Brentacc

Dear all,

As some of you may know we are currently enjoying a brief spell of decent weather here in blighty. My wife duly dropped our kids (aged 4 & 5) at school yesterday and, having put a small bottle of suncream in thier bags, asked the teacher if she would mind applying some to thier face and necks before they played out at lunchtime. The teacher told her that would be impossible as they couldnt leave themselves open to accusations of child abuse!?

My question is does Australia suffer from the same kind of ludicrous paranoia and fear of being sued? Has the dreaded health and safety reared its head like it has here banning anything remotely fun if there is even the slightest risk of someone getting injured??

Would love to hear your examples good and bad, best regards,

Russell.

bcworld

The short answer, yes.

Schools will request that parents apply sunscreen to kids prior to coming to school & that kids are taught how to apply their own.....teachers will not generally do this.

yanH

When my little one was in preschool in Sydney the teachers happilly applied sunscreen, although they used a tissue to apply it on each child, rather than touching their skin directly. In his school now there is a big tub of sunscreen in each classroom which the children are encouraged to apply themselves. I would imagine though that if a kindy child was struggling the teacher would help, as they are so hot on sun protection. I tend to send my lot with their own roll on ones that are easy for them to manage.
In answer to the original question, I don't think they are quite as ridiculous here as in the UK about health and safety etc, but I expect it will follow soon.

MonkeyBoySteve

Thats terrible, the teacher should have done it, and for that matter the teacher should also make breakfast and lunch for the whole class and drop them all off at home after school, some people eh!

Send them to school with sunscreen on and a hat in their bag.

jad n rich

You cant stick a bandaid on a child here, the child may be allergic to it, you cant even use savlon, basically you cant touch a child unless you own it. And dont speak to kids that are not yours, well you could say hello, thats about it! No playgrounds before or after school, they might injure themselves ......... same shite I imagine.

Sunscreen, teach them to apply it, here they apply it before school then again at luchitime. It simply wouldnt be possible for teachers to sunblock 30kids twice a day

FluffyTheCampfireSlayer

From the few posts of yours I've read this evening, it would appear that you are out to cause trouble! Might I be correct?

MonkeyBoySteve

Sorry if you don't like sarcasm, but I don't think anyone should take a teachers job lightly, they have a hard enough job to do without thoughtless parents making more work for them!

quoll

Absolutely yes, education especially is very risk averse.

Inglewhite

I agree teachers have enough to do in class without putting suncream on all the kids, it's the parents responsibility.Teachers aren't allowed to put suncream on anyway in case of allergic reaction as in the case of plasters when they hurt themselves.

Loch Lomond

Duty of care applies to both parents and teachers. Parents are expected to both apply sunscreen to their kids and teach them how to apply it (and also supply it), teachers are expected to ensure that kids regularily apply it when outdoors and if they are having difficulty assist them.
Anything less than this means duty of care is not being offered. The "abuse or unnecessary touching" of kids is merely a myth. No teacher will be accused and charged of child abuse for putting sunscreen on a kid, unless they also inappropriately touch a child.
Common sense does prevail.
In the case of allergic reactions to medications, the parents should have advised the school of this and provided suitable alternatives.

Bunna_Wabbit

The Prep children I work with apply their own. Roll on sunscreen is left outside and we tell them to put it on and they do so.... Oh, we also apply plasters/band aids as and when required (unless of course the child is known to suffer from allergies). Preppies are 4-5 year old.

Paddy_M

Sad old world we live in when the natural instinct of any teacher is being extinguished at the thought of possible accusations.

There are now companies out there who actively seek to help pupils make allegations against teachers...anyone seen the posters?!! In the UK the teacher must now be suspended pending investigation and, even if cleared, a permanent record will be maintained.

viksta1000

I know it sounds dumb

But why is Oz so concerned about sunscreen
Is it due to the 'limited' amount of Ozone above Oz?


Vik

ASHO

Cant anyone just be helpful instead of all this bollocks all the time i dont know whats happening to this site when i first became a member it was so helpful, now it seems that people are just waiting to take the piss and be witty let me tell you ITS NOT FUNNY this site is to help, lets help each other and stop taking the piss eh!

Vash the Stampede

If you think people are taking the piss now, just wait until you meet your first Aussie...