Benedict Blythe inquest: Headteacher recalls racing to call 999 as five-year-old lay on the floor

Amy Jones, who was the Head of School at Barnack Primary School between January 2020 and May 2023, was called to give evidence to the inquest into the death of the five-year-old on Wednesday (July 2).

At just after 10:30am on the morning of December 1, 2021, Ms Jones was alerted by a caretaker that she needed in Benedict’s classroom.

Benedict was suffering from, and ultimately died later that day from a food-induced anaphylaxis. He had several severe allergies including to egg, milk, sesame, chickpea, cashew, peanut, kiwi and most other nuts.

Upon arrival, Ms Jones found teaching assistant Sophie Brown administering a dose of an adrenaline pen (Adrenaline Auto Injector) to Benedict. Two doses were administered to no effect.

Ms Jones told the inquest that as soon as she saw Benedict, she immediately ran out of the room to call 999. When pushed, Ms Jones said that she could not recall what, if anything, she was told about Benedict’s condition before making the call.

The call was made at 10:38pm.

Prior to this, Benedict had been given a gingerbread biscuit he had brought from home and ate it outside. When he returned inside he was offered his usual oat milk but is said to have refused this.

Shortly after this, he vomited and his father Peter was called to the school, while sitting and reading he vomited again and was taken outside by his class teacher Jenny Brass, who then brought him back inside upon noticing his condition significantly deteriorating.

Several members of staff, as well as Benedict’s father, performed CPR inside of the school before paramedics arrived to continue Benedict’s treatment and transport him to Peterborough City Hospital, where he later died.

School response

Due to Benedict’s allergies, he brought his own calcium-enriched oat milk from home at the beginning of each week. This was stored in the staff fridge, in the school’s staff room, close to his own cup; which was permanently stored at the school and labelled with his name.

Only either his teacher Jenny Brass and teaching assistant Sophie Brown would be responsible for bringing the milk and cup to and from the staff room. After use, the cup was then placed in the dishwasher; which was turned on at least once a day.

Benedict’s milk was kept in a separate fridge from the milk given to the rest of the children but it was stored alongside the regular cow’s milk drunk by staff and a carton of lactose-free milk for a fellow pupil in Benedict’s class. Lactose-free milk is still a dairy product.

Ms Jones insisted that all of her staff were aware of the differences between the milk products and that due to the size of the staff milk bottle, there was no chance of confusion.

The inquest heard that Benedict’s allergies were so severe that he was unable to even enter Starbucks because airborne milk particles had previously caused him to go into anaphylactic shock.

Similarly, Benedict has suffered an allergic reaction, which has caused him to vomit while at school on October 11. After meetings with his mother Helen, the school prepared Benedict’s food separately and created a personalised menu for him.

On this occasion, Benedict has cooked his own pizza without cheese but still suffered a reaction. His mother Helen informed the school that she believed this to have been caused by airborne cheese.

Allergy policies

Benedict was absent from school on November 30, the day before his death, as he had vomited in the early hours of the morning. Normal policy is for any

Barnack Primary School was informed of Benedict’s allergies prior to him starting school but Ms Jones insisted that the school was “heavily reliant” on parents providing information on how best their child’s allergy should be managed.

The school was provided with an asthma and allergies management plan by Benedict’s parents which confirmed to the school Benedict’s allergies, the likely symptoms of him having an allergic reaction, the response to this and when to call 999.

The school also operated its own allergy policy taken from the latest advice from Key Leaders. This policy was sent out to staff, with hard copies available at the school.

Sophie Brown, the teaching assistant of Benedict’s class, was one of five members of staff at the school who had received full paediatric first-aid training. The school prioritised giving this training to teaching assistants as dealing with medical episodes would take the teacher away from the rest of the class.

All of the adrenaline and EpiPens at the school at the time of the incident were in date. Training to use the pens was given via the Peterborough School Nursing service and was done by videos being sent to staff, who then had to confirm they had watched and understood the video. The school asked the service to come in but was told in 2021 that the service no longer carried out such visits.

The inquest continues.