SKCIN AND TENOVUS CANCER CARE LAUNCH PARTNERSHIP TO PREVENT SKIN CANCER THROUGH EDUCATION.

SKCIN AND TENOVUS CANCER CARE LAUNCH PARTNERSHIP TO PREVENT SKIN CANCER THROUGH EDUCATION

Skcin are proud to announce a partnership with Tenovus Cancer Care, working with primary schools across Wales, to assist them in their duty of care to provide a sun safe environment and educate children on the importance of sun safety to prevent skin cancer.

The partnership launched yesterday at Penyrenglyn Primary School where Skcin and Tenovus Cancer Care joined forces to deliver a whole school assembly which was attended by Chris Bryant MP for the Rhondda who had surgery to remove a stage three melanoma earlier this year. Chris had all the children thoroughly engaged - standing in front of the whole school, he talked about his scar, how he’d often burnt as a child and therefore how important it is to protect our skin, the children LOVED him!

Chris said: “It was great to meet with the wonderful Marie of SKCIN to discuss the hard work carried out by the charity to raise awareness of skin Cancer in the UK, specifically in UK Primary Schools. I was over the moon to present Penyrenglyn Primary School with their Sun Safe School Certificate alongside Tenovus Cancer Care highlighting the importance of protecting pupils from the sun. Thank you for all your hard work! I will be writing to all Primary schools in the Rhondda regarding this extremely important campaign”.

Continuing their commitment to deliver assemblies and educational sessions to primary school children in Wales, Tenovus Cancer Care are now working in partnership with Skcin to promote our national Sun Safe Schools accreditation programme which provides all UK primary schools with comprehensive free resources with step-by step guidance and support to ensure they fulfil their duty of care by:

Implementing a suitable sun safety policy that covers all government guidelines.
Communicating with parents to gain support and raise awareness within the wider school community.
Educating children on the importance of sun safety to influence behaviour for a ‘sun safe’ skin cancer free future.

Maura Matthews, Tenovus Cancer Care’s Prevention Lead, commented: “This is an excellent opportunity for us to build on the work we have been doing with schools by partnering with Skcin to deliver their Sun Safe Schools programme.

“We both have the same aims, to educate as many children as possible on the importance of sun safety, and this will allow us to reach more children than ever before.

“The accreditation scheme gives each school a realistic target to achieve and then recognition for the work they are doing, and we are looking forward to working with schools right across Wales.”

Marie Tudor, CEO of Skcin added: “The launch event was a huge success and I like to extend special thanks to all the staff and pupils at Penyrenglyn Primary School, to Tenovus Cancer Care and their amazing choir and to Chris Bryant, all of whom played vital roles in making the event a huge success”.

“Our partnership with Tenovus Cancer Care makes complete sense, why re-invent the wheel or spend hard earned fundraisers money on duplicating efforts when they can simply be combined so effectively! This relationship highlights how charities should be working together - something Skcin have always felt very strongly about”.

“With our back office management and reporting capabilities, we are able to report on all aspects of this unique initiative and use this information to measure success which is absolutely crucial”.

“Overall it was very emotional day for Skcin, who have dedicated so much hard work, over so many years and feel so passionately about the education of our future generations to prevent skin cancer. Maybe this is finally our chance to make our voice heard”.

Why all UK primary schools should get on-board with the Sun Safe Schools programme

Whilst some sun is good for us, over-exposure to UV is a serious health risk and the primary cause of the UK’s most common and fastest rising cancer. UV is a known carcinogen, damage is cumulative, irreparable and burning as a child can dramatically increase a persons risk of developing the disease in later life. With children spending almost half their childhood at school, where they are outdoors every day, during peak UV hours (11am - 3pm), it’s imperative that schools ensure children are protected from UV damage and are educated on the importance of enjoying the sun safely.

UV exposure without doubt has to be regarded as a serious health and safety issue for schools. The NICE guidelines for skin cancer prevention make it clear that children should never be allowed to burn and should be made aware of how important it is to protect their skin. In addition government guidelines recommend schools develop a policy on how to protect children when they are outside for more than a brief period in strong sunlight.

Whilst it’s clear that schools have a duty of care, for many primary schools across the UK, this can pose a daunting prospect; What does the policy look like, what should it contain, how do I educate my pupils, where do I get the materials I need and how do I find the time to source and implement it all?

