40% of kids get sunburn during school hours

[NLucy]

The British Skin Foundation is running a campaign to help protect children from sun burn during school hours.

Play times are usually in the hottest hours of the day, and I know if we we could be there, we would be reapplying, making them wear sun hats and even keeping them out of the mid-day sun in the summer!

Well, knowing how long it used to take to apply suncream (in the days before aerosols and easy-sprays) to my own kids, do you really think that teachers have got time (or inclination, frankly) to do the same x30? Not everyone will send it in, and others will send in that Factor 50 stuff that is like trying to apply lard. Then you'll have issues with kids being allergic to certain brands but inevitably will end up with a bit of their mate Jimmy's on their arm, which will come out in a rash and then Mum will be in to complain....

Perspective people! Apply your own cream to your own kids in the morning, train them to wear a hat and it'll be fine. This is the UK, not Dubai.

As clam

If parents are really that concerned - stick on some P20 in the morning - that stuff doesn't come off easily.

Do school playtimes last that long? and does it get so sunny?

Yeah, in the tropics. Unlikely in the UK. Possible, I guess, but nothing that a slurp of suncream in the morning by the parent wouldn't prevent.

Betelguse, out of interest, what are the H & S regulations that you say have been introduced in the past years that make teachers jobs more difficult and risky?

Stick sunblock on the kids in the morning - Boots "ONCE" is perfect for this. We always use it, tis brill.

FGS... I don't recall ever having sunburn at all at primary school and I never wore suncream.

Betelguese thanks for the link, but this just seems to cite standard H & S legislation that applies to all workplaces and employees, and shows how it links with the Education (School Premises) Regs (which are not H & S legislation)

Other than the HASAWA, which has provision at Section 3 for those not at work, then the link just highlights regulations that apply to employees in every profession and sector.

Risk Assessments are a different issue and do include provision for looking at risks to those affected by your work - in this case pupils- but I'm not sure how they can make teachers' jobs more difficult and risky, which I think was what I was trying to ask. I'm genuinely interested.

It may be that I am picking this up wrong from your post (which is a real possibility) but I wasn't sure if you meant that schools/HTs are unable to do some tasks, because H & S Regulations introduced in the past years have made their jobs too difficult and they would be putting themselves at risk if they did them.

I wondered what these regulations would be, as I wasn't aware of anything that would put teachers in that position. As I say, I'm genuinely interested

Anyway, back to topic. My DD had the option of bringing her own - preferably spray on, which the SLA would assist with, or signing a permission slip to allow the school to use their own.

FGS... I don't recall ever having sunburn at all at primary school and I never wore suncream.

Me neither, nor do I recall anyone else getting sunburn at school. Mind you I did grow up in Greater Manchester, sun was quite a rare sight!

I do just stick some factor 30 on DDs in the morning, and have put a named bottle in the nursery bag (DD2 is more fair skinned) but only when it is very sunny and hot. I always let them play out for half an hour before putting anything on their skin though, so they get a good dose of vitamin D.

The only time I got sunburn "during school hours" was when I was 16 and decided to revise in the garden for my French GCSE by lying on my tummy in the garden in my shorts looking at the textbook, had no suncream on and fell asleep. Nice red legs and quite painful to sit the actual GCSE exam on a wooden chair. Still got an A though :)

Imagine a teacher creaming up 30 children! The poor child who is last in the line will have to wait an hour! (assuming 1 child takes 2 mins). Then the whistle goes and lunchtime is over. That's without the teacher having to wash her hands or change plastic gloves in between each child due to allergies, infections etc. Say she misses a bit and the child burns? The parents wouldn't be happy.

Flightty - not sure which once a day you have but the ones we have used def work - P20 and UltraSun. Have used them for full days out in August sun in Florida and not one of us has burnt, nowhere near infact.

I have 5 children with red hair and very light and easy to burn skin. I put suncream on in the morning and give them hats etc but by the afternoon they have been a little pinkish after playtime when i come to get them. Luckily we live in an area where its actually pretty rare to get more than one really hot day in a row! If we did have a run of hot weather they would need it reapplied at school because I know from experience (also red hair) that repeating the slightly pink process makes it a little worse each day.
The school wont apply suncream but they ask you to come a reapply it at lunch time if you need to. Fine for me as a sahm but a little unfair to ask working mums to take time of work to apply suncream!

Thanks Betelgeuse, I was actually going to post that same link as evidence that H & S regulations don't, in fact, make teachers tasks a bit more difficult and risky.

Sorry, don't mean to hijack the thread and go off at a tangent, but it is common for "Health and Safety" to be blamed as the cause of everything. The HSE's Myth of the Month section is also worth a read.

I bought my DD a really nice sun hat for school (they play in the park) but the teachers made her take it off - not part of the dress code.

when I moved to Spain with my very fair skinned daughter, I put allday sun cream on her before school. I found the factor 15 worked just as well as the factor 30. She never burnt. Also none of the kids wore hats! Can anyone get sunstroke in an hour in the UK,doubtful?

Perhaps we, as parents could be credited with a bit of common sense?
My dd1 can get red (I hadn't realised it was warm and still had my coat on)
I make sure she has sun cream on
My ds has similar coloring to me (NEVER get burnt even in Spain)
I will not be stressing out bout sun cream on him, should the sun ever come out
And wtf about compulsory sun hats what ever the whether??
Well wud keep the rain off I suppose!

I'd like to know where those numbers come from.

Is it actually 40% of children get sunburn?

Or 40% of children who do get sunburn do so during school hours?

I suspect the latter.