My son is burnt, I am fuming, is the school in the wrong?

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

Ds is 4 and in reception today was his sport day. We weren't permitted to watch due to numbers.

He had suncream applied this am (factor 50), but we have been asked not to sendccream into school.

He has come home today with severe sunburn large angry red raised patches all the way up his legs and forearms.

His hat was lost so he prob wasn't wearing that either.

I am very with the school especially as if we had been there I could have applied more suncream!

Am I overeacting?

Is it inappropriate touching they are worried about or an invasion of a child's rights ( a la nit nurse)

I send DD1 to school covered in Factor 40 "all day" suncream each day.

But I am about a few things here;

1, you weren't allowed to watch his sports day, you weren't allowed??? What????

2, they didn't put his suncream on for him or make sure he was wearing a hat.

If they are not going to let you be there to put his suncream on or make sure he is wearing a hat, they are in loco parentis (or what ever it's called) and should do it for you/him.

I'd be bloody fucking livid if it was my child.

I get so angry when people caring for children say they have to work with ridiculous policies which don't allow them to actually care for children. I would complain about any school that didn't look after my children by protecting their skin or hug them when upset.

I would be very seriously concerned around the judgement of the head teacher around firstly not allowing parents to attend, not allowing sunscreen and allowing a child to be harmed in this way.
Take photographs and consider going to to the Chair of the Governors.

Really cross at the sheer arrogance shown by the school and the lack of care for the children. Poor little chap.

'I get so angry when people caring for children say they have to work with ridiculous policies which don't allow them to actually care for children'

They do it all the time wahwah-you would be very stupid to ignore it just because you wanted to!
I would be prepared to fight and possibly lose my job over the hug issue, because I feel very strongly about it-I am not going to do it over sun screen. The school tell me not to apply it and I don't apply it, they tell me not to put a sticking plaster on a DC and I don't. Even a young DC can put some cream on,if the parent shows them.
Ridiculous policies have come about through parents-not teachers. Schools play it safe-and I don't blame them.

Perhaps Piscesmoon you should print off the official guidance from the Health and Safety Commission
www.hse.gov.uk/myth/jun08.htm

Myth: Adults can't put plasters on children's cuts

The reality

We?ve often heard of teachers, volunteers and carers being told to ask parents for permission, or even requiring parents to drive over and put the plaster on themselves. This persistent myth causes a lot of unnecessary hassle and worry.

There is no rule that says a responsible adult can?t put a plaster on a child's minor cut. Some children do have an allergy to normal plasters. If you know a child is allergic you can use the Hypo-allergenic type of plaster. The important thing is to clean and cover the cut to stop it getting infected.

There is one about sun cream but I can't find it before school...

i started a thread a while back about this, my daughter had just started school and i ahd dropped her off forgotten to say she had cream in her bag so i rang to say where the cream was and they said we don't apply suncream to children from reception up, we encourage them to apply it themselves. I didn't feel my daughter would apply it well but they said they give more help if necessary. Then on two occasions DD said they weren't putting any on her and weren't giving her sunhat to put on so i rang them and saidI know you probably are and my DD has this wrong but she says she isn't having suncream on at school.

They replied "DD is right, unless you have put it in writing, they don't. we are not allowed to as some creams contain nuts and some children are allergic to nuts". Well, if she was allergic i wouldn't send it would I?! I put it in writing and teacher then said they are putting it on.

anyway, My other daughter went to an open thing at her new school as she is starting reception in september and i asked about suncream then. we are not allowed to apply it, I said but if i send some you will make sure she puts it on? They said "No, its classed as medicine"! Never heard that one before, not sure iwill send her now!

Ok-30 kids 2 adults 30 minute outdoor session-each adult applies suncream to 15 kids which would take 8 minutes so about 20 mins left of lesson-kids not being attended to have to hang around doing nothing-alternative 30 kids each with roll on sun screen supervised by 2 adults-maximum time 2 minutes including instructions.In addition this avoids the adults hands going from child to child rubbing in ss and passing on/picking up dear knows what.Come on ladies they are teachers-let them teach-please.

pranma the OP was not allowed to send suncream into school with her DC. The children could not apply their own suncream because they were not allowed to take it to school and though she had put cream on him in the morning, her DS got sunburnt.

