After a day playing in the sun at school many children return home with rosy cheeks, sunburnt skin and untouched sunscreen bottles squashed in the bottom of their bags.
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Over 16,000 Australians don't want this to be the norm for kids and are asking schools to start a 5-minute daily routine that doctors say will "literally save lives".
Dr Kerith Whittigan launched a change.org petition calling for a dedicated five-minute sunscreen break before lunch in every Australian school.
"We're not asking the schools to supply the sunscreen. We're not asking teachers to apply the sunscreen or to enforce the kids' sunscreen. We just want kids to have an opportunity to apply the sunscreen," Dr Whittigan said.
The Melbourne palliative care physician said she became concerned about sun safety in schools after noticing a clear difference between her two children.
"What I really noticed was that my child who was in primary school, was developing a tan and getting sun damage on his skin at a really alarming rate," Dr Whittigan said.
"The same thing wasn't happening to my child who was in kindy, where there's really strictly supervised sunscreen application."
She believes asking young children to be responsible for putting on their own sunscreen is challenging.
"When it comes down to a choice between playing with your mates and putting on sunscreen, kids' brains just aren't wired to be able to make that safe choice," she said.
"As a palliative care doctor, I know that skin cancer can be lethal. I've looked after people dying of skin cancer, some of them as young as in their 20s."
More than 670 doctors sign an open letter
Alongside the petition, more than 670 doctors and medical professionals have signed an open letter to the federal government backing the proposal.
One of those is specialist general practitioner Dr Rochelle Oei-Hicks who is based in the regional NSW town of Orange.
"Ensuring that our children are able to apply sun protection for just 5 minutes of the day prior to going out during their lunch break when UV index is normally at its peak, we'll be able to save lives," Dr Oei-Hicks said.
"This is a free, easily implementable policy that will save lives, reduce harm and suffering, save dollars from our country's future healthcare budgets and it only takes 5 minutes a day."
- An open letter from over 670 medical professionals to the Minister for Education Jason Clare and Minister for Health Mark Butler
Australians in regional and rural Australia experience skin cancer rates and melanoma mortality around 20 to 30 per cent higher than the major cities, according to the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine.
"In Orange, we are at altitude and often we have cooler weather, but our UV index often does reach above 8 or 9 during the day," Dr Oei-Hicks said.
"Last year [2025] alone I excised 43 melanomas, and that is working part-time."
Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer and is mostly caused by prolonged and repeated exposure to UV radiation in sunlight.
'It's quite scary': 18-year-old had 72 stitches
At just 18 years old, Alexis Charalambous from South Coast NSW was diagnosed with a stage one melanoma.
After they removed the melanoma from her left forearm, she needed 72 stitches.
"It's been pretty horrible and having now a condition that kind of affects the rest of my life with all this monitoring and biopsies, and it's just, it's quite scary," Alexis Charalambous said.
Melanoma is the most common cancer for young Australians aged 20 to 39, according to Melanoma Institute Australia.
The now 21-year-old student supports Dr Whittigan's petition.
"When you're young...you kind of have this thought that it might affect you in the future, but it could be so far away," she said.
"[At school] we only really had 'no hat, no play'. There was never really anything to do with sunscreen."
According to a 2025 Royal Children's Hospital survey 60 per cent of teenagers did not use adequate sun protection when outdoors during peak UV times.
"51 per cent of parents actually believe that it's the school's responsibility to ensure that their child or adolescent is protected from the sun," Dr Oei-Hicks said of the survey.
Melanoma Patients Australia, the only dedicated national support service for people affected by melanoma, supports the petition.
"Our Telehealth melanoma nurse service and national peer support network are here to provide expert guidance, reassurance, and connection at every stage of the journey. A procedural change like this will prevent more families from ever needing these services," Melanoma Patients CEO Shannon Anderson said.
'Every Australian school has a role to play'
The federal government stopped short of backing the proposal directly, they stated that school operations are managed by states, territories and non-government authorities.
"Public health campaigns promoting sunscreen use in Australia are delivered by a range of organisations and state and territory health departments, including Cancer Council Australia," a departmental spokesperson for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing said.
The Cancer Council supports schools to implement a comprehensive approach to sun protection which includes a policy with strategies on all five forms of sun protection such as 'slip, slop, slap, seek and slide'.
"Every Australian school has a role to play to encourage students to use all five forms of sun protection including applying and reapplying a broad-spectrum, water-resistant SPF50 or SPF50+ sunscreen when the UV is 3 or above," Cancer Council's National Skin Cancer committee chair Sally Blane said
"Schools play a pivotal role in prevention by supporting sun safe behaviours through the use of sun protective uniforms and hats, the provision of adequate shade, and encouragement of regular sunscreen use."
The Minister for Education Jason Clare was contacted for comment.
To book a skin consultation, call the National Melanoma Support Line 1300 884 450.
