Sunproofed: A mixed methods scoping study of sun safety policies in primary schools in Wales

End of project summary

Main messages

Skin cancer is a growing problem in Wales. With rates rising by 8% a year, prevention with sun safe behaviours is key. Sun safety practices including education in primary schools is one-way children can learn to protect themselves.  However, in Wales, sun safety education, practices and policies in schools are optional. Sunproofed aimed to understand what Welsh primary schools are currently doing and what support they need in this area. 

What we did:

We undertook a review of existing literature on sun safety in primary schools in the UK.  We distributed an online multiple-choice survey to all 1241 primary schools in Wales asking about sun safety policies, practices and resources.  We looked at over 10 years of anonymous routine data on contacts with healthcare services for sunburn to see if we could determine if schools’ policies reduced contacts.  We spoke to key stakeholders including parents, teachers, headteachers, school governors and experts in skin cancer prevention.  We ran quizzes in 5 schools with pupils in years 3-6 to determine their sun safety knowledge and behaviours.  We took all that we learned and drafted a simple sun safety guidance document for schools. We then hosted an event in which 16 of our stakeholders came to discuss and refine the guidance to ensure that it was relevant and usable for schools.

What we found:

• Sun safety in UK primary schools is currently under- researched
• Sun safety education and practices in Welsh primary schools needs improvement:
  • only 39% of schools had a formal sun safety policy
  • only 29% include sun safety education in the curriculum in every year group
  • only 5% of schools have sufficient shade for outdoor activities
  • there is no agreed approach across schools to sunscreen application
  • schools with a higher percentage of children on free school meals were less likely to have a formal sun safety policy
• At present, it is not possible to use routine data on sunburn to assess the impact of any school policy; improvements are needed in the collection and coding of data
• Improving sun behaviours in children will require the whole school community and the cost-of-living crisis needs to be considered
• Educating and empowering children needs to be at the centre of any guidance

Our co-produced sun safety guidance document will now be piloted, then distributed to all Welsh primary schools. Future work will seek to evaluate these guidelines.