There is more to it for the teachers than just being responsible for teaching the lessons - they are in loco parentis.

mrz-I supply teach so it isn't a big issue for me. Schools tell me not to apply suncream so I don't. If I thought it was a big issue I would print things out-those that bring it can apply it themselves. Even in the hottest weather most don't bring it anyway. They tend to keep in the shade as much as possible.

It is interesting that this thread became a teacher vs parents debate on whether teachers should be applying suncream or not.

I don't feel that teachers should be applying cream the children should be encouraged to do that for themselves. But currently the school is requesting that no sun cream is sent in with the children. There are shady areas outside and the teacher assured me that the children are encouraged to stay in the shade as much as possible. So I am happier about the situation.

But ds was overexposed, and this should not have happened so some adjustments need to made at the school to help teach the children how toook after themselves in the hot weather and reinforce the messages they get from home. this is not difficult and I am confident most schools get it right most of the time.

'all day' sun screen is not the solution to all issues.

I already use good quality high factor all day sun block. But special sporting events which involve changing clothes sweating etc. Still require a degree of sensible sun avoidance and plenty of time in the shade when it is the hottest part of the day; or some children will get burned.

The 'no touching' guidelines I thought were originally introduced by unions ti protect their staff from allegations

As a matter of interest it might be useful to know what countries like australia do - more used to us then this hot weather and their schools must have strict skin care policies?

I'm afraid that when I've worked with children I've always 'broken the rules' on this one. You're not touching them anywhere that should worry anyone, usually it's simply getting it out of the tube which most young ones find tricky and I've always helped put cream on in full view of other adults and children.

Ask for an accident report to be filled in as the child has been injured taking part in a school activity. This is on record and might make them a bit more twitchy and less likely to fob you off.

If you read the whole thread prettyfly1, people tell us how they cope in Australia.

Another aspect of the problem that has been overlooked is the children with nut allergies. Lots of different suncreams are made with / contain nut oils, and of course it you have traces of one suncream on your hands when putting a different brand onto a different child and it brings out an allergic reaction... Unfortunately we live in such a litigious society that I fear it really has come back to bite us. I know when I worked as a council play worker we were not allowed to administer sunscream and this was one of the reasons cited. (The if they got sued they were mostly worried about).

My son returned home from a school trip ( 6 day) with 2nd degree burns to both shoulders, arms and back of neck. He is 11 yrs old and autistic (aspergers) sodoesnt alays follow instructions well. He was on an ativity holidayand went sailing for the day. He did nt apply suncream ad was told to take his t-shirt off to put on a wetsuit (which was sleeveless). He was out on the watr for 6 hours in 80 degrees heat. He is blonde and very fair skinned. In the evenin he told one his teachers he was burnt an they told him to splash cold water on his arms. My god, how stupid was that. They didn't even check him properly. He suffered all day the next day and came home the following day. I dread to think how much pain he was in. When I collected him from the coach I could see he wasn't right. The teacher said he has a little sunburn. When we got home I looked and he was so burnt I wanted to cry. His shoulders were on fire and this was 2 days later. Poor litle thing must have ben in so much pain. I treated his sunburn with the advice of a pharmacist,he screamed in pain that evening when I applied the cream, not realising quite how bad it actually was. I took him to A and E later that week as it was looking so bad and I was worried. The doctor said if he had seen him within 48 hours of the sunburn he would have referred him for infection prevention. He said he rarely saw sunburn so severe on a child and could not believe he had received no treatment. I was mortified. I sent a email to school about this and got a very defensive reply back from the teachers who went on the trip blaming my son. They admitted that he had mentione the sunburn but that they did not realise how bad it was because it hadn't blistered. Well it wouldnt that early on would it................I wrote to the centre and got a letter from the Manager who was very upset about it and carried out a full investigation. They have changed a lot of their policies because of this incident. However, the school are still very defensive. I went into see the headmaster and he apologised and said they would make sure it never happened again. Since then I decided to drop it but then I went into school the other day and one of the teachers involved came up to me and started talking aout it. It got a little heated and she again blamed my son and said he was told to put a sleeved t-shirt on. My son is adamant he was not but if he was told to remove it for a wetsuit he would have done. He is quite literal because of his aspergers. I feel that the school and the centre are equally to blame as there was a qualified instructor there as well that day from the centre. My son tells me the activity was not stpped for suncream application at all. I am considering taking this further as the doctor told me that my sons chances of skin cancer in later life have increased 10 fold by this incident as his skin was so badly damaged. I dont know what to do. I feel upset that te school have not even apologised, or particularly the teachers who were involved. My son was injured and they didn't care for him. He could have been so ill. He has been unwell since he returned. First a cold, now a chest infection. Maybe nothing to do with the sunburn but it makes me sooooo cross. I am sooooo angry!!! I haveprotected his skin since te day he was born and he ends up like this in someone elses care. I beleive that teachers should watch all children apply their suncream, especially when they are out on water etc in hot weather. For gods sake, I betthey would make their own children appply it. Children do not realise the consequences of not applying suncream. I am soooooo angry!!