Skcin recognise not only the importance of Sun Safety education in schools, but the pressures faced by those tasked to implement an effective policy and teachings. To help solve this issue and fill the mammoth void that exists in this arena, Skcin designed and developed the Sun Safe Schools accreditation programme to provide a single reference point and comprehensive FREE resource that can be accessed by any primary school nationally.

To gain their Sun Safe Accreditation, schools must complete a 4 step process, providing feedback on-line following completion of each step. All the resources a school needs have been provided to help them achieve each step effectively and efficiently, with maximum impact and confidence and with minimum strain on valuable time and resources.

STEP ONE: CREATE YOUR SUN SAFETY POLICY
Our on-line policy maker makes it easy for schools to tailor and download their own Sun Safety policy. This process ensures schools have considered and covered all essential guidelines and recommendations and can be confident that they are implementing a suitable policy to protect their pupils and present to parents.

STEP TWO: COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS
In accordance with a school’s tailored policy, a personalised letter is automatically generated to download and send home to parents along with their policy and Sun Safety information booklets provided free upon registration. This ensures schools are requesting the required level of support from parents, advising them correctly about Sun Safety and doing great work to increase vital knowledge about prevention and early detection within the wider school community.

STEP THREE: CONDUCT A WHOLE SCHOOL ASSEMBLY
In addition the the range of resources including assembly plan, presentation slides, music and song - all available to schools via the programme, Tenovus will be continuing their support to primary schools across Wales by helping schools deliver their assembly, engage children and reinforce the importance of Sun Safety.

STEP FOUR: CONDUCT INDIVIDUAL CLASS LESSONS
Extensive curriculum linked educational resources for key stage one and two pupils have been provided and (and are to be delivered by Tenovus Cancer Care in Wales) to help schools engage children, increase knowledge and influence behaviour.

Upon completion, schools are awarded their Sun Safe Schools Certificate of Accreditation
The Accreditation is valid for one year, with a renewal process in place for schools to review their policy, reinforce support with the existing school community, advise newcomers and increase knowledge of sun safety through education.

ALL SCHOOLS THAT REGISTER TO TAKE PART RECEIVE:

• A comprehensive welcome pack and accreditation guide designed as a back-up resource to our on-line facility, including hard copies of all printable resources.
• School assembly and lesson plan support (provided by Tenovus Cancer Care in Wales).
• A hard copy of the book ‘George the Sun Safe Superstar’ for the school library
• Sun Safe Superstar stickers for all children
• Sun Safety information booklets for all parents and to raise awareness across the school community
• Unlimited access to all on-line resources


Marie Tudor, CEO of national skin cancer charity Skcin said, “ UV awareness and skin cancer have always been regarded as a public health issue and not an educational one. The fact is that they are inextricably linked. Skcin believe the only way to combat soaring statistics is for the two departments to work together in order to create the impact required and this is why schools are uniquely placed to provide a solution.

“Skcin also believe it is the combined duty of both schools and parents to ensure children are protected from over-exposure to UV during school hours and that educational messaging is best delivered at a young age in order create the necessary behavioural change. Therefore schools not only have a duty of care to implement policy, but are uniquely placed to educate children and communicate with parents to reinforce key messaging that will positively impact the lives of our future generation and those to come”.

“Skcin launched the Sun Safe Schools Accreditation over 5 years ago now and we are reaching thousands of primary schools across the UK, teaching over half a million children and raising awareness amongst their families via the scheme. We help schools by providing a single point of trusted information and associated resources that will help them, with their limited time, budgets and high works loads, to deliver the right policy, the right advice and the right resources to engage children with this vital messaging”.

“Whilst we can offer all of the above, what we struggle to provide on a national scale, is face-to-face support in delivering assemblies and lesson plans. We know teachers love nothing more than a booked-in, ‘all sorted’ massive ‘tick in the box’ assembly and that’s why we are really excited to be working with Tenovus Cancer Care in Wales who are already doing great work in this arena. By combining our efforts we can offer primary schools across Wales the very best service, with the greatest impact”.


Primary schools should register to take part at: www.sunsafeschools.co.uk

Together we can make a difference and save lives.