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Posted By Alan Asker
My five year old goes to a small Primary they have just sent a letter home saying they are not allowed to put sun cream on children.
Because of the fact that they may get accused of miss-appropriate behaviour........ have we not gone passed this and understand the danger's of burning etc. Is their a duty of care the school has to my child to apply cream. What do you lot think. What happens when he goes on a school trip and is in the sun all day long.
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Posted By D H
Alan - I totally sympathise - what a palaver we are in!
I suggest that you get a hold of the L As policy on this matter and see if there is some kind of disclaimer that you can sign.
It is a damning insight into the society that we live in. Some parents will not be happy at someone else applying the cream unfortunately.
Dave
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Posted By Edward Shyer
Alan,
Unfortunately if the school policy is not to apply cream on children then there would be no disclaimer to sign as they would be in breach of their policy.
However they do have a duty of care to the children to protect them from the effects of heat from the sun and the potential for burning from these effects.
Ask the school what measures they have in place to protect the children from these effects. Get as many parents as you can to ask the same question.
I would bet the school has taken the easy option as happens in these matters (bet they blame H&S)
A few simple actions can help in this scenario:
each child provides their own cream (prevents X contamination). If any child is allergic to or sensitive to sun screen then I am sure that a doctor can prescribe an alternative.
regards
Ted
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Posted By Pete48 Alan, the whole question of sun protection forms an integral part of school policies, or perhaps I should say I would expect it to be so. I have attached just one link that you may find helpful in giving you some background to this very real risk. Using sun cream is the PPE of this risk management area and as such should be a last resort. Even so, I would ask why would the teachers want to apply the cream anyway? Why not teach the kids to do it for themselves under supervision? I will not go into any further details on the how, why, where, liability stuff since the link gives you some examples in that area. I hope this information will enable you to respond to your school in a pro-active manner and avoid the "here we go again bonkers-conkers" stuff that adorns too many pages these days. http://info.cancerresear.../schoolpolicyguidelines/
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Posted By Jack
"Why not teach the kids to do it for themselves under supervision"
Yes indeed! Why shouldn't the parents (a) put it on before school and (b) teach them to put it on themselves.
I never ceased to be amazed at what parents expect of teachers. It's a wonder they get any time to teach.
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
I have to admit to some sympathy with the school on this following the trawling I got at the weekend. A seven year old, approx., ran into me at the supermarket and jumped on my foot. I politely said "careful" through gritted teeth. Immediately I was set upon verbally by the mother for talking to an unknown child - apparently I was obviously a pervert.
My only comfort was that a complaint to the store manager had the family ejected for failing to control their children. Smug or what :-)
Our society has deteriorated to this point, aided and abetted by some fanatical lobbying by pressure groups and popularity seeking governments. This generation is the one that will believe nobody can tell them what to do even if they are putting their own lives at risk. I thank my stars that I will be retired by then and the generation of practitioners below me will be struggling with the consequences.
Bob
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Posted By Mitch
At the primary school that my children attend(ed) they banned the filming of the school play. When I challenged the decision I was informed that 1 parent had complained! Unfortunately as pointed out we live in a society where the ill informed, ignorant and hysterical minority seem to be able to ruin it for the sensible majority and the fears are fanned by the gutter press.
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Posted By mrs.seed
At my daughters nursery they do apply sunsreen, but then they are all under 5 and I suppose there is not really an issue of impropriety as they also do nappies, potty training, bathing etc -it goes with the teritory.
I would expect a 5 year old to be able to put on their own sunscreen. my 2 year old puts on her echemza creams. You can get suncreams that last for 8 hours, so put them on before school to last for the day.
I suspect it is less a case of H&S and impropriety and more a case of time. Its only arms and legs that will need doing with a school uniform, but imagine how long it will take for one or two people to do a class of 30
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Posted By Crim
My daughter has a full time carer in the mainstream school she attends, we were asked for a letter to confirm the carer could apply sun block to our daughter. Email sent to school - no problem?
This one for Bob - I was recently criticised by a head teacher for talking to a child in the play ground, the child apparently was upset all day. The reason I spoke to him was to stop him from kicking, punching and kneeing my foster child out of sight of the playground teacher?
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Posted By Paul Leadbetter
Crim
I hope an apology was forthcoming when you explained the situation!
Paul
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Posted By Ian Bennett
If you do have concerns and a particularly vulnerable child, why not invest in the all day creams used abroad, I think its called SF20. It is quite expensive but works. The cream can be administered before school and will last until they get home.
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
Crim
Did you have a copy of your CRB check handy to prove that you are safe to be with children. It is a blessed minefield and one wonders at its effectiveness. The system only demonstrates that those who are caught can usually be identified on the database. Note the usually though, it is not 100% in its aims.
Unfortunately it also makes errors the other way and lists people with no convictions against those of "similar name" or who used to live at an address in question. They are proud to announce they get it right approx 93% of the time. The 7% is worrying and you will only find out when you have a check done for some reason.
Bob
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Posted By Renny Thomson
If the parents/guardians cannot teach/train their children to apply sun-screen, then they should use the all-day screens as I do.
Alternatively, they could refuse premission to allow their childern to go on trips, visits or outside, thus avoiding exposure to UV or any of the other experiences of life.
Why do they expect the schools to do everything? Perhaps they should just pack the kids off to boarding school so they can pretend they never existed and avoid any responsibility for them....
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Posted By Ron Hunter
Mitch, I have some sympathy with the School on the filming issue, having attended similar events where almost everyone was recording it, but no-one was actually watching it - ruining the event for all concerned.
Sensible approach is to have one recording, with copies available for a modest fee towards School funds/future productions.
Renny - rant over? I think you've been out in the Sun too long today! ;-)
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Posted By teaboy
a reason given by a local school for banning filming of plays was that several children in the cast were on the child protection register and their identities and whereabouts were protected by the courts. it was deemed unfair to exclude these kids from participating. no complaints were recorded at the school.
sorry, nothing to do with sun cream
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Posted By Eddie
Perhaps another way of looking at this is to suggest that primary school's and nurserys reduce the risk of sunburn by:
Ensuring that children keep their tops on when playing outside
Changing timetables so that outdoor activities take place in the morning rather than the afternoon
Children's nurserys could purchase those inexpensive plastic gazebos to provide shade
Encourage the wearing of hats with peaks
In any case quite why a teacher applying suncream to arms and legs is regarded as more likely to result in claims of impropriety than applying a plaster to the same areas is questionable.
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Posted By Matthew Riley
A view from the land down under.
For the children of this age group, the majority of schools have a " no hat no play policy" i.e if the student is out in the sun then they must wear a hat. From the H & S perspective this is another form of PPE, but without the complications of sunscreen ( application, possible skin reactions and the need to reapply). This seems to work well - my three children always made sure they had their hat when they went to school.
Matt R.
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Posted By Al..
When I was a lad we didn't have sun cream or hats, except of course school caps! We had to wear short trousers too! The sun still shone and it didn't do us any harm. I remember those long hot summers playing miles away from home and my parents had no idea where I was other than "out playing". I remember the one lad in the class who had bad skin had to stay inside at break time when the sun was shining in the summer. Ah, golden days. I am still here and there is nothing wrong with my skin or my rose tinted spectacles :)
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