Child's birthday cake treat banned by school

 

By GAVIN MADELEY Last updated at 20:28pm on 18th October 2006

 

It should have been a piece of cake. All little Emma Matthews wanted to do was celebrate her sixth birthday at school with a nice chocolate sponge.

But before the primary two pupil could divide up the tasty treat among her hungry classmates, teachers stepped in and declared the tempting confection a health risk.

Emma's parents had bought the cake in a local shop and then went to some trouble to decorate it with extra icing and chocolate buttons for the pupils at St Bride's Primary School in Bothwell, Lanarkshire.

However, teachers told the astonished youngster that because the original packaging had been opened it breached health and safety rules and they couldn't let anyone else eat it.

Instead, Emma was the only pupil allowed to have a slice while the rest of her class were given a fairy cake.

A note Emma brought home from school said: "I am sorry to inform you that we are unable to use Emma's birthday cake due to the fact that it was not sealed in the box.

"This is health and safety guidelines. We lit the candles, sang happy birthday and gave Emma a piece of the cake. We gave the others a small fairy cake."

Yesterday, Emma's mother, Lorraine Matthews, 36, and father Peter Little, 41, said they were flabbergasted by the school's actions.

"Emma came out of school carrying the cake and she was really upset," said mother-of-two Mrs Matthews. "She had wanted all her friends to have a bit of it and she was really looking forward to her birthday.

"I was so shocked when she gave me the letter. This is just health and safety rules gone crazy. I got the cake from the supermarket. It was just a plain chocolate cake and Emma's dad had taken it out of the box to put icing and chocolate buttons on it.

"How could it have been safe for Emma to eat but not any of the other kids? The school never have a problem with parents preparing cakes when we are asked to make them for bring and buy sales and things like that so why now?

"We had a party for Emma when she came home from school but this put a damper on it. The rules should be changed."

Mrs Matthews has received support from other parents with children at the school who claimed it was yet another example of "political correctness" at the expense of common sense.

One mother, who declined to be named, said: "This whole thing is just unbelievable. Earlier this month, the other primary school in Bothwell sent out letters saying chestnuts were now banned in school. What's next? The only nuts in schools these days seem to be the ones running them."

Last night, a spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council, which is in charge of health and safety issues at state-run St Bride's, said: "Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on this individual issue as the school is closed for the October holiday break.

"However, it is likely that the school would want to know if the cake contained nuts in order to ensure children with a 'nut allergy' were not at risk.

"The school does encourage teachers and classes to celebrate birthdays and will continue to do so but extra care has now got to be taken when sharing sweets and cakes with other children.

"We recognise that Emma and her parents are disappointed but we hope they understand the reasons for the school's decision."

That poor little girl! D: I feel so bad for her. :c All she wanted was to share her cake...

She got her cake, but didn't get to eat it too! :(

That's ridiculous......... I mean, the nut allergy concern is understandable..... all the 6-year-old girl wanted was to share some cake among her classmates!

For once I side with the school's actions. A sealed cake is more safe than a cake which has been taken out it's box and exposed to any number of health risks. True the risk was low, but with food you can never take risks.

For once I side with the school's actions. A sealed cake is more safe than a cake which has been taken out it's box and exposed to any number of health risks. True the risk was low' date=' but with food you can never take risks.[/quote']

 

So what about all the fatty junk food schools have been dishing out to kids for years??

That's far more dangerous to children's health!!;)

the fuck?!?! so i guess making homemade cookies and cakes for people is out the question...

Some schools in America have now banned Tag because its bad for the kids minds and is dangerous to them...what a load of shit. Before long our kids will be in white padded rooms where a teacher just tells them they are special all day long and dont risk hurting their pyschi's or soma. Where growing a generation of pussies who wont be capable of living in the real world..because they are sheltered from everything becuase its "dangerous to their minds"

Some schools in America have now banned Tag because its bad for the kids minds and is dangerous to them...what a load of shit. Before long our kids will be in white padded rooms where a teacher just tells them they are special all day long and dont risk hurting their pyschi's or soma. Where growing a generation of pussies who wont be capable of living in the real world..because they are sheltered from everything becuase its "dangerous to their minds"

 

The United Nanny States??:rolleyes:

ahahahahaa....:confused:

the school was being sensible. the cake in its box may have been allergy free, but they added toppings to it. if I was responsible for other people's kids, I wouldn't be taking a risk which could result in one of them dying. it doesn't take too much imagination to imagine what the media backlash would have been if this story was the other way round and a child had died from a nut allergy because the school let her share.

 

yes, they sometimes take things too far, eg banning conkers, ticky, football in the playground etc because of the risk of a few cuts & bruises. but I don't thing banning something where the possible consequence could be death is a bad thing

You know when a packet of peanuts says "warning, contains Nuts" it is lying...

 

...a peanut isn't a nut, it's a type of pea.

 

Says this man:

 

:wink3:

Some schools in America have now banned Tag because its bad for the kids minds and is dangerous to them...what a load of shit. Before long our kids will be in white padded rooms where a teacher just tells them they are special all day long and dont risk hurting their pyschi's or soma. Where growing a generation of pussies who wont be capable of living in the real world..because they are sheltered from everything becuase its "dangerous to their minds"

Tag- the BODY SPRAY?! wtf?! so they just want us to smelll like shit now...?

Tag- the BODY SPRAY?! wtf?! so they just want us to smelll like shit now...?

 

 

no no no, lol the game Tag

i heard about that. That is just rediculous. Oh no we dont want suzy and billy to fall down and get a scrape. Hey all kids get, or should i say GOT scrapes. It teaches you to be more careful and that sometimes life sucks. But i agree with Nick, we are gonna have a bunch of overly politically "correct" pansies running the country in twenty years. wow im scared