Taylor Hill, Cawthorne
Barnsley, South Yorkshire
S75 4HB
Cawthorne Children’s Centre
Sun Protection Policy and Procedure
This policy is written in line with the Sun Smart guidance for nursery and schools produced by Cancer Research.
In this policy note the term ‘sunscreen’ covers sun creams, sun protection lotions and sun blocks, whether applied as a cream, lotion, spray-on liquid or from a stick. It does not apply to after sun skincare products.
At Cawthorne Children’s Centre it is our policy to promote sun safety amongst the children, families and staff within our centre. We want them to enjoy the sun safely. The dangers of over exposure to direct sunlight particularly for children is well understood and every care is taken to ensure that children who attend our centre are not over exposed at any one time.
Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in the UK and most of these skin cancers are caused by UV radiation fromthe sun. If we protect ourselves from the sun then we can reduce our risk. This is particularly important for childrenand young people whose skin is more delicate and easily damaged.Sunburn in childhood can double your risk of skin cancer. You will not see the damage immediately because skincancer can take years to develop. But children who are exposed to the sun now are storing up problems for thefuture.
We want to ensure that all staff and parents are aware of the importance of protecting children from the sun and the ways overexposure can be prevented. We will do this in the following ways:
Sharing information with children
- Staff will work with children to make them aware of how to be safe in the sun, this will include: discussions, looking at photographs, pictures and stories that promote sun safety, showing children how and where to apply sunscreen, modelling good practice to children through staff wearing hats and sunscreen.
- Staff will continuously reinforce and remind children of the need for wearing hats, drinking water and ensure that they spend time in a shaded area throughout the time spent outdoors.
Sharing information with parents
- During the registration process parents are told about our policy and given appropriate guidance on sun protection and asked to provide children’s sunscreen and hats during their time at the centre in the warmer months.
- We will ask parents to clearly label their child’s sunscreen to prevent children having cream applied that they may have an adverse reaction to.
- Parents are asked to sign a form that gives us permission to provide and apply sunscreen in the event that parents cannot or forget to provide an appropriate sunscreen. If parents have not signed this permission form then will seek their permission i.e. by ringing them, prior to applying any suncream that has not been provided by them i.e. the centres own.
- Parents are asked to inform us of any allergies including known sunscreen allergies.
- Parents will be given this policy during the month of April and once again further into the summer.
Health and Safety
- Sunscreen will be clearly labelled with children’s names and all creams will be kept in each room out of the reach of children.
- Any cream that we provide will be checked for its expiry date and only used if in date.
- Children will be provided with fresh drinking water at all times both in and outdoors.
Clothing
- Parents will be asked to provide a wide brimmed sun hat for their child.
- We will have a spare collection of hats in the event that parents do not provide hats.
Shade
- We will ensure that during hot days that children are not over exposed to the sun.
- We will move toys and equipment into a shaded area in the garden i.e. the sensory garden.
- During the hottest times of the day (11-3) we will limit the times spend outside to short periods of time and either take children into a shaded area or indoors.
We also recommend that:
- The sunscreen for children is minimum factor 25 and that where possible wide spectrum sun cream (protecting against ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB) should be used on any area of the skin that is unavoidably exposed to strong sunlight.
- In strong sunlight the time children are exposed to the sun will be limited to well within the maximum recommended exposure for that day’s temperature.
Revised by Sarah Baker, May 2016
Version 7