Primary schools urged to sign up to vital sun safety lesson

Nurses from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) are heading back to school to teach a vital sun safety lesson.

Staff visited 51 primary schools and spoke to thousands of students last year as part of the Sun Safe Schools scheme run by the UK skin cancer charity SKCIN.

Schools are being invited to get involved and skin cancer nurses from the NNUH are offering to deliver a 20 minute assembly to teach children the importance of keeping safe in the sun.

The nurses will be available to visit schools after the Easter holidays.

Kelly Almand-Chinn, a Skin Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist at NNUH, said: “This is the third year that we are making ourselves available to visit schools and the feedback has been really positive.

We talk about protecting ourselves from the sun and the children seem to enjoy the assemblies and they are much happier about putting on their creams afterwards.”

The team is working closely with SKCIN (The Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity) to help the charity with its aims to prevent skin cancer, promote early detection and save lives.

The NNUH nurses will be available to deliver the Sun Safe assemblies at 9am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 23 April. They may be able to do another time depending on their clinical work and can also provide materials for schools to deliver their own assemblies.

If your primary school would like to get involved, email skincancerCNS@nnuh.nhs.uk

For a video of sun safety tips, visit https://youtu.be/qSY3cdhdr50