AIBU to think school should have called me?

[tootiredtoadult]

So, I will take my error in all this but I feel school should have called me or kept DD age 8 inside or out at least shaded the kids.

To cut a long story short,y DD school have had. A sports week this week, but due to the rather British wet weather it has been cancelled, and all activities off, we received an email to say that they would be doing sports today.

In the usual morning rush and remembering pe kit at the last minute I packed her off to school.

She has come home sunburnt to hell. I asked "have you been outside ALL day" she confirmed they had, I asked "did they ask if you had sun cream on"? She confirmed "they asked and I said No, they offered me some but I told them I'm allergic to that one"
(well done for realising that DD)

The school clearly knew the kids needed sun screen as they were offering it out, I feel at this point they should have called me for my views on what they should do (I would have taken some into school for her) I wouldn't want her to miss out but I feel they should have kept her inside or at very least, put the kids in the shade where possible.

I appreciate I should have put cream on her this morning but I wasn't aware they were going to be out in baking sun all day doing sports.

Should I approach the school about this? WWYD?

OP the sunscreen thing is such a minefield. The other day was cloudy in the morning but I put sunscreen on the kids as I always have to check pollen count so get the weather too and two of mine go pink in the slightest of sun conditions. When I went to collect the kids the amount of kids going around with the starting of sunburn was terrible. They need to start a dressing it as they would other things, either a stash in the school or kids have to bring their own or stay in. Well done to your dd for informing them about the allergy

Can I just reiterate it wasn't sports day!
It's sports week, we've had these before and they usually just talk about sports and get some outside organisation to come in for one lesson to do sports.
Sports day she will be lathered up to the eye balls as I do every year.
She had a hat, they dont insist the kids wear them, last year I spent the whole of sports day shouting from a far for her to put it on.
My original question was, should I approach the school to discuss it? Because I don't think any kids should get burned, it doesn't matter whose at fault, it's about finding a solution to protect the kids in future if the parents forget or don't provide protection.

If a child is choking we don't blame the people who didn't teach them to chew or cut their food up, we don't blame the person providing the food, or manufacturing the food, we help the kids and learn from it.

Ps thank you to all the supportive posters, and also the diplomatic ones x

Yes you fucked up OP (it happens to the best of us) and it isn't the school responsibility to ring up to bring sunscreen.

But I am surprised that they didn't keep her in the shade at all times, I think UK schools need to be a bit more proactive in terms of sun safety. I remember when I was at primary school in NZ if we didn't have a sun hat in the summer terms we had to stay under the veranda (where we ate) all lunch hour, as were not allowed to play out in the sun. The same rule applies here in Australia but this never happened at my kids two schools in the UK

@tootiredtoadult Its fine to talk to them about possible ways to address this as long as any solutions you suggest are realistic. But also your DD needs to take responsibility to wear a hat. Because suncream does not provide enough protection alone.

@PoppingGlitter Not all schools in the UK are designed to provide shade during the summer.

@jennymanara my daughter has additional needs, where she couldn't take that responsibility on herself, hence me congratulating her on remembering she was allergic.

I'm just worried as I know of at least two other children that have sun burn as a result of today.

Sorry to hear that. Unless she has a TA 1-1 though that sounds like an impossible situation. In very hot days kids need to wear hats. But a teacher outside is unlikely to go round and make all kids at 8 wear a hat. She might remind them to put them on before going outside, but no teacher is going to spend all day constantly reminding all her pupils, as you did for your DD at sports day.

Our school tell us to ensure children have long lasting sunscreen on during the summer months to last them the school day. I’m sorry your daughter was burned but it’s really your responsibility to ensure she’s protected from the sun. My son is like me and would burn at break and lunch even if they weren’t doing outdoor activities so I’m careful to ensure she’s always covered.

So I think you’re a bit U but I understand your upset. I hope your DD is better soon x sunburn is awful :(

*he’s always covered

But yes, talk to the school and suggest ways that realistically they can address this issue. For your DD realistically that probably means having sun cream permanently in her bag.
It is difficult to know if the school could have done anything about the other 2 children you saw. Some people burn very easily even with suncream. But some kids simply refuse to wear hats.

