Allergies and ensuring children’s wellbeing are at the forefront of preventing students from exposure to triggers.

Mudgee’s Alyson Scarbrow is one parent praising local schools for their efforts.

Mrs Scarbrow’s daughter, Emma, has several food allergies but has been able to make an easy transition to school life. Emma will complete her first full week of Kindergarten at Mudgee Public School today.

“Emma has had food allergies since she was nine months old and has been learning what she can and can not eat for some time,” Mrs Scarbrow said.

“So really the transition to school has been good but it’s also great the school is doing as much as they can to educate people about the risks involved with allergies.”

Emma is allergic to eggs, nuts, dairy, sesame and kiwi-fruit – all items likely to be found in the lunchbox.

Mrs Scarbrow said all the allergies were manageable so long as the right steps are taken.

She said the school had been “over-accommodating” and had implemented some good rules such as having students wash their hands after eating.

Mrs Scarbrow said one in 20 children now had an allergy of some kind and the numbers were increasing. She said it was great to see the school being proactive as more students are likely to start school with allergies.

Mudgee Public principal Mark Young said the school had taken steps to be “as preventative and responsive as possible towards nut allergies”.

“We can never be totally ‘nut free’ but we encourage parents to think about their children’s lunchbox choices,” he said.

The school has also advertised in its newsletter promoting awareness of nut allergies.