Sunburnt child

[brownjumper]

My dd came home today badly burnt on her face as she had two hours of PE in the hot sun this afternoon.
I didn't send her in with suncream and suncream was never discussed between the staff and the kids, my dd says. It's is secondary, she is 12.
Should the school have used common sense and checked if the kids had suncream or hats on. My dd is very fair with red hair so burns easily. They were outside in the afternoon in this hot sun for 2 hours.

isn't it up to the parents to deal with suncream?

No, she's 12.

If she's fair or burbs easily you/her should make sure she has sun cream. She could also have asked a friend for some.

It's not hard to put a roll on sunscreen in her bag.

Once they move to secondary, they have to be responsible for more of this stuff.

I agree that they should be wearing hats. My dd’s School doesn’t let they wear at all that’s not in the uniform. So no hats.

Stuff like this is hard at secondary. They should be putting sunscreen on before they leave in the mornings and taking some ifbthey know they have sport but did he know he was going to have two hours of PE that day or was it unexpected?

Are you serious?

Should not staff ask if they have suncream on? It's not normal weather is it?

Should not staff ask if they have suncream on?

Not in secondary school, don't be ridiculous.

It's not normal weather is it?

Sun is totally normal weather for the UK in June.

I always put sun cream on DD in the summer. It's not a surprise that the weather's hot. It been on the news etc. You should have got her to put some on.

It's literally midsummer. The sun is at its strongest mid June to mid July.

If your child has sun based issues (I do too!) Then you need to sort it.

My kids are younger and take roll on sunscreen. DH takes them to school. More than once he's forgotten to do suncream this week and the kids just applied their own at breakfast club. They're primary.

Parent your child FFS, she is 12, send her with hat and sun cream and tell her to put them on.

My son is 2 and they put his suncream on at nursery, I'm expecting to teach him to do it himself at some point over the next 10 years

Why didn’t you ensure she had suncream on before school. It was forecast to be very hot today.

Sorry but in secondary school you should be sending your child in with suncream and they should be responsible for applying it. Not the teacher's responsibility at 12

She has a timetable and according to that she knew she was in gym class. As it has been exceptionally hot the last few days I would expect you as a parent to tell her to put sunscreen on before she leaves the house and to carry some to top up as it would be a reasonable assumption that gym class would take place outside in the good weather. Teachers are dealing with a class full of pupils and doing their job which is teaching your children, they cannot be expected to be responsible for providing sunscreen on hot days.

Even if they did ask, you didn't send her in with any to apply .

Sorry OP but this ones on you 😫😫😫

It wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the teacher to remind children to apply suncream at the beginning of the PE lesson (when they were getting changed).

But secondary school students have timetables, they know when they're doing PE and have to take in their PE kit, so they should also be taking sun cream to school and know they will have to apply it.

Of course parents might need to prompt/remind.

But it's certainly not the teacher's responsibility, first and foremost it's the parent's responsibility to ensure their child takes sun cream and knows they need to use it.

At secondary kids should know about sunscreen. Yes it's hot but it's no stronger than any other June sunny day

I look at the forecast and make my kids put suncream on every day at this time of year now the sunshine is actually out and the rain has passed. Even on non PE days as kids will be outside at lunch break. I'm struggling to comprehend why the OP thinks that the sun protection for their 12 year old child is the school's responsibility just because it is a school day? Should the school have used common sense? No, OP, take responsibility, and use your common sense, especially when you say your DD burns easily. With her skin tone she should be using sun protection every day throughout the summer, whether school says so or not.

Both mine came home with too much sun from their sports' day yesterday. I read them both the riot act as they both know better as they spend a lot of time outside doing a sport, and both possess oodles of suncream, hats and sunglasess. Not the schools' fault, theirs!

They did both try to mitigate once they realised they were outside for the long haul: one stood in shade as much as possible, and one borrowed suncream from a friend, but it wasn't enough.

I'm still quite cross at both of them.

I think it is reasonable to expect staff to remind pupils to put on sunscreen.

Our secondary school has, for example, sent an email to remind parents to supply it, and reminding them that sunhats are permitted in outdoors PE lessons and water bottles are recommended on PE days

It is however up to a secondary pupil to actually make best use of those supplies. It is pretty straightforward to apply sunscreen as part of getting changed for PE - and I'd bet good money that many of the pupils did exactly that, irrespective of whether teachers reminded or not.

We remind students when it's sports day or a trip to bring some, but don't check they've put it on.

For a normal PE lesson students sort themselves out, but then our lessons are 1 hour not 2.

At secondary students are responsible for getting themselves sorted ultimately. It's June. If you know your child burns then send them sun cream. It's not really school's job.

I didn't send her in with suncream

Another ‘parent blames school for parenting fail’ thread.

Should not staff ask if they have suncream on? It's not normal weather is it?

You hadn’t sent any with her (although at 12 this should be her responsibility to take it.) was this a one off mistake or do you never send it with her?

I do think schools should check, or give a reminder, we are woefully inadequate at protecting kids from the sun. DD always has sun cream in her bag as soon as they head back after Easter term. She knows when she needs to put it on. She’s ten. When she said last week “hang on, I need to put sun cream on” her teacher said “oh yes, good idea, remember to put suncream on, everyone.” It shouldn’t take a ten year old to remind a teacher of this.

I think it depends where you are in the country OP?
If you live in the north, say fort William or above, it’s probably right that your child hasn’t been drilled since two to wear sunscreen. I’m from Glasgow and any hot sunny weather still takes me a few days to adjust to not taking a coat out with me. I lather the children in factor 50 because I was allowed to burn regularly as a child.
If you live in the south, like Kent the YABU. It gets hot there, your children should be old enough at 12 to not need a teacher mothering them.