Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

Original poster

Ds has got sun burnt at school

159 replies

RoooneyMara · 05/07/2013 15:56

Ds is 10 and was on a kind of sports/open day today at another school.

No one sent a letter about it or anything.

He has come home with sunburn across his face.

Normally I tell him to stay in the shade when it is hot - clearly they weren't able to do this, being outside much of the day.

Hats are pointless when they are doing activities outside - they just fall off.

Suncream doesn't last very long...what can you do?

I feel really upset about it.

OP posts:
ditavonteesed · 05/07/2013 15:58

I put them a good coating of P20 on ebfore school, seems to last ok, supposed to be for 8 hour.

Original poster
RoooneyMara · 05/07/2013 15:58

Thanks Dita, what is P20?

OP posts:
ShatnersBassoon · 05/07/2013 16:00

A sun hat would have helped. If it fell off, it would have been put back on. Get him in the habit of wearing one when it's sunny.

ditavonteesed · 05/07/2013 16:00

just looked the one I have is soltan, it is called soltan once, it is a lot more expensive than the normal stuff but supposed to last all day, I think there are a few brands of them.

maja00 · 05/07/2013 16:01

Suncream does last (especially a long lasting one) and at 10 he can surely reapply at breaktimes? I would get a little tube of it to go in his bag.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 05/07/2013 16:02

We use Ultrasun Factor 50 (once a day) and none of us have ever been burnt in normal UK summer weather. It really does last all day.

lljkk · 05/07/2013 16:03

it's not great but it's not a huge deal, either. This isn't the bad old days when people took 2 weeks in the sun with no cream, and equated sunburn with beautiful tan.

Bit of olive oil can help the skin a small bit, even water splashed on will help reduce some of the damage. Anything to cool it down & rehydrate.

Original poster
RoooneyMara · 05/07/2013 16:06

Thankyou very much, will look at getting an 8 hour thing

This is it though, he never normally gets burned at school. They have short break times.

No one told me they would be outdoors all blooming day.

Bloody school. I am a bit oversensitive about this as I lost my friend to skin cancer, I try very hard not to let them burn.

It feels like school doesn't give a toss.

OP posts:
lljkk · 05/07/2013 16:15

It's going from pasty white to lobster red in a few hours that creates the highest risk for sun cancer (the classic Brit on holiday way of getting a tan). The sort of dose your son got today is nothing like as bad. Not saying be complacent, but don't let it worry you, either.

ShatnersBassoon · 05/07/2013 16:16

You can't blame the school entirely. Most children do have sun hats on days like today, and many apply sun lotion as a matter of routine.

They really should have told you about the event though. Being out of school for an entire day requires some forethought from parents. What did children on school dinners do if they weren't at school for their lunch, for example?

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 05/07/2013 16:17

This is a primary school and they took your DC out to an event at another school without your knowledge? That seems a bit odd. Our school takes the children on walks into town etc without specific letters home, but anything more than that has a letter. I hope his face calms down soon and isn't too bad, sorry for the loss of your friend.

OrangeLily · 05/07/2013 16:23

I think your right. The school should have warned you that they would be outside. Any chance you've missed a letter?

GetStuffezd · 05/07/2013 17:04

Have you signed a universal consent form for all local visits?
Either way, from your threads of late you clearly believe the school are failing your son so is moving him a option?

JemimaMuddledUp · 05/07/2013 17:14

I think to be on the safe side you need to make sure that he has a hat and suncream every day when the weather is like this.

DS1 is 10 and plays a lot of sport so is often out of school at tournaments a this time of year. He has red hair and a very pale complexion and avoids getting burnt 99% of the time. He knows to reapply his suncream regularly and keep his hat on.

I am surprised though that your DS' school could take them out without a permission slip.

Pyrrah · 05/07/2013 17:20

DD got burnt at school back in March on what feels like the one sunny day this Spring - as did all of her fair-skinned classmates.

They had allowed a group of 3 year-olds to play outside with no available shade for an hour at midday.

My SIL was very lucky to survive a stage-4 malignant melanoma and I'm generally fairly obsessive about safety in the sun, but hadn't bargained on the weather given it had only just stopped snowing!

The school sent out a note the next day asking for labelled bottles of sunscreen and hats to be supplied to all children - I believe there had been a number of complaints especially given how little they were.

I would get a bottle of the spray on sunscreen or one of the little travel bottles than fits in your pocket for your son to take to school.

I might also have a word with the school about perhaps doing an assembly on sun protection - the Australians do some great guides that they could use.

Original poster
RoooneyMara · 05/07/2013 17:25

Thankyou all - yes Get, I am fed up with the school in general. I don't know what's happened, they used to be pretty good.

He loves his friends though and it's unthinkable to him to leave now. Only one more year.

According to ds, none of his class had a hat today. Not one of them. They'd have fallen off anyway - they were doing stuff like pillow wrestling on a bar (injuries sustained, ambulance called Hmm)

But it transpires that they were only there till lunch. I can't work this out - they had morning assembly, I presume till 10ish, then walked there (another half hour) then did various sports etc, but get this - ds had eaten, BY LUNCHTIME,

  1. Dominos pizza
  1. a subway
  1. Nandos.

Then they walked back and had sausages and chips for lunch!

OP posts:
Original poster
RoooneyMara · 05/07/2013 17:27

Pyrrah that sounds awful and I am so sorry about your SIL. I hope she is Ok.

OP posts:
GetStuffezd · 05/07/2013 17:27

Eh? I don't get that! How did he eat all those things? Presumably he didn't have cash on him at school?

QuintessentialOldDear · 05/07/2013 17:28
Shock You sure he had sports day? Maybe he was skiving with mates?

Otherwise, I thought eating competitions were considered a sport in the US only....

ShatnersBassoon · 05/07/2013 17:43

I'm confused. Where did all that food come from? Who paid for it?

lljkk · 05/07/2013 17:45

every day when the weather is like this.

Don't know about OP but 2 days ago we had all day foggy gloom. Found it hard to predict this sudden sun, and OP didn't know her child would be out hours more than usual (if he was, maybe he grazed on the meadows as part of that eating binge, too).

maja00 · 05/07/2013 17:48

Are you sure he's telling you the truth?

Original poster
RoooneyMara · 05/07/2013 17:49

From what I can gather, it was a kind of 'promotional' thing. Not all the kids got all those things to eat, but there were competitions to win them Hmm and so on...I think the school is touting for pupils, or seeking to advertise its facilities or something.

(no letter = no idea)

I wish they would let us KNOW they're doing this stuff.

OP posts:
Original poster
RoooneyMara · 05/07/2013 17:49

Yes, no doubt that he is telling the truth. I seem to remember they went to this farce thing last year as well.

OP posts:
maja00 · 05/07/2013 17:51

This is the weirdest thing I have ever heard - a state school giving children fast food takeaways as sports day prizes? Are you in the UK?