With 50 per cent of children living in the UK now suffering from allergies, many of which are food related, nursery owner Penny Hustwick said it was essential for everyone to have a better understanding of allergic conditions to help keep children safe.

She said: “We hope that our allergen free baking afternoon will help raise awareness among children and parents about the different kind of food allergies children have.

“We will be cooking up some delicious dairy free, gluten free and egg free recipes during the session and staff will be doing their best to try and educate children on different types of allergies.

“By children taking their baked goodies home we hope to raise awareness of food allergies among parents too.

“The more people that understand about allergies the easier it will become to keep children safe.

“It must be extremely worrying for parents who have children with an allergy, always having to watch what their child is eating and having to check the ingredients and packets of all food substances.

“We have a number of children attending our nurseries with food allergies so understand the challenges and limitations it can have.

“Parents often worry that other people may think they are just been difficult or fussy about their child’s food when actually they are just trying to protect them from eating something that could make them very ill.”

All staff working at ABC’s four nursery sites in Lightmoor, Hadley, Hollinswood and Preston on the Weald Moors are fully trained to deal with allergies.

“We discuss each individual child’s need at great length with parents,” said Mrs Hustwick.

“Great care is taken at snack times and meal times to make sure all allergies are catered for and children are monitored closely to make sure there is no cross contamination of food.

“We also think it is extremely important that children with allergies are not excluded from activities or learning so we try where possible to provide special ingredients for cooking and carefully plan activities.”

ABC Day Nursery was crowned best Business for children at this year’s Businesses for Children Awards and all four of its sites have been rated outstanding by Ofsted.

For more information about the nursery chain visit http://www.abc-daynursery.co.uk/.

More information on child related allergies can be found on the website www.allergyuk.org.