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.

DC's school send home a general email at the start of each summer term which talks about parents ensuring their DC have sun cream, water, hats and hayfever tablets when the hot weather/hayfever season arrives.

I have to admit that I always dismiss this letter as "obvious" but clearly not.
OP says that her DC didn't have suncream with her, so the staff prompting her to put some on would not have helped.

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)

It wouldn't have made any difference. OP didn't give her child suncream anyway.

Well exactly

If your daughter has fair skin you can get tiny sunscreens and she can keep one in her bag permanently. My son has fair skin and on days he has PE I make sure to remind him to apply sunscreen (he is also 12).

My ds has come home sunburnt too. He is a bit older but it is 100% mine/his fault. I didn’t tell him where to find the suncream and he didn’t think to ask. Absolutely not school’s fault at all.
I guess staff could have reminded children to put it on but if they didn’t have any then what difference would it make?!

We aren’t in the UK but in summer the kids put on sunscreen each morning before leaving for school, they have sunscreen in their lunch bags and also in their sports bags. In winter they don’t apply it before school but it’s still in their lunch and sports bags in case it’s an oddly sunny day. I certainly wouldn’t expect a teacher to be responsible for any of this.

Teachers are responsible in daycare/preschool here (nursery equivalent) but not once kids start school, completely over to the kid at that point. When they are little the teachers give a reminder when going out for lunch and have a tub of it on their desk in case any child doesn’t have it but even that stops at Yr3, kids are meant to know the drill by that point.

OP Secondary School is very different from primary, kids are expected to be much more independent. So no I would not expect this from secondary at all. It is up to you and your DC to sort out things like this.

Is the sun more intense now? I was at secondary school throughout the 1950s. We used to spend every lunchtime during sunny weather lying on the school field trying to get brown.

There's this thing called global warming, don't know if you've heard of it?

That is not about global warning. UV rays were stronger in the past with the hole in the ozone layer.

Your the parent. Sun cream is your responsibility. End of.

Make her put the all day stuff on in the morning and she will be fine

It’s reasonable for the school to remind them to put on sunscreen. However since you hadn’t bothered sending any, that reminder wouldn’t have helped your DD!

She’s 12, she knew she had PE today, you’re her parent, you both knew that it’s june and sunny, it’s your responsibility to send sunscreen and her responsibility to apply it.

Not the schools problem. By secondary age they expect them to know when they have PE and if they burn easily and take their own precautions.

No ones to blame except you and your dd. Sorry.

Unbelievable
Is this how you raise your children OP?

Own it. Ffs. She’s 12. But even if younger - it is summer. You need to “discuss” in order to know whether to provide sun cream.

You should be embarrassed with yourself Op

Are you fair yourself OP? I am and I apply factor 50 on my face every day of the year and am hyper-aware of burning. I’m usually the catalyst for everyone around me deciding they ought to put some suncream (and a hat!) on as well. You need to teach your daughter to be super aware of the sun, and make sure she has it with her. Hats are essential, I’d be taking that up with the school if they aren’t allowed to wear one.

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

No.

The reason being that different skin burns in different amounts of sun. If your dd is a red head and that porcelain skin colour she should be using skin protection all year.

I burn easily, I have burned indoors, in the shade, through clothes on dull days.

As an adult the only time I have had sunburn is in the UK because I've not thought it was sunny - I have now learned.

But even if they had asked - what would your daughter have done given her parents failed to provide her with any sun cream