Mum’s fury after her kids returned from school picnic to celebrate the Queen’s birthday with severe sunburn

AN ENRAGED mum has accused a school of neglect after her two children returned from a picnic with severe sunburn.

Little Charlie, 11, and Adele, seven, were on a school trip to celebrate the Queen’s 90th birthday when their young skin was scorched under the summer sun.

Horrified mother Anna Griffiths was royally miffed as she had previously signed a letter allowing teachers to apply sun lotion on her children during the picnic.

She has accused Lipson Vale Primary School, in Plymouth, Devon, of failing in its duty to look after them as when they returned home they were “burnt to a crisp”

The 32-year-old sales assistant claims she didn’t know her children would be sitting in the heat for a prolonged time.

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?”

However, staff at the school have said parents were alerted about the forecast the previous day in a text message – but the furious mother-of-two says she does not have a mobile phone.

School head teacher Diggory Vowles said letters were sent home last month and children were continually reminded about the need to bring lotion and hats to the party.

He said “appropriate measures” were taken to keep them safe and they were the only pupils to have reported suffering sunburn out of 350 children.

“We take health and safety extremely seriously and are obviously concerned to hear 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,” he said.

According to staff children were continually reminded by their class teachers about the importance of wearing sun hats and having sun cream on the day.

Mr Vowles added: “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.”

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