To be cross with the school (school trip related!)

[schooltripwoes]

DD is 7 and has been on a school trip today. It's been a sunny day and the class spent a lot of the time outdoors.
I have just picked her up from school and her cheeks and ears are bright red - as in they look like she's caught the sun. Suspicious of the fact that her sunhat was rolled up in the same way that I packed it this morning, questions were asked and she confessed that she 'forgot' to wear her sun hat. She had suncream on before leaving home, and says she applied more at lunchtime (but 7 year-olds aren't great at this job, as I'm sure you know!). So I'm fuming that she didn't wear her hat to keep the sun off her face.
Whilst I accept that children need to learn to look after themselves and have some degree of responsibility, AIBU to expect the teachers to gently remind infant school children to wear their sun hats when they're spending the majority of the day sat in the sun?

Volunteer! Sounds like they need the help

Go on the next school trip as a parent volunteer. I bet the teacher did remind them about hats etc and your child probably said they didn’t have one .

One good application of suncream should last all day - you need to put on 2 thick layers 5 mins apart

I agree that a good application of all day sun cream should be enough. It’s the parents’ responsibility to apply it.

YANBU. Of course it was your dc responsibility to wear their hat but I would have thought it very much the supervising adults duty to make sure hats were being worn and sun cream was reapplied.

At the end of the day these are 7 year olds. Most 7 year olds would forget their head if it wasn't screwed on.

If you think it's the supervising adults' responsibility to keep sun hats on a class of 7 year olds at all times then I would "gently" suggest that you volunteer to accompany the next trip and find out for yourself how easy that is! It's all very well to assume from your reference frame of a single child, or maybe a couple more, but the reality of trying to manage 30+ (and if it's more than one class it can easily be 60+) children is very different. Try it out, see how you get on. Put better quality sun cream on your child before they go to school and accept that sometimes Miss Lovely can tell them until she is hoarse repeating herself but the tricksy preciouses just won't listen

flyingelbows yes I do think it's the supervising adults ultimate responsibility. And I have helped out on class trips thanks including 7 year olds and even younger. And I have to say it isn't hard to notice on a blazing hot day who isn't wearing their hat. Also takes hardly anytime to help them reapply suncream if it's needed. There would have been more than 1 adult there.

Op says her child hadn't worn the hat at all. Of course hats may not be on heads All the time, but it should have been noticed if hat wasn't worn AT ALL and child was turning red!

Of course the children have been rrminded to wear their hat /drink water / put on more cream.

Remind your child to listen to their teacher.

ours in NZ have rules that if outside in terms 1 and 4 ( we have 4 school terms a year) you have to have a hat on, and thats a wide brimmed hat not a cap, or you have to stay under the sunshades

Teachers will ask children to put on hats if they don't have one but do not have time to search every bag to check if there's one actually in there (especially if the child insists they do not have a hat). Send you DC in wearing the hat and tell them to not take it off. As a teacher I am likely to notice if a child was wearing a hat and no longer is and then ask them to put it back on.

With suncream, did you ask the teacher to remind your DC at lunchtime? If not, how would the teacher know it required topping up? I would recommend once-a-day suncream (which is what I send DDs to school in each sunny day).

Send you DD to school wearing her hat. Then she won't forget she has one. And agree about the once a day sunscreen

Ah! You're teaching again, @icantcopeanymore - great! You must be so relieved.

I'd put money on the fact they were reminded gently and your child either wasn't listening or didn't want to get the hat out.

On school trips there is usually s general "Everyone have some water, put your hats on, make sure you've got all your rubbish in your lunchbox" type announcement. Some of the children will ignore some or all of these instructions but you can't expect the teachers to frisk each child to see if they have a hat secreted in their bag somewhere.

It's annoying that she's caught the sun: were all so well versed in the dangers of the sun and what were supposed to do to keep our kids safe from it.

But really, sometimes this stuff happens. School trips can be manic, teachers have a lot to do and like pp said, maybe they did remind her and maybe she forgot she had a hat. Maybe she kept forgetting to get it out of her bag, maybe she fibbed.

