Mum is furious after her two children returned from a school picnic to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday – with severe SUNBURN.
Horrified Anna Griffiths has accused Lipson Vale Primary School of neglect for not applying any protection to son Charlie, 11, and daughter Adele, seven.
She claims they returned from the event ‘burnt to a crisp’ and has accused the school of failing in its duty to look after them.
Anna, 32, who lives opposite the school in Plymouth, Devon, and works as a sales assistant for a building supply firm, says she didn’t know they were going to be sitting in the heat for a prolonged period.
But she said she had signed a form on a previous occasion to allow teachers to apply sun cream.
The school say that all parents were alerted about the forecast and the heat the previous day via text message – but Anna says she does not have a mobile phone so did not receive the warning.
She said: “The school have a duty of care and have failed monumentally.
“My daughter Adele is olive skinned and returned with obvious sunburn down one side. My son Charlie is very light skinned and is burnt to a crisp.
“He was clearly in agony as soon as he walked through the door. I instantly ran to the freezer to get ice packs and I’ve been up all night with him.
“They were in the sun for a considerable amount of time; surely teachers could have seen them changing colour?”
The school’s headteacher Diggory Vowles said, in addition to the text message, letters had also been sent home last month and children were continually reminded about the party and the need to bring hats and sun cream.
He said assured “appropriate measures” were taken to keep children safe and protected.
He added only two children out of 350 students reported suffering from sunburn.
He said: “We take health and safety extremely seriously and are obviously concerned to hear that two of our pupils were sunburned during our Queen’s birthday celebrations.
“We are always careful to remind parents if their children are going to be spending time outside for any length of time during the summer. We sent letters home initially on May 20 to parents telling them all about the garden party and that the children would be outside for the afternoon.
“Prior to the event individual class teachers continually reminded children verbally about the need to bring hats and to wear sun cream and bring more with them. This message was also reinforced by sending a text message to parents on Wednesday, June 8 to warn them that the weather was going to be warm and asking them to make sure their children were protected from the sun.
“We are not aware that this parent provided cream or hats for her children as requested and at no point during the afternoon did teachers observe the children to be uncomfortable or in any distress.
“We had a lovely day yesterday with more than 350 children outside enjoying the garden party. The activity was carefully risk assessed including consideration of the weather forecast.
“We have had lots of positive comments since saying how much both staff and pupils enjoyed it. To our knowledge only two children out of 350 reported suffering from sunburn, which we obviously regret, but feel that appropriate measures were taken to ensure the children were safeguarded and were able to fully enjoy the event.
“We wish to reassure parents of our continued intent to work together in close partnership.”