They had emailed you to tell you sports was today. Your post seems to be that you think they should have notified you, except they did. It's not their fault you forgot and it's not up to them to chase up parents of children who don't have sun cream.

I get that, and again thank you to all the people reassuring me I'm not the worst parent in the world, it's unfortunate circumstances that, the weather turned, crazy rushed day, and that Sunscreen is usually in her Bag, we had just taken it out last week when we went out for a day trip.

They both have their own suncream in their bags, the babies stays in his childminders bag and hers is the one we take out and about.

I think my lesson is learned to have 3 suncreams at all time.

But other parents may not do this, at the end of the day it's about safe guarding the children and who ever is taking care of them has that responsibility, yes it is my responsibility to send her protected, but upon realising she wasn't the person who has her in their care Becomes responsible IMO.

I am actually surprised the school even offered suncream- I know lots of schools who won't /don't do that. I don't remember it ever coming up while I was in the UK and I don't remember DS ever being asked if he had suncream on or not. I think in the English climate/for short times (eg an hr lesson) and for most children it isn't an issue - there's no way I would have expected the school to ring me up to tell me that DS wasn't wearing suncream - so unless you had flagged it to the school beforehand that it was important (and in which case why hadn't you left so hypoallergenic cream at school) YABU

I'm now in Australia and the school takes no responsibility for suncream which I find more frustrating as here the chances are that a child will get burnt even when it is not clearly sunny

@Baritriwsahys it wasn't sports day, see previous posts x

Who's job is it?

If the school are going to be checking the kids have sunscreen on and passing it out to the ones that don't, then it's bonkers to send a kid out into the sun that you've established has no protection.

So they need some clarity. It needs to be either that parents are 100% responsible for ensuring kids have adequate sun protection as teachers cannot be fussing around asking each child about sunscreen,

OR

School will be checking each child has sun protection - if parents haven't sorted this and the child can't/wont use ours then said child will sit under an umbrella/indoors and not participate.

The worst possible compromise seems to be what your school have accidentally ended up with - We do check if they're protected but if you didn't provide anything there's still a chance they'll end up out in the sun all day!

Sometimes these things only come to light when it goes wrong. I'd point it out for sure, but not in an angry way. They were well intentioned with their school sunscreen but hadn't made a plan for the kids who couldn't use it

it wasn't sports day, see my previous posts

Erm, slightly confused here....

You said

we received an email to say that they would be doing sports today

I said

They had emailed you to tell you sports was today

You see? I literally repeated what you said in the OP

YANBU, you realise your fault but surely it's a matter of health and safety, they should have called you, especially as you could have gone in.
it takes all of 30 seconds to ask someone to call, a receptionist TA, other teacher if all were outside.
They are in loco parentis as well as education.

They should have a system to deal with children who have no sunscreen or hats, just like the ones who come without coats in the cold and wet. Or without a water bottle.
Parents cock up all the time, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. The child’s welfare should come first.

@Baritriwsahys sports week not day, read all the comments, they usually only go out for 1 lesson a day and spend the week learning about health And fitness, none of the parents I have spoken to thought they'd be spending. Full day outside.
Maybe I should have mentioned that in the OP X

@tootiredtoadult You talk about what school are doing for other kids. They ask kids if they have suncream, and if they say no, offer them some to put on.
What more do you want the school to do?

You have kind of drip fed the bit about your daughter's additional needs. You need to work with her on wearing her hat. Seems like a run of bad luck to me where everyone had good intentions - the sun cream was offered but was one she is allergic to - and something bad happened out of bad luck as a result.

@ThePurpleHeffalump what do you think teachers should do if kids come to school without a coat?

@jennymanara I fail to see your reasoning here, they asked she said no, they left her unprotected. Why ask?

"Excuse me do you have a parachute?"
"Nope"
"Ok, enjoy your jump out of this plane, off you go"

I really don't feel you are adding any constructive influence on this post (maybe you are a teacher defending your industry)

It can't be much clearer than the post quoted. You said you were emailed to say sports was today. I said you knew sports was today. Why are you trying to turn that into something other than you knew sports was today?