In response to the letter from Mrs Beaumont. I should like to advise all your readers of the following.

On no occasion did the Journal or I blame Swan Lane School for the sunburn received by my child. I have received a huge amount of verbal and vidictive abuse since the article and only wish that people would read properly and understand the message which the Editor is trying to put across. It was never suggested that the responsibility of suncream application should rest with teachers.

I was appalled to learn of government red tape which prevents teachers from " touching children". For example, if your child is repeatedly scratching their head..their teacher is not allowed to check for lice..they may just be sent home with that suspicion ( head scratching is caused by many things other than lice).

If a child has a coupe of "dodgy" looking spots on their face..the teacher is not allowed to inspect further to rule out chicken pox...instead they may be sent home unnecessarily.

To suggest that a 4 yr old child is responsible to monitor his own need to apply suncream..too..is ludicrous. On the morning my child was burnt..he had had suncream applied. Cancer research uk reccomend that suncream be applied to children every 1-2 hours . so simply boasting that you do it before they go to school is not an answer.

Last year there were more deaths caused from skin cancer in the uk than australia. It is a change in attitude towards the sun that is needed.

We wouldn't accept the dangers of BSE..because we couldn't see it...until CJD...just because a skin isn't burnt..doesn't mean that the uv rays ( with no ozone protection) are not damaging our children.

The point of the article was that government beurocracy has gone mad on the touching of children by teachers...I just hope that any of the mothers who victimised me ( and a television crew) never find themselves with a child who needs cream applied to their skin every 1-2 hrs after developing a uv allergy...if they do...they may than begin to understand.

Meanwhile thanks to Pat Smith (editor) for approaching me to run this story..and thanks to all the letters of support I have received from all over the midlands for being brave enough to stand up to the big guys in County Hall.

Emma Nishigaki, Albert Road, Evesham.