School Education
Children and sun protection
Skin cancer is a significant and increasing public health problem. We get around 80% of our exposure to the sun before the age of 18. Teaching children safe sun habits while they are young sets a good pattern for later life and reduces their risk of developing skin cancer in the future.
Sun protection leaflet competition
SUNSENSE - Australia’s No 1 sunscreen - is available in the UK and is running a national competition to teach young children the dangers of the sun and how they can protect themselves.
SUNSENSE wants to work with primary school children, as they are the most at risk from sunburn, and, later in life, skin cancer, to help us develop a leaflet that will encourage children to:
- Apply sunscreen
- Seek shade or cover up when the sun's really glaring between 11am and 3pm
- Wear protective clothing and hats when out in the sun
The competition, aimed at primary school children in the UK, is to draw pictures that reflect the sun protection messages: SLIP on a shirt, SLAP on a hat, SLOP on some sunscreen, WRAP on sunglasses and STAY in the shade. The winning pictures will appear in a leaflet on sun protection for children this summer.
The winning child will receive a SUNSENSE goody bag, their class will be taken to the printers to see the leaflet coming hot off the press and their school will win a sun shade worth £2,000.
To make the competition easy to run we've produced a fantastic pack for teachers to download. It includes an assembly presentation, helpful hints for your pupils click here: