Healthy Schools Plus and sun safety

We cover the basics of sun safety in schools on our sun safety and sun safety policy pages.

Melanoma rates in the south west are rising, particularly in coastal and country areas and Cornwall has some of the highest rates. Within Cornwall, North Cornwall and Caradon have the highest rates.

Recent research by Professor Lynne Eagle, Bristol Business School, UWE, suggests that in the south west there is a need to increase sun protection knowledge and behaviour among certain segments of the population, including the parents and carers of young children, the school-aged and teenagers.

Caroline Chapman is the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust's Sun Safe Coordinatory. Based at Health Promotion in Pool, she takes the sun safe message to children, schools and young people around Cornwall and also works with the Dermatology Department at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske, and with the Melanoma Awareness Project. Read more about Caroline's work on the Sun Safe in Cornwall website or email Caroline Chapman.

For Healthy Schools Plus we have secured some funding to enable us to work in partnership with Caroline and some pathfinder schools to develop and evaluate a sun safe intervention for schools and families. This work will be offered as one of our headline projects.

We are gathering some data on sun safety in Cornwall to enable schools working on sun safety for Healthy Schools Plus to set baselines for their work.

Outcomes for Healthy Schools Plus

Here is a list of suggested outcomes for Healthy Schools Plus work on sun safety.