for all staff, under new statutory guidance from the Department for Education. This is something I’ve been working on since I took over the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Allergy in 2025, and having met Helen Blythe. Helen’s son, Benedict Blythe, tragically passed away from an anaphylactic reaction at school in December 2021. Despite his allergies being recorded, and an allergy health plan in place, Benedict was given cow’s milk, and not provided his life-saving medication in time.

I’m proud to have campaigned alongside Helen and several of my Parliamentary colleagues to see this new guidance introduced.

Next month, alongside Allergy UK, I’ll be launching the first ever National Allergy Strategy in Parliament - stay tuned for updates on this!