ABOUT SUN SAFE SCHOOLS
Sun Safe Schools is a free national accreditation programme developed by the UK’s leading skin cancer charity SKCIN to help primary schools protect children from harmful ultraviolet (UV) exposure and prevent skin cancer through education.
Established in 2012, the Sun Safe Schools programme has become a trusted national initiative, drawing on over a decade of experience supporting thousands of primary schools across the UK and reaching more than one million children and families with life-saving sun safety education.
The programme provides schools with sun safety policies, parent communication tools and PSHE curriculum-linked teaching resources, aligning prevention with education and safeguarding standards – providing a simple and effective way to embed sun safety sun safety and skin cancer prevention across the whole school community.
WHY SUN SAFETY MATTERS
Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, yet around 90% of cases are preventable. Teaching children how to protect themselves from ultraviolet (UV) radiation is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of sun damage and skin cancer later in life.
Health organisations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), highlight that a large proportion of lifetime UV exposure occurs during childhood, with up to 80% of skin damage happening before the age of 18. Children’s skin is more delicate and highly vulnerable to UV radiation, and damage is cumulative and irreversible.
Because children spend a significant amount of time outdoors during the school day, schools play a vital role in helping pupils understand how to stay safe in the sun. Through education and sensible sun protection measures, schools can help establish lifelong sun-safe habits that protect children’s health now and in the future.
WHAT THE SUN SAFE SCHOOLS PROGRAMME PROVIDES
Schools that join the programme receive:
- A sun safety policy builder for schools
- Parent communication tools to reinforce sun safety at home
- Whole-school assemblies and classroom lesson plans
- KS1 and KS2 sun safety teaching resources
- A structured 4-step accreditation framework
- Annual certification recognising schools’ commitment to three key pillars that support education and safeguarding standards:
1) PROTECTION: providing an environment that enables children and staff to stay safe in the sun.
2) EDUCATION: teaching sun safety to increase knowledge and influence behaviour.
3) COLLABORATION: working with parents, the management structure and the wider community to reinforce awareness about sun safety and skin cancer prevention.
JOIN THE SUN SAFE SCHOOLS PROGRAMME
Help protect pupils from harmful UV exposure while teaching lifelong sun safety habits. Schools that join the Sun Safe Schools accreditation programme gain access to free policies, assemblies and teaching resources designed to make sun safety easy to embed across the whole school community.
- Free to join
- Simple 4-step accreditation process
- Curriculum-linked KS1 & KS2 resources
- Registration takes just a few minutes
Register your school and start your Sun Safe journey today.
ABOUT SKCIN
Sun Safe Schools was developed by SKCIN (The Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity), a leading UK charity dedicated to raising awareness of melanoma and other forms of skin cancer, with a strong focus on prevention and early detection through education.
Established in 2006 in memory of Karen Clifford — represented by the ‘KC’ in SKCIN — the charity delivers national education programmes that promote prevention, early detection and behavioural change to help reduce the impact of skin cancer across communities nationwide.
For more information visit: www.skcin.org
“The resources are excellent. Your website enabled me to create a policy quickly and efficiently and enabled me to communicate easily with our parents and wider school community using your templates. We all loved the resources - especially the animated story and the song which really helped to get the message across to younger children. Thank you for this excellent initiative which enables us to keep our children safe in the sun”.
Trerobart Primary School Rhondda Cynon Taf.
View more testimonials
“Fantastic scheme, excellent resources and we have loved using it! The resources and information have been great for us. I love the idea of the UV Monitor in each class, the song and the powerpoint assembly plan was great. These were resources were high quality, fun and engaging as well as reinforcing the key messages. Loved them. Thank you for creating such a wonderful accreditation scheme for schools”.
Callands Community Primary School, Cheshire.
View more testimonials
“Sun Safe Schools is an excellent programme which supports schools to protect children from the potential harms of exposure to UV rays. The assemblies, lesson plans, activities and teaching resouces support schools in delivering a key component of statutory health education providing fun and engaging activities for all age groups in the primary phase. The learning resources are one part of the accreditation process which takes a whole school approach to sun safety. It is vital that children not only learn how to keep themselves safe and healthy, but they also get to put into practice what they learn. Sun safety is one of the areas children learn about which can directly impact them during the school day. Working through the accreditation process helps schools ensure they have consistent messages and practical strategies in place to safeguard children. I would wholeheartedly recommend schools take part in this programme”.
Sarah Huggins, PSHE Education and Personal Development Consultant | Personal Development Matters
