News & Views

Does Covid increase allergies?

If you feel like you have had more allergies and greater reactions to food and the environment since having Covid, then you are certainly not alone.

We have seen countless people whose allergies have been exacerbated or reignited since contracting the virus. We now see many babies with complex multiple allergies and food/environmental reactions whose mummies had Covid when they were pregnant or during the first trimester. So, I suspect this pesky virus is upregulating allergies in both mother and baby. Not just the classic peanut, egg and milk allergies but an increase in reactions to “healthy” foods like tomatoes, avocadoes and bananas! Random reactions to household cleaning products and skincare products.

Symptoms vary from classic allergy reactions like hives and swelling and sneezing through to more generalised rashes, feeling hot, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, muscle aches and pain, chest tightness and brain fog. It can affect sleep patterns and there can be lots of night waking.

This is because Coronavirus is known to cause a cytokine inflammatory storm which leads to mast cell activation and histamine release. There are several papers published on Pubmed about this phenomenon, and it seems to play a big role in those with Long Covid.

If you feel you are reacting to more foods/ environmental chemicals since having Covid, then you might want to consider some help from Mother Nature with some changes from a nutritional perspective. • Vitamin C is a key nutrient for mast cell stabilisation • Magnesium helps make DAO (the digestive enzyme, diamine oxidase) which helps to break down histamine in the gut • Vitamin B6 again helps to make DAO • Try mushrooms such as Reishi, Cordyceps,

Maitake and Agaricusblazei – these calm an overreactive immune system down • Quercetin stabilises the mast cell membranes & therefore reduces the release of histamine.

Lucinda Miller is the clinical lead of NatureDoc Clinic, a UK-wide nutrition clinic specialising in women’s and child nutrition. She also runs NatureDoc.Shop online as well as being an author of two family cookbooks, The Good Stuff and I Can’t Believe It’s Baby Food.

Help fund vital research by joining Wear A Hat Day!

Join thousands of children, parents and teachers on Friday 25th March for Wear A Hat Day– a great way to bring people together and raise vital funds for leading charity Brain Tumour Research.

Register your school, community or family event today: www.wearahatday.org and we’ll send you a free fundraising pack!

Coming at the end of March, Brain Tumour Awareness Month, several celebrities are supporting this hat tastic campaign.

The latest set of collectable Wear A Hat Day pin badges have a regal theme in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year. Order your box of badges to sell during registration!

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. This is unacceptable and Brain Tumour Research is determined to change this. Funds raised from Wear A Hat Day will help towards establishing a new Research Centre of Excellence. www.wearahatday.org

Lose yourself in a Whispering Wood

Get your year off to a story-filled start at The Story Museum. From monthly clubs like Comic Club and LEGO Masterbuilders, to family shows like Tom Thumb and David Gibb’s family Jukebox there are plenty of regular Saturday events to brighten up the new year. Plus events with leading children’s authors including award-winning performance poet Joseph Coelho and children’s author Catherine Johnson. Or visit the Museum’s Galleries and lose yourself in a Whispering Wood, explore an Enchanted Library and refresh yourself in the Book of Hopes exhibition. Younger ones can get busy in the Small Worlds Gallery themed on picture books, whilst those with a love of travel can board the Story Craft for the City of Stories film experience which travels through a thousand years of Oxford’s story history. Whatever your age, you’ll find something to surprise and delight at this most unusual Museum in the heart of Oxford. www.storymuseum.org.uk

Abingdon Schools learning partnership

Six schools in Abingdon and the surrounding area are set to launch an independent and state school partnership that is mutually beneficial to students and staff at all the schools. John Mason, Radley College, Fitzharrys, Abingdon, St Helen and St Katharine, and Larkmead have worked together very successfully over the last 5 years, on an informal basis, and have now decided to go a step further and formalise their affiliation. Formation of a new, formal partnership named the OX14 Learning Partnership will provide a strategic plan for how the schools can ensure impactful partnership activity takes place.

The aim of the partnership is to raise educational aspirations across the OX14 postcode by providing opportunities for students and staff to be challenged, inspired and learn from each other. A range of extracurricular activities and events will encourage collaboration between the schools as well as providing opportunities for widening horizons.

For more information visit www.ox14lp.org.uk/

THE CHAIR THAT GROWS WITH THE CHILD IS A CHAIR FOR LIFE

Created by Norwegian designer Peter Opsvik in 1972, the Tripp Trapp® - the chair that grows with the child - revolutionized the entire children’s seating category. Brilliant in its simplicity, it is designed for every stage of childhood and beyond.

