Sunburnt child

But even if they had asked - what would your daughter have done given her parents failed to provide her with any sun cream

Should not staff ask if they have suncream on? It's not normal weather is it?

No.

The reason being that different skin burns in different amounts of sun. If your dd is a red head and that porcelain skin colour she should be using skin protection all year.

I burn easily, I have burned indoors, in the shade, through clothes on dull days.

As an adult the only time I have had sunburn is in the UK because I've not thought it was sunny - I have now learned.

Are you fair yourself OP? I am and I apply factor 50 on my face every day of the year and am hyper-aware of burning. I’m usually the catalyst for everyone around me deciding they ought to put some suncream (and a hat!) on as well. You need to teach your daughter to be super aware of the sun, and make sure she has it with her. Hats are essential, I’d be taking that up with the school if they aren’t allowed to wear one.

Unbelievable
Is this how you raise your children OP?

Own it. Ffs. She’s 12. But even if younger - it is summer. You need to “discuss” in order to know whether to provide sun cream.

You should be embarrassed with yourself Op

Not the schools problem. By secondary age they expect them to know when they have PE and if they burn easily and take their own precautions.

No ones to blame except you and your dd. Sorry.

It’s reasonable for the school to remind them to put on sunscreen. However since you hadn’t bothered sending any, that reminder wouldn’t have helped your DD!

She’s 12, she knew she had PE today, you’re her parent, you both knew that it’s june and sunny, it’s your responsibility to send sunscreen and her responsibility to apply it.

Make her put the all day stuff on in the morning and she will be fine

Your the parent. Sun cream is your responsibility. End of.

That is not about global warning. UV rays were stronger in the past with the hole in the ozone layer.

There's this thing called global warming, don't know if you've heard of it?

Is the sun more intense now? I was at secondary school throughout the 1950s. We used to spend every lunchtime during sunny weather lying on the school field trying to get brown.

OP Secondary School is very different from primary, kids are expected to be much more independent. So no I would not expect this from secondary at all. It is up to you and your DC to sort out things like this.

We aren’t in the UK but in summer the kids put on sunscreen each morning before leaving for school, they have sunscreen in their lunch bags and also in their sports bags. In winter they don’t apply it before school but it’s still in their lunch and sports bags in case it’s an oddly sunny day. I certainly wouldn’t expect a teacher to be responsible for any of this.

Teachers are responsible in daycare/preschool here (nursery equivalent) but not once kids start school, completely over to the kid at that point. When they are little the teachers give a reminder when going out for lunch and have a tub of it on their desk in case any child doesn’t have it but even that stops at Yr3, kids are meant to know the drill by that point.

My ds has come home sunburnt too. He is a bit older but it is 100% mine/his fault. I didn’t tell him where to find the suncream and he didn’t think to ask. Absolutely not school’s fault at all.
I guess staff could have reminded children to put it on but if they didn’t have any then what difference would it make?!

If your daughter has fair skin you can get tiny sunscreens and she can keep one in her bag permanently. My son has fair skin and on days he has PE I make sure to remind him to apply sunscreen (he is also 12).

Well exactly

It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the teacher to remind children to apply suncream at the beginning of the PE lesson (when they were getting changed)

It wouldn't have made any difference. OP didn't give her child suncream anyway.

DC's school send home a general email at the start of each summer term which talks about parents ensuring their DC have sun cream, water, hats and hayfever tablets when the hot weather/hayfever season arrives.

I have to admit that I always dismiss this letter as "obvious" but clearly not.
OP says that her DC didn't have suncream with her, so the staff prompting her to put some on would not have helped.

I think it depends where you are in the country OP?
If you live in the north, say fort William or above, it’s probably right that your child hasn’t been drilled since two to wear sunscreen. I’m from Glasgow and any hot sunny weather still takes me a few days to adjust to not taking a coat out with me. I lather the children in factor 50 because I was allowed to burn regularly as a child.
If you live in the south, like Kent the YABU. It gets hot there, your children should be old enough at 12 to not need a teacher mothering them.

Should not staff ask if they have suncream on? It's not normal weather is it?

You hadn’t sent any with her (although at 12 this should be her responsibility to take it.) was this a one off mistake or do you never send it with her?

I do think schools should check, or give a reminder, we are woefully inadequate at protecting kids from the sun. DD always has sun cream in her bag as soon as they head back after Easter term. She knows when she needs to put it on. She’s ten. When she said last week “hang on, I need to put sun cream on” her teacher said “oh yes, good idea, remember to put suncream on, everyone.” It shouldn’t take a ten year old to remind a teacher of this.

I didn't send her in with suncream

Another ‘parent blames school for parenting fail’ thread.

We remind students when it's sports day or a trip to bring some, but don't check they've put it on.

For a normal PE lesson students sort themselves out, but then our lessons are 1 hour not 2.

At secondary students are responsible for getting themselves sorted ultimately. It's June. If you know your child burns then send them sun cream. It's not really school's job.

I think it is reasonable to expect staff to remind pupils to put on sunscreen.

Our secondary school has, for example, sent an email to remind parents to supply it, and reminding them that sunhats are permitted in outdoors PE lessons and water bottles are recommended on PE days

It is however up to a secondary pupil to actually make best use of those supplies. It is pretty straightforward to apply sunscreen as part of getting changed for PE - and I'd bet good money that many of the pupils did exactly that, irrespective of whether teachers reminded or not.

Both mine came home with too much sun from their sports' day yesterday. I read them both the riot act as they both know better as they spend a lot of time outside doing a sport, and both possess oodles of suncream, hats and sunglasess. Not the schools' fault, theirs!

They did both try to mitigate once they realised they were outside for the long haul: one stood in shade as much as possible, and one borrowed suncream from a friend, but it wasn't enough.

I'm still quite cross at both of them.

I look at the forecast and make my kids put suncream on every day at this time of year now the sunshine is actually out and the rain has passed. Even on non PE days as kids will be outside at lunch break. I'm struggling to comprehend why the OP thinks that the sun protection for their 12 year old child is the school's responsibility just because it is a school day? Should the school have used common sense? No, OP, take responsibility, and use your common sense, especially when you say your DD burns easily. With her skin tone she should be using sun protection every day throughout the summer, whether school says so or not.