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Primary education

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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:
curlew · 06/07/2013 12:30

I think you need more information. It all sounds very odd.

SVN · 06/07/2013 12:34

I read your posts and I still think the same.

If you are that concerned that your child is protected in the sun, then take the necessary steps yourself. Yes teachers are in loco parentis, but they're not child minders and basic sun protection should be up to the parents. I think you have unreasonable expectations. Perhaps you should withdraw your consent for any further outings.

spanieleyes · 06/07/2013 12:37

You emailed after six last night but haven't had a reply yet?
Goodness, anyone would think it was the weekend!

KingRollo · 06/07/2013 12:43

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

indyandlara · 06/07/2013 12:44

You are seriously bumping your gums over the fact that you emailed after 6pm on a Friday night and haven't had a reply by Saturday at lunchtime? Some perspective needed here I think.

MaybeBentley · 06/07/2013 12:44

"No reply to email. What a surprise" - just re-read and seen this. Shock
Can you honestly say you expect teachers to respond to work emails over the weekend, or were you just venting your anger at teachers?

Hulababy · 06/07/2013 12:48

Once a day suncream. I use P20 and/or Ultrasun. DD applies it in a morning and it lasts a good 10 hours.

We have used both in very hot humid weather, such as Florida in August, and never had any issues. Also two of the very few sun creams 11y DD can wear without getting a skin reaction to it.

DD did get a little red on her cheeks the other day where she had missed her face out, but I see that as my fault, not schools. I knew the forecast was hot and forgot to check.

DumSpiroSpero · 06/07/2013 12:50

I don't normally send ds with a hat (which when I do, he refuses to wear - they don't insist) or sun cream

I'm sorry but if you are so concerned about sunburn you really should be doing both these things, although I'll admit to being very surprised the school don't insist on them anyway, or send notes home to inform you when your child is being taken out of school for the day.

As for expecting a reply to an email sent after 6pm on a Friday night...Shock

Have you actually been into the school and raised with someone senior in person the numerous issues you are having? If not, then I really think you need to consider this, or you risk coming across as an exceptionally high maintenance parent who nitpicks over every thing and will not be taken seriously.

I'm not suggesting that your concerns are minor btw (haven't read your other threads) but that it might be time to reconsider how you are addressing them.

Hulababy · 06/07/2013 12:54

The whole trip sounds very odd. I would try and clarify what was involved, out of curiousity if nothing else.

However, re the email. You sent it last night after school had finished. It is now the weekend. The teacher may not access his/her email out of school. Many people don't. It is unreasonable to accept a respond until next week imo, once school has resumed again and he/she has had time to check email and find time to reply.

SoupDragon · 06/07/2013 12:54

Or ones who email to say, I'm not very happy that you did this, can you send a note next time please?

Doesn't quite match up with

I have just emailed his teacher. I did lose the plot slightly. I was rather blunt.

:o

SoupDragon · 06/07/2013 12:54

But yes, Once a day sun cream is great for school. We use the Boots Once stuff.

Hulababy · 06/07/2013 12:59

I'm sorry, but imo, it i the parent's responsibility to check the forecast and to make sure their child has suncream and a hat.

DD was on a school trip yesterday. I had no idea where they were going - it is a whole school mystery trip. We find out after they have left.

However, I checked the forecast. I made sure DD applied once a day sun cream and took a cap as the forecast said it was going to be hot and sunny. I sent an extra bottle of water too. As a parent that is my job. It isn't the teacher's job to check these things, esp when they have multiple other children to supervise also.

Even in reception I felt it was my role to do this, though knew most reception/infant teachers ime do infact remind children re hats and sun cream. She is now in Y6 and she takes most of the responsibility for these these days, with me just reminding her if I know it is going to be hot.

spanieleyes · 06/07/2013 13:15

Presumably if it was an open day, it was for a local secondary school, in which case the fast food was down to that school, rather than your child's primary. Perhaps you should forward your complaint to the Head there too.

SchroSawMargeryDaw · 06/07/2013 13:19

P20, I used it in Florida (very pale skin) in mid June and only had to apply it once a day, I didn't change colour or burn at all.

SoupDragon · 06/07/2013 13:23

DD was on a school trip yesterday. I had no idea where they were going

Yes, but you knew they were going.

Hulababy · 06/07/2013 13:50

I don't always though. Any local trips we dot get letters. They go out of school at least 2-3 times a week - various sports stuff, random rounders matches, walks to local shops, went to local boys school last week (no idea they were going or what for til I got to school to collect her and they were running 5 min late so not back yet). I don't need a letter for every local trip. We sign a generic one instead. Lunches generally not an issue as if out in day for a local trip kitchen provides a packed lunch.

And I get dd to apply sun cream on any warm sunny day as I know they like to get them outside as much as possible all year round.

