sun cream at school

[Hther]

at nursery, the booklet said please apply suncream before you leave and send hat and cream and if you don't send cream please be aware we will apply some of our high factor cream before they play outside. another nursery "moaned" at parents who didn't send cream or hats.

Now, I am worried about ingredients in a lot of the creams but have been sending some cream every day, told teacher it was in her bag and found out yesterday from DD that its not being put in, yet every day she has played outside. I spoke to school today about it and said I'm sure my DD got it wrong but they said no they have not been using it, they have to have it in writing from the parents if they want it to be used, as some contain nuts and some children are allergic. I was absoltely horrified, especially as I had not been told before.

Is this normal in schools?

No-one's said that schools ban suncream!

I do wonder why everyone seems to think that suncream is such a 'lifesaver'? After all, it's made of lots of horrid chemicals. Here's an interesting link to an article in The Ecologist:

www.theecologist.org/pages/archive_detail.asp?content_id=419

Interesting article trickerg.
I (the same person that described it as a "lifesaver") did actually say that ds was originally told by his teachers that he was not allowed to bring it to school.
I believe a few posters on this thread have been told the same thing.

I don't understand why the schools have different policies to nurseries. The nurseries apply it if they have permission (though I've always thought it more negligent NOT to apply sunscreen than to do so). I think the real reason is that they simply don't have the time - they have a ratio of 1 adult to 30 kids rather than 1 adult to 8 kids. But once the kids are old enough to put it on themselves they should have it sent to school with them (and NOT swap!).

You can put it on in the morning (I do) but it's not a great solution - even with the ones that claim to last all day although there is probably some residual protection by the end of the day. Hat is best bet I think.

Not all sunscreens have horrible chemicals - try Liz Earle, Lavera, Green People to name but a few - you need to look for physical sunscreens with zinc or titanium oxide (preferably not nano-particles).

I think the safety of the ingredients has to be considered - some children come in PLASTERED with suncream, and their skins are absorbing the chemicals throughout the day. I've just looked at the price of the Liz Earle products, and nearly had a cardiac arrest!! I guess not many parents would be buying them for their children to wear nearly everyday at school. I don't know, but I imagine that the cheaper suncreams are those with most noxious chemicals?? Maybe some more fuss needs to be made about it??

We apply and provide suncream unless parents expressly forbid it. The alternative is our dinner ladies insisting children wear sweatshirts on the hottest of days ... suncream seems preferable to heatstroke

Smiling as I read this thread started on Wednesday in view of weather today. I think the problem with school policy on suncream is the same as that for heavy snowfall - so rarely need that it's inadequately formulated!!