For over 40 years, millions of children around the world have grown-up using this iconic chair. The intelligent, adjustable design allows freedom of movement with both depth- and height adjustable seat and footplates. When adjusted correctly, your child is ensured a comfortable and ergonomic seating position at any age.

For more information on Stokke, visit www.stokke.com

Children’s Mental Health Week 2022

From 7th to 13th February, families across the UK are encouraged to take part in Children’s Mental Health Week with the theme Growing Together.

Growing Together is about growing emotionally and finding ways to help each other do the same. Challenges and setbacks can help us to grow and adapt and trying new things can help us to move beyond our comfort zone into a new realm of possibility and potential.

Run by the children’s mental health charity Place2Be, children (and adults) are being asked to consider how they’ve grown, what they need to help them grow and how they can help others to grow too.

Around five children in every classroom have a mental health problem and many more struggle with challenges from bullying to bereavement.

Help raise funds to enable Place2Be to reach more people by organising a Dress to Express fundraiser.

Find FREE resources for parents and carers and more information at www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk

Happy, Confident New Year from PERFORM

Perform, the UK’s biggest centrally run

drama school, is getting 2022 off to a flying start with a new term of classes focusing on building confidence and social skills.

How have your children adjusted after the pandemic? Many have struggled to reconnect and reestablish their old friendships and confidence. Child psychologist and author, Linda Blair, says that classes like these ‘can help children recover from social isolation as they encourage communication and effective social interactions. Drama helps a child’s ability to understand and interpret things like eye contact and can help in countless other ways both socially and cognitively.’

Fortunately, Perform classes are packed with confidence-boosting drama-based games and activities, allowing every child to shine as we explore two exciting termly themes.

Children ages 4 to 7 will trek off on a jungle adventure while ages 7 to 12 enjoy a thrilling adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. What’s more, Perform’s jungle theme becomes a West End musical during February half-term, featuring a professional adult cast, stunning costumes and fabulous music. Visit junglerumble.show

To book a no-obligation FREE trial at Oxford, Abingdon, Didcot or Wallingford visit www.perform.org.uk/try using OX70222 for a £40 discount when you book by 7th February.

More flexible approach to school starting age

Being young in a school class puts a child at a long-term disadvantage compared to their older peers according to new research.

The study by Kings College London, found that when children are the youngest in their class, they have a greater chance of experiencing educational problems, as well as social and even emotional complications. These findings could help parents considering when to enrol their child in school.

Senior author Professor Jonna Kuntsi said ‘The difference between the youngest and oldest member of a class can be up to eleven months. In the early stages of childhood, this is a significant difference in terms of maturity, behaviour and cognitive abilities.’

The researchers are now calling for greater flexibility about school starting age.

More at www.kcl.ac.uk/news

Pre-school and infant teaching at its best

Some very interesting visitors arrived to meet the nursery, reception and infants at The King’s School in Witney recently. The children have been learning about nocturnal animals and were very excited to get to stroke and even hold some!

Olivia, parent of two of the children said, “Getting them excited about learning, and opening their eyes to how they can make a difference in the world, is such a great start to their education. It’s more than learning for the sake of learning; it’s about having a positive impact in the world.”

The eager, young learners found out about protecting the environment for these beautiful animals and, because of their Christian ethos, how much they need to protect the earth for all of God’s creatures.

Start your child’s adventure with an independent Christian education that gets results. Book your place for the next open day on 5th March by emailing registrar@ tkswitney.org.uk.

Abingdon Prep

Open Morning

Wednesday 19 January abingdon.org.uk/prep

Independent education for boys aged 4-13

Challenge . Cherish. Inspire.Visit Us

Early Years Open Morning

Saturday 22 January 10am to 11:30am Whole School Open Morning

Thursday 10 February 10am to 12pm Please book via our website at www.manorprep.org or email admissions@manorprep.org

As featured in

Discover the Dragon

An extraordinary Pre-Prep School in Oxford where boys and girls discover and develop their talents inside the classroom and beyond.

Join us on Friday 25th February for our Pre-Prep open morning; the best opportunity to get a feel for the spirit of the Dragon

For any other enquiries please contact the Admissions team on 01865 315 405 or admissions@dragonschool.org