Sun Smart

[Guest]

Cancer rsearch has launched a new site

 

www.sunsmart.org.uk

 

you can order resources and get a sample sun protection policy for all areas, preschool right up to secondary

 

looks good

[Beau]

Thanks cybertwin, will check that out later. I am always banging on about sun screen (even up here in Scotland where we rarely see the sun!! ) so will be interested to see what this site has to offer.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info, will have a look at it later.

Cheers

Jax

[Guest]

Thanks for posting that CB

 

Loads of info and help there!

 

Bye for now

 

Janice

[Guest]

p.s I have changed my avatar back as Ofsted rang and it's not 'til July ..... so I can relax a bit 'til then!!!!!! (well maybe not, but we'll see!!!!!)

 

Janice

[Guest]

good to hear janice, am still waiting for my phone call, hopefully they will delay for a year or so.................

[hali]

We had the leaflets through the other day.

Did you know also as practisioners we are not supposed to apply suncream to the children????

[Guest]

yes, we ask the paretns to do it before they bring the children,then go outside before 11am

[Beau]

There was a big fuss about this when the new guidelines came out in our area. After a great deal of deliberation new guidelines were issued which said we could apply sun cream providing we had permission from parents. Obviously this may vary from area to area but I think we should all push to get some common sense into this one. This is a major issue and children shouldn't be allowed to suffer because of stupid beaurocracy. (Mmm - don't know how to spell beaurocracy??? doesn't look right - never mind!!)

[Guest]

we did think of doing this, but we are a preschool with 40 a day splitover 2 rooms, and decided that applying it to 40 children would waste a lot of time!!

therefore we ask parents to apply it before arriving, provide shade and go outside before 10am on the few sunny days that we have!!!!

[Beau]

Not meaning to be negative but how do you know if the children have sun screen? And what do you do if one doesn't? Like I say it's not a big problem for me here - we're more likely to need macs than sun screen , but when I lived down in East Sussex it got scorching hot from really early some days.

[Guest]

Hi

 

Personally. I think it's the parents job to sort out sun protection for their child. As a reception class teacher I have enough to consider without the added worry of whether a child is wearing sunscreen or not. If I had to apply sunscreen to twenty children eveyday during the summer months we not get anything else done. However, I do make sure that those who have hats wear them, I try to look for the less sunny area to set up our outdoor activities if possible, and I suggest to some children that they should spend only short amounts of time outside. I am also a parent of two young school children and during the summer I make sure they have on SPF60 sunscreen and wear their SPF60 legionnaries hats. I have never thought of this as anyone elses responibility but mine as their mum. At my children's school the teachers aren't allowed to put on sunscreen anyway. Maybe a short note to parents/carers might be worth considering. Maybe a PSHE lesson might be in order and then the children can go home and tell their parents about it.

 

mousebat

[hali]

Quite agree Mousebat

 

we have enough to worry about................

[Guest]

wedo the same as mousebat, it is the paretns responsibilityt, although they are not allowed out without a hat on.

[Guest]

Funnily enough we received a letter and poster this morning about the web site etc.

Linda

[Guest]

I understand Mousebat's point, but as sunscreen should be reapplied every 1 1/2 to 2 hours in most schools another application would be needed befor lunch. I find it a concern as a parent as at my children's school the children play out from 12.30 to 1.25 with very little shade. I'm not sure what the answer is as thirty parents arriving to reapply sunscreen would not be practical!

[Guest]

hi Guys

 

As a teacher and a parent, I feel very strongly about this sun cream issue. I have parental permission to put it on the children I teach and I wish that my daughter's school would do the same because they have little shade in the playground and are out playing during the hottest part of the day...and her teacher and NTA are prepared to do it, infact find it easier than 30 four year olds trying to put it on. Of course I apply her sun cream before she goes to school and a sun hat, but that won't last through the lunch time even at factor 60. Yes it is my responsibility, but as a child I suffered so much through sun burn that I am overly cautious perhaps.