MaybeBentley · 06/07/2013 13:59

Even if I picked up a work email at the weekend / just before I left on a Friday I would probably leave the response to Monday, either to not spoil my weekend or speak to my boss about it if it was like this: "I did lose the plot slightly. I was rather blunt".

katydid02 · 06/07/2013 14:26

Our local school has consent for visits in the vicinity of the school, they still send a note specifically to inform us of it unless they are going to the church next door - in which case it just gets a mention in the newsletter.
We use all day suncream and that seems to do the job.

Original poster
RoooneyMara · 06/07/2013 14:31

Yes, of course she probably wouldn't have answered yet. She probably hasn't even seen it yet. But last time she DID answer an email I received it at 5.30pm, so assume this sort of time (evening) is when she writes her emails.

I'm not getting worked up about that (just everything else). I don't expect there will be a reply next week either though. I am getting used to no replies.

I am generally just cross and venting, and I apologise for that. It's a pointless thread really. But I am glad other people think the junk food and lack of communication are possibly not such good things.

Thanks for your replies. I will now go and do other things that don't involve getting cross.

Oh yes and as for being blunt and losing the plot a bit, what I wrote was pretty much, I don't intend to sign the generic consent form next year, because I don't like my children being taken to junk-food-filled promotional events where they get injured.

So yes a bit stronger than 'please could you send a note'/

Is it the parents who lose the plot finally after 6 years who cause schools not to take children on trips? Ok. Hands up to that. Smile

OP posts:
PassTheTwiglets · 06/07/2013 15:24

Yup, definitely the parents' responsibility to put all-day suncream on a child before school. I'm shocked that there are people who don't know that this stuff exists! Having said that, this is a real bugbear of mine because the once-a-day suncreams aren't always quite as simple as that and I wish that schools were more aware of this. The once-a-days provide up to that length of time, it's far from a guarantee that they will actually last that long. The P20 doesn't have a high enough SPF and the UVA star rating is poor. Which really only leaves the 6-hour creams - well that's not long enough for a school day including travelling time. Schools need to not only provide, but insist on, shade at lunchtimes on very hot, sunny days. Our school has no shade whatsoever for the juniors at playtime and I've complained and complained to no avail.

Hulababy · 06/07/2013 15:54

P20 comes in a range of SPF protections, not just factor 20 iirr. They do up to 50+

PassTheTwiglets · 06/07/2013 16:41

Oops, so it does! Still doesn't have a very good star rating though.

SoupDragon · 06/07/2013 16:59

They go out of school at least 2-3 times a week

So you do know they are going out, or at least likely to. Most schools don't go on so many trips. Ours has a generic consent form to cover local trips which we fill in once but they still tell us they are going. I would be angry if they took them out and sat them in the sun all day with no warning.

rabbitstew · 06/07/2013 17:00

Humph. Suncream rant coming up...

Suncream may be far better for you than strong sunlight and sunburn, but it is not actually in any way GOOD for you. No way would I be willing to plaster my child in all those potent chemicals every single day (thus inhibiting his opportunity to make any vitamin D, a lack of which is probably a bigger issue for more people in this country than skin cancer) just in case. I would want to know he needed the stuff on his skin, first. I do not think it is in any way unreasonable to expect a school to tell a parent if their child is going to be doing something outside the usual routine, so that the parent can prepare the child for that when actually necessary. Also, suncream is expensive and lots of children are allergic to lots of suncreams, making it even more expensive as you work your way through them to find one that doesn't make them itch all over. Do schools really think all parents can plaster their children in suncream every day when 98 days out of 100 their child isn't actually outside enough to justify anything more than wearing a hat?? The school should have alerted the parents and was badly at fault for failing to do that.

And as for primary school children being capable of putting on suncream all by themselves - that must be coming from parents who have well co-ordinated, highly responsible children (who do not have many allergies) and who understand nothing about the fact that a child can really be quite poorly co-ordinated without benefitting from a diagnosis or an IEP for their difficulties. Plenty of adults are so bad at putting suncream on themselves that they still manage to burn their cheeks or heads near the hairline, or the backs of their necks, or their shoulders, or the backs of their legs.... and I don't know a child who manages to put suncream on themselves without getting it all over their clothes, too, and that's before the potential mess they can make if they don't put the lid back on properly and get suncream all over their schoolwork... In my experience, suncream does not wash off easily.

And above and beyond all that, what about sunglasses? Do none of you care that you can get melanoma in the eyes, and cataracts? Or do your highly responsible children take sunglasses to school every day and wear them, without them getting broken? This country is not at all well set up for protecting our children from the sun, or thinking about when it is actually safe to be in the sun in the first place.

ppeatfruit · 06/07/2013 17:49

`I totally agree Rabbitstew I was just on another thread about hating the heat and saying how few people even think about how dangerous the midday sun is.

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