When a suspicious fire destroyed several classrooms at St Columba's Catholic College no-one thought one of the immediate problems to arise was reduced shade for the students.
The PE storeroom which contained sunscreen supplies also burnt in the fire.
Cue Rodney Titovs, the community programs co-ordinator for Cancer Council's Nepean Blue Mountains office, who visited the school last month to donate 20 one-litre sunscreen pump packs and to lend them two marquees.
Mr Titovs said it was a chance "to assist a local school during a time of need, as well as reinforce sun safety messages to our local students".
Acting principal Mark Sattler said technical staff and students had been keeping busy helping build a new greenhouse on the grounds and the shade had given them a place to rest out of the sun.
The new enclosure for the vegetables was being used to keep the ducks and cockatoos out and meant that students, who didn't have their standard classrooms to work in due to the fires, were able to take on practical outdoor skills - marking out the site, drilling the post holes and concreting, assembling pipe structures and wire netting the sides. The school now has purpose-built kitchen and woodwork demountables in place and the greenhouse is also complete.
The Cancer Council is just one of a number of groups to donate to the school recently. Sporting equipment was donated by the Western Sydney Wanderers, Cricket Australia, Penrith Panthers, ISC Sportswear and the GWS Giants.
Students Maddie Delany, Emily Sparkes and Graysen Brettoner tried on some of the Cancer Council zinc sunscreen for a photo with the Gazette and said there was a positive, supportive vibe at the school, despite the fire landing so close to the one-year anniversary of the 2013 bushfire.
"It [the recent fire] brings up memories of last year's fires, especially for those directly affected, but it's different now because we've learnt how to cope with it because we've realised the support we have," Emily said.
Mr Titovs suggested the school utilise other strategies to reduce sun risks such as wearing hats, monitoring the UV rates, and when possible, running outdoor activities before 11am.