Mother's fury as son suffers second-degree burns on school beach trip

A furious mother has complained to her son's school after the seven-year-old suffered second-degree sunburn from a school trip to the beach.

Sam Messenger says her son Harry's skin was "red raw" after the trip to St Bees beach in Cumbria.

Speaking to News and Star, Sam said: "When he came home from school and I saw his back, which was red raw, I cried. I covered him in factor 50 sun-cream before he left for school because, although his hair is brown, his skin is fair.

"My husband and I gave the school specific instructions on how Harry was to have his sun screen applied. We were advised it would be applied every half hour. However, he came back so severely sunburned he obviously hadn't had the cream applied every 30 minutes."

Harry, who attends St Bees Village School, visited a GP who advised his parents to apply Flamazine burn cream and dressings to avoid infection and scarring.

But Harry's back began to peel and his raw skin was exposed meaning he couldn't tolerate the dressings.

According to the Daily Mail, Sam said his school had apologised for how she felt her son had been treated but not for the damage done to his back.

"Harry couldn't wear a top for days and has had difficulty sleeping. I don't want this to happen to any other children," she said.

In a statement, head teacher John Wood said: "Despite making every effort to ensure our children stayed safe in the sun, regrettably a handful of our 165 pupils who came to the beach day did get sunburn and I have apologised for that to the parents concerned.

"A full risk assessment for the trip was carried out and a range of measures was put in place to protect the children from the hot weather.

"With it being such a hot day, our younger children didn't spend as long on the beach and staff and helpers were vigilant in making sure pupils had sun-cream and tee-shirts on."

Mr Wood added that the staff applied sun cream for the younger children and that the older pupils were able to put it on themselves.

In a letter to parents, Mr Wood said the recent heatwave "resulted in us reviewing the appropriateness of this particular visit in the future.

"If it is to take place again, we will require the support of all parents in enforcing the need for pupils to listen to staff and act on their instructions.

Britain's hospitals recently reported a rise in severe sunburn cases among children during the UK heatwave.

Two thirds of 14 hospitals with specialist burns units said they had seen a worrying rise in admissions.

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