School banning suncream, am I unreasonable to query this?

[sydenhamhiller]

Sorry, loooooooong :o

DC 1 and 2's primary sends home a weekly newsletter. Friday's states: children are not allowed to bring suncream into school. As it happens, last week the news had been about skin cancer on the increase, so I approached the HT and asked about the ban.

The HT's response was: "Well, the children were just messing around with sun cream all the time, it makes such a mess and takes up so much time - you can just get that 8 hour stuff you know." I was slightly taken aback (surely suncream is in their bags, in the cloakroom?), but just said "well, it's been all over the news about the rise in skin cancer in the UK, and they do recommend frequent application of sun cream. DC1 does after school sports 2x a week after school, and he has caught the sun a few times- it is a long time from the first application at 8.30 to 4.30."

HT's response was: "well, I suppose we could look into some kind of arrangement, maybe he could store it at the school office...."

Now to be honest, I know I am being unreasonable: DC1 hates applying sun cream, and never remembers to put it on if someone does not nag. But that's not the point, is it? Australian primary school teachers manage this issue. With skin cancer on the increase, and sun damage irreversible, I just don't think banning sun cream is the right policy decision. I've never queried anything before (DC are Y5 and Y3, but as a friend had skin cancer 15 years ago in her 20s, I feel strongly about this.)

I realise some people might tell me to get a grip; DH is rolling his eyes at me! I just wondered whether any of you lovely Mumsnetters can share your UK (or even English) primary schools' sun cream/ hats/ protection policies with me?

Devere, yes getting burned as a child increases the risk hugely.

Our school allows suncream but asks that the children apply it themselves. Not for child protection reasons but because it's not practical for 2 adults to apply suncream to 30 children!

Mine are very fair so I plaster them in the 8 hour stuff before school. As a family we burn easily so I'd say if that is sufficient for us then it would work for the vast majority.

Our school doesn't allow children to bring in suncream, we're expected to apply it before school if required. That makes perfect sense to me, it would be a logistical nightmare for the teachers otherwise.

Personally, I doubt very much that a few minutes of outside play in a hat will expose my children to dangerous levels of sunshine, so I don't bother. There are ridiculous levels of irritant chemicals in sun cream that cannot be healthy to apply to delicate skin every day. So we apply sun cream for longer sun exposure (over an hour) and on very hot days, but I disagree with the necessity to apply it every morning for school unless a child has skin prone to burning.

We are told to send it in.I send in roll ons,no hassle for school or dc.

I would never put the 8 hour stuff on my dc's skin,god only knows what's in that stuff.

Jason all the way here.

The tricky bits for a small child to do are face / ears / neck. So I send dd1 with a legionnaire style hat (her choice of colour, tons available cheaply on eBay) and a handbag sized sun cream. If it's very sunny, she can quickly do her arms at break time, the hat and her (slightly too big) dress cover anything else that's likely to catch the sun.

School had said no sun cream, but seem happy with this arrangement as it's quick and they don't need to actually do anything.

Ears? I don't think I've ever sun creamed my ears

You should, Bertie. The skin on your ears is just as likely to burn as that on your nose...

Doesn't the 8 hour one work out very expensive? What saving is there by only having to apply it once a day?

Isn't there a risk that a lot of parents are going to say that they either can't afford it or don't want to pay for it and not put suncream on in the morning anyway?

Do schools provide a shaded area, seeing as the advice is to stay out of the sun for the hottest part of the day?

I'm slightly torn on this as I think if I sent my 5 year old with some he would end up having cream fights with his friends!!
I put 8 hour stuff on him and send him with a hat, he is dark haired and skinned as well so doesn't burn , although I am still cautious.
Dd 9, takes a little roll on in her bag and does it herself

I send my DC in with a sunblock stick and a hat. They are allowed to take sun cream into school. I also make sure DCs suncreamed up before school.

I can tell if it has not been reapplied properly or hat not been worn due to flushed face. Thankfully no actual sun burn experienced. At my DC's school children with packed lunches eat their packed lunches outside on a sunny day, so they are out all lunch time.

I would use the 8 hour suncreams but the fact that they stay on the skin so long puts me off as they are not easy to remove if they don't agree with your skin.

It does irritate me that schools seem to wash their hands of the responsibility of looking after children in this respect. They have got a Duty of Care. When my DC had a Statement of SEN and was in Reception I had to argue for someone to help squeeze the tube of suncream and ensure it was applied. My DC had fine motor skills difficulties detailed on the Statement. They could easily spend half the day outside in the 'outdoor classroom'. No fun if you are blond.

Interesting. I've burnt my nose loads of times over the years but never my ears.

Bertie It depends on your hair. Long hair tied back / very short hair both leave the ears free to burn ime. A bob, not usually a problem.

Our school has a similar policy.

I think it's safer for my child to have it applied properly by me before she goes to school so have no problem with it.