So, I'd vent your crosssness here and chalk it up to experience. And perhaps the pp is right, next time you could along on the trip to help out to make sure it doesn't happen again and give the teachers a much needed hand?

Hope she's OK

Suspicious of the fact that her sunhat was rolled up in the same way that I packed it this morning

So next time put it on her head before school and tell her it stays there all day.

I understand why you’re upset but chill, her not wearing a hat doesn’t mean she wasn’t promoted.

I live in an area of a country where it is sunny/high uv rating all year round. There is a basic, zero tolerance rule of no hat = no play/no outside. The child would simply not be permitted to leave the classroom for the excursion if they did not have a hat on. Works very well!

Get a grip. Next time send her wearing it if she can't remember to put it on.

I'm surprised they don't have the rule "no hat no play" - that was standard at my primary school 20 years ago (although that was Australia)

Not all schools have a hats rules for trips where everyone must wear one. We advise them to bring one but can't insist. So I wouldn't know if a child had got one or not esp if in their bags. Why was it but being worn at the start of the day, rather than rolled in a bag?

P20 and UltraSun are once a day cream and if applied properly really do work. I burn easily unprotected but have never burnt using it, even in places like Florida in August.

Most teachers, in my experience, will give out reminders during the day but can't force the children. And if you've got 30 children you're supervising there isn't time to go through bags and check. Likewise with sub cream and we aren't allowed to help. Parent helpers definitely can't assist children who aren't their own.

I’ve volunteered on school trips before and collapsed mentally exhausted when I got home. You know you can’t make the kids put hats on, right? And if asked they will tell you they haven’t got one. Even when you can see it and point it out. To which they shrug their shoulders and don’t put it on because their best friend isn’t wearing one so why should they.

We have a no hat no play rule (Australia). Goes right through to high school. If kids are not wearing a hat they get to sit on a bench in the shade and can’t move other than to go to toilet. Hats are compulsory for all excursions, again right through to high school. If there is no hat on your head you are not boarding the bus!

Teachers have never been responsible for sunscreen. Imagine a teacher trying to apply sunscreen on 30 kids. They apply it when they are at day care (nursery equivalent) and in the year before school they are expected to be doing it adequately themselves ‘with supervision’. So when they get to school they are quite capable. 7yo is more than capable and should have been doing it properly independently for 2 years. Still mind boggled at the thought of a poor teacher being expected to sunscreen 30 kids. If good quality sunscreen is applied just before school it will last then until school finishes. Maybe invest in some?

Thanks everyone - some mixed opinions.
I do help on school trips often, but couldn't on this occasion as work got in the way. I'm aware of how hard it is to look after groups of small children on trips but do feel that school staff have a duty of care to keep children healthy (sunstroke / sunburn can be serious).
If it had been a cold, rainy day I can't imagine they'd have let little Jonny / Mary walk around in just their school shirt; I'm quite sure they'd have been stood over them making sure they put their coat on before they got off the coach. So why is a hat seen as less important?
I think perhaps the fact that I've lived in Australia might be skewing my views as they are super-strict there. Sun hats are not optional; if you don't have one on, you don't play. Whilst I'm fully aware that the sun is less powerful here in the UK and wouldn't get arsey if DD had gone out for a 20-min playtime at school without a hat, spending a full day sat in the sun in the middle of June is different. Another school Mum is complaining on Facebook that her very blonde DD has got blisters on her scalp this morning from sunburn, so I'm not alone.

And once a day suncream doesn't last all day if children are sweating / rubbing their faces etc. DD did apply suncream at lunchtime but not very well because she's 7. Fair enough, I accept that. Which is why the hats should be worn.

I wasn't expecting the teachers to apply suncream - sorry if my OP made it sound like it.
And as for why she wasn't wearing the hat when I dropped her off - they didn't leave school until after assembly, so were told to put hats / coats in their bags.