 

My daughter's teacher made the point that she is 'In loco paretis' and would not mind applying sun cream.

 

I wonder what they do in Australia???

[Beau]

Hi Wheel,

Nice to see you making your first post. This is an issue I feel quite strongly about too. I haven't got an easy answer but feel that saying it is the parents responsibility in the morning is clearly not adequate, especially for children attending for longer than a couple of hours. Yes Kate...good point, what do they do in Australia?? I'm sure they have a really good system there.

[Guest]

My children went all day at school with SPF 60 without getting burnt last summer. It's not as if they're in the sun all day from nine until 3. As a teacher I don't want the responsibility of putting suncream on other people's children. I don't want to be accused of causing a child to burn from improper skin coverage of cream especially if you have twenty plus children to take care of. Why not teach children to put on their own suncream and have some sun sense knowledge durng the school day. I do that with my own young boys and they've never been burnt yet. Mind you which is worse harmful rays of the sun or the vast array of possible cancer causing chemicals we rub on our children's skin?

In Australia the children must wear SPF 60 + sunblock and legionnaires hats and clothes at school and which is why I buy all my children's swimmwear and hats over the internet from Australia.

 

mousebat

[Beau]

Ok everyone, I know I'm really sad (hubby isn't home till 10.30 ) but as to the burning question ( )as to what they do in Australia I found this link.

 

http://www.decs.act.gov.au/policies/pdf/sunpro.pdf

 

Don't all rush at once!!!

[Guest]

Hi all,

 

I have been through this as both parent and practitioner.

 

I have always applied sunscreens liberally to my children, and I taught them to do it themselves from an early age. I also made a point of not sending them out in skimpy clothes if I was not with them. From the age of 4, or so, I taught them that every time they went outside, in fine weather, they needed to apply the sunblock to all their bare skin. And it worked - they are now indoctrinated.

 

At the pre-school (I am only an underling), I make sure that the spare clothes include a huge stock of loose, cotton fabric, overshirts. I make sure that all the littlies in sun-tops, vest-tops, wear one of these when they go out. Also, years ago, when I was committee, we bought a stock of playschool sunhats. No-one can go out without one. It works.

 

Diane.

[Guest]

Hi Diane

 

Well put - indoctrination is the key! Teach them sunsense from an early age. Your children are lucky to have someone who cares about them like you do.

 

mousebat

[Guest]

mousebat

which internet site do you use to buy your children's clothes? It sounds like a good idea

 

Kate

[Guest]

Hi Kate

 

www.cwear.com.au/

 

They seemed to have a good range, and it didn't take an age to deliever.

Hope it's of some use.

 

mousebat

[Sue R]

Hey, Carol,

 

Thanks for that link - my husband's working late this evening, so every little helps . Really interesting - we should lobby for something like that over here, we may not get the weather that often, but when we do, we seem to lose our sense and go for frazzle like lemmings!

 

And, you may not believe this, but the two holidays we've had in your spectacular neck of the woods were scorching!!!!!!! Honest injun!

 

Sue

[Guest]

Thanks Beau for great website,

having lived in Perth Western Australia when i was little, the school's policy was for all children to have a hat which was part of the school uniform that also covered the neck no others would do , and to be covered in suncream by parent......... but we also applied ourselves, this gave us the understanding of why it was very important to do so to look after ourself in the sun, and yes many of us thought of being soooooo grown up when doing so, our creams where always kept in our bags.

[Guest]

Just thought I would let everybody know of a company that sells safari hats, the ones with the flap.

I was fed up of asking parents to send in hats with their children and decided to buy some to keep in pre-school. They are £1.50 each, and no VAT. So 35 hats cost me £52.50. This is without a logo.

The firm is

Goodies Ltd

Unit 3

Pottinger Street

Ashton-under-Lyne

OL7 0PW

Tel: 0161 344 6091

sales@goodies.co.uk

www.goodies.co.uk

 

They do a great variety of colours and delivered in a couple of weeks.

Of course it's rained ever since I bought them!!!

Linda