I am not condoning the school putting your child in a posistion to burn so badly. but many schools do not allow for staff to apply suncream, I know ours doesn't. I always use the Once suncream which lasts for 6 hours so no one has to worry aboutmy daughter and I am confident that she will be ok out in the sun. Hope your little one healed quickly

My DD's school has just banned sun cream. Last year my DD had a very bad reaction to the sun and her face swelled up and burnt, after I had applied some new sun cream and she had spent time out in the hot sun.(I tried the same cream and felt my face was starting to burn after 10 minutes in the sun).
This year the school had sports day in the afternoon, did not provide shade for the children, no contact was allowed by the parents, to allow sun cream to be applied and they were sent out with whatever water they had left in their water bottles. The school has practically no shade where the children are allowed to play and have actually been told to move when they try sitting in the shade.
I have taught my child to apply her own sun cream and the importance of wearing a hat, but the school/ head teacher are refusing to support us with this. I apply factor 50 in the morning (about 07:30am just before I drop her at the childminder, before I go to work) The school says it should provide protection throughout the day.
At the end of the day they are not ensuring that my child is safe from the sun, by sending her out to play at the hottest part of the day and effectively no shade to sit in and not reapplying the sun cream. They are not allowed to stay indoors either. (I helped out in her class last year, just after DD's reaction and her skin was still sensitive, but was not allowed to keep her indoors with me out of the sun).
I will be sending sun cream in again, if UV index is 5 or 6, for my DD to apply herself.
Skin cancer is on the rise in this country and young kids should be taught from a young age to be safe in the sun. BOO to schools who fail to support this important health subject - we will all be paying more through taxes to fund NHS treatments for skin cancer not to mention individuals having to cope with effects of the cancer.
The school has failed to protect your child if they allow them to get burnt, be it by sun or hot water.
Sorry it is long....

We had a similar issue regarding my DS. We actually moved schools due the to schools lack of support regarding sun care.

The school have a duty of care towards your child, they would not allow your child to wander into the school kitchen and play with the hob or kettle but seem to consider it acceptable to allow being burnt by the sun.

My DS's new school is fantastic and allow the children to apply their own cream (as well I what i put on in the morning) and they provide canopies and sun umbrellas in the playground.

Good luck with your very important fight for your child's health and safety.

DS#1 came home with subburn on his back and shoulders from a residential trip. He had factor 30 suncream and apparently he used it. I suspect that he didn't or not enough and not often enough. He also got swept off his feet by the rip tide but one of the teachers hauled him out.

Do I blame the school? No. I blame DS for being a twat. He is 12. He knows how to behave and look after himself.

If it's of any interest, my ds's school actually handed out sunscreen as prizes at an event last year (he'd have been Y2). So unless his school are breaking the rules (which wouldn't surprise me, but in the best possible way) then it could be that the medicine excuse is not good enough.

If there's a child with a nut allergy then they should go to the trouble of issuing a list of approved, nut-free suncreams - after all kids are forever leaning over each other and so on so I imagine it could be a concern. Having said that, who's to say that any creas applied before they arrive at school are nut-free?!??

I suspect some of the problem regarding suncream is down to ignorance. A lot of people simply do not understand quite how quickly we burners can frazzle. It isn't about being "fair" - plenty of fair-skinned people have at least some natural protection. But the blue-eyed fair ones among us are stuffed!

PS I appreciate that the OP's issue isn't with teachers applying sunblock but about bringing it in the the first place. but this rubbish about teachers not being able to touch children makes me so angry - because it's just not true! I was pleased to see that someone else posted a link to the HSA website. I also understand the time issue - but it would only take five minutes to oversee a class applying it themselves and that would be time well spent.