We use Ultrasun which doesn't seem to upset her eczema and lasts all day.

I read recently that 13,000 people were diagnosed with skin cancer in the UK in the last year.

That sounds like a pretty serious statistic to me.

At DD's nursery the parents are asked to pay a nominal amount and they buy the suncream in. I assume if a child was allergic they could supply their own. There are around 50 DC in her year group (though not all at the same time) and if they can't manage it, couldn't a school?

I think it's ridiculous.

Send the kids in with sunscreen if you want them to reapply it, and teach them how to do it themselves. If they're messing around with it, that's a separate disciplinary issue, surely?!

Exposure while young does greatly increase the risk of developing skin cancer later, yes. I'd be pissed off if I was a parent in the UK.

I don't know what I think about sun cream in schools.

A big part of me feels like it is unnecessary, and argues that we never wore sun cream at school and I don't recall burning or tanning. I don't remember wearing hats either.

I feel like it would possibly be necessary if they were spending all day in the sun, but surely most children are in and out of the playground in 20 minute bursts, and even then in and out of shade, though I accept that depends on the playground and the child.

Our school seems to be telling the kids they need sun cream on every day. Which seems total overkill to me and it's a total pain to do in the morning. They are also encouraging the kids to bring cream in, which means I need to buy two bottles of the stuff if I want to use it in the day at home, and it's expensive. Left to our own devices we apply sun cream maybe ten times a year, there is no way we would get through more than one bottle.

I feel the school is drumming it in to the kids in place of good sun sense, and that is worrying.

My DD's school has no sun cream policy. She is very fair skinned and it's not ideal. I find the Soltan 8 hour cream is good. I don't put it on unless forecast is sunny. I find it lasts to after school tennis too, especially as that is in somewhat less sunny part of day. Only prob is if it is sunny against forecast at lunchtime. For those times she really could do with her own tube of sun cream...

Problem is you can burn just as effectively when it is cloudy!

IdaClair I think it really depends on your skin. I can tell when mine have caught the sun, even with suncream on. We are fair skinned, blond hair. Have to wear a hat too, in strong sun, otherwise parting can go red and flaky.

I too did not wear suncream everyday in the 70s. I can remember burning several times. I also have suffered from sunstroke. Not at school though. However we ate our lunch in the classrooms and didn't do much of our work outside. No 'outdoor classrooms' in those days.

I don't know why the school cannot at least allow sticks or roll ons which are less messy.

Bertie - my husband burns just by looking at the sun and the ears are very sensible. DD gets suncream applied on her ears as the hair needs to be tied back and she now insists on a baseball cap instead of a floppy hat which would have covered a lot more.

The UK sun is a lot more dangerous now than it used to be - due to the damage done to the Ozone Layer and to climate change. It needs to be taken seriously.
I fought with our primary school and they finally brought in a watered down skin cancer prevention policy, including recommending that children bring in and apply sun cream and wear sun hats. There is a lot of government approved guidance for schools on the Web, about not going out in the middle of the day (eg should reduce lunchtime breaks), covering up, seeking shade, wearing sun cream. You should search this out (think it is published by Cancer Research UK) and make a fuss.
I'm sure the 8 hour cream is even more stuffed with bad stuff than the rest. And it is perfectly ok for teachers to apply suncream. If they're worried about it they can get a permission slip from the parent. Nurseries apply cream on all their children every day.

Fair skinned with mousey brown hair family here, yes fairly sensitive to the sun.

More sensitive than most actually, though in other ways.

Sun sense rarely involves sun cream for us. It involves being aware of sun, the sun's rays and cloud cover, staying out of the sun especially at peak times, then staying in shade, then wearing long sleeves and legs and hats and enclosed footwear, then wearing sun cream in an effective way - pretty much in that order.

Vast, vast majority of days we do not get to needing the sun cream bit, and I worry that the school is basically teaching the kids that a slap of cream applied by a 7 year old legging it out to play will protect from the sun indefinitely.

I have 2 DC at different schools, I'd been covering them in suncream before school as that was what year 5 DS' school have always said to do, so I assumed it was the same in all schools and bought a bottle of 8 hour stuff for them to share.

I got a letter home from reception DDs school telling me off because she didn't have a bottle of suncream in school, the teacher stores them under her desk and hands them out before lunch, they are supervised while they put cream on in the classroom, they have a partner so they can help each other with backs of legs/ears/faces and then they put the bottle back in the box. DD's never mentioned children being silly with it (and she would have told me, she likes to tell me if other people have been naughty)

I prefer DDs school's way, the 8 hour stuff is expensive and you have to try and guess what the weather will be like later where as i can buy DD whatever suncream is on offer and know if it suddenly gets sunny there is suncream at school for her.

idaclair, what you said.

Our school has not made any requests re suncream. I don't put it on them, they're fair, they haven't burnt.