School sent a letter using DD's birth name

[Rey2216]

My DD is in reception. Her adoption order was granted 2 months before I applied for her school place. The application was therefore made in her new name/s. I was advised by Social Services to change her middle name as it was very unusual therefore quite identifying. Birth family are fairly local but not considered high-risk.
Today I received a letter from her school and under the personal details her birth middle name is shown. I have never provided the school with her previous names as she was legally adopted before starting there.
I can only presume social services provided the information to the school admissions team to confirm her previously 'looked after' status. I cannot think of any other way the school could know her previous name.
Surely this is a breach of her privacy but is it also a Data Protection breach? I am going to email the head to request a meeting and ask the following-

1. Who informed them of her previous name/s
2. Where exactly is her old name held, do they even hold her correct (new) name?
3. Is any of that information publicly available? (As I said, DD is not considered at risk of her birth family looking for her but I'm uncomfortable at the thought they could.

Do I need to ask anything else? Thanks in advance

Is it a health related letter? This exact thing happened to me once and it came from the school nurse who had been passed records from health visitor under birth surname. I had to call health to get it sorted.

No, it’s an attendance letter. She’s at 93.75% due to hospital appointments which personally I think is ridiculous but that’s an entirely different thread!

We had exact same thing - I can’t remember the details but it was something to do with the free 15 hours he’d had as former LAC. Did you (or FCs) have LO in nursery?

In our case it was before he was even in school - think it might have been his new starter letter.

Yes she used the 15 free Nursery hours both in FC and after being placed with me. I've just hunted out the acceptance email and it has her full current name. The letter from school has her correct surname but her old middle name which is a combination she has never been known as. Nursery used her old middle name & surname and I used her new names when applying to reception. I know in the grand scheme of things she's not particularly at risk of any harm by people knowing her old names but it bothers me that her right to privacy has been compromised.

We had this from the NHS. I made a formal-ish complaint, and they agreed to put steps in place to ensure people knew what a Big Deal this is, and not to do it.

Do I need to ask anything else?

You sound like you have it well in hand. I would be just as annoyed (we've just had an NHS screw up of the same kind) and just as persistent to sort it properly.

Surely this is a breach of her privacy but is it also a Data Protection breach?

Some kind of breach seems to have occurred, unless it's a totally coincidental error. That doesn't give you much ammo. Individual case DPA enforcement is virtually nonexistent. Start gentle but firm, and hold the officialdom until you get a bit more info.

Nursery used her old middle name & surname

Was the nursery attached to the school?

If not did they pass on data (often the case)?

This could be your source of error. If not directly, perhaps through details passed through the LA.

Thanks for your responses all, in answer to donquixote no it wasn't attached at all. Both previous nurseries were private. Although it did occur to me earlier that they may have been given a copy of her file from her last nursery. I do know that her teacher visited her there before the end of term (while she would have legally still had her old name). If that's the case I don't think it could have been avoided though her current school should have noticed a discrepancy with her name. Possibly a case of lax admin with her current school? Anyway I have emailed requesting a meeting with the head to discuss so I'll just see how it goes from there. Thanks all.

Something similar happened to us but we had given school his original name as order not granted when we applied.

Good that you are taking this seriously. Good luck.

Exactly the same here, LO never had the name combo they addressed letter to.

I just checked my old email, school admissions told me it came from a data import relating to early years funding.

I understand why you are concerned, but personally I would ask to see the senior admin person as this really falls under their remit. Express to them how important it is that all records (paper folders, SIMs, class registers, whatever) are up to date with name, you as parents etc. Ask them to check SIMs and registers there and then. Also ask at the time re how they check to ensure that photos aren't displayed online (if this is an issue for you).

I would save seeing the Head for when you have issues in school to do with your DC not coping (and teacher not listening to your advice) or similar.

All the Head can really do with this admin issue is say 'I'll look into it'.