...to expect the school to spell my child's name correctly?

[QueenofKelsingra]

DS1 has a name that uses an accent on one of the letters. to be clear, this isn't some stupid attempt to make a name 'modern' or whatever, we are a bilingual family and DS1's name is from my husband's country. The accent is important, it changes the pronunciation of the name. His name is similar to an English version barring the accent and the change of one other letter.

everything that comes home is missing the accent, at least half has the wrong spelling completely (so the English spelling, not the foreign one).

I have spoken to the school twice and they just look at me like I'm making a fuss over nothing. AIBU to expect them to make the effort to get his name right?? i like to keep his school things - nativity programmes etc - in his memory box and it is annoying me that it all has his name spelt wrong!

So AIBU??

I have trouble with the online passport form as it exchanges my surname from one English word into another.

Are you sure that's their website? That would be an absolutely bizarre thing for an application to do (for example, there's no reason for an application form to even have a dictionary). Are you it's not your web browser "helpfully" doing spelling checking, or some other form of auto-completion at your end?

yes yes TurkeySoup but teachers are there to teach not to spend hours researching and remembering where to put the fada on Ciaran or whatever.
give schools a break!

They don't need to research. Just use the child's correct name.

Just like they remember whether it's Kieren or Ciaran, Sarah or Sara Jane or Jayne...

Are you sure that's their website?

Yes.

There is a reason for it that makes sense but it still shouldn't happen

*If they can remember how to spell

Unless a spell check is in the habit of changing a word into a completely differently spelt word with the same meaning then yes, I am sure it isn' the spell check!

Interestingly, the printed forms arrive with our correct name, it's the "check we have the right info" page that swaps it for another word.

ust like they remember whether it's Kieren or Ciaran, Sarah or Sara Jane or Jayne

It seems a bit harsh to expect teachers to be able to write ???? ??? correctly, though. You appear to be rather Roman-centric.

There's a huge range of diacritics available

And...? If you are told a child's name is spelt in a certain way, that's how you spell it. I don't speak Polish but I am still able to spell my friend's surname despite it being completely wrong for English phonics. Remembering a "special character" is no harder.

It seems a bit harsh to expect teachers to be able to write ???? ??? correctly, though. You appear to be rather Roman-centric.

Yes, because, as a rule, people don't use things like the Arabic alphabet to write their child's name when in a country that uses the Roman alphabet. That is not the same as a accented character is it?

Remembering a "special character" is no harder.

Write out ???? ???? correctly (remember, right to left) and call us back.

I assume you struggled to read the "a" in my comment.

Yes, because, as a rule, people don't use things like the Arabic alphabet to write their child's name when in a country that uses the Roman alphabet.

So names should be transliterated into the prevalent language of the country you're in? Ah...

yes but in a school which might have 160 different languages spoken ....?

All my life people have been spelling my first name incorrectly. It's extremely easy to pronounce and only has four letters. One's a vowel and two are the same as each other

I think it's easy to forgive mistakes, but not to be bothered about learning how people's names are spelt is just rude. I emailed someone and apologised for getting their name wrong the other day, even though it was a colleague who'd pronounced it wrong and caused me to make the mistake.

I agree with what seems to be the majority, accents are important and form part of the correct spelling and should be included. It should not e beyond the capability of the school to achieve this.

Thepoodoctor almost identically to you on her first day dd2 complained to her teacher about her missing accent. To the school's great credit by the next morning everything that they had labelled with her name, reading folder, peg, sign in card etc etc had been updated. It has never been wrong since.

And actually, it's not that hard to learn how to write different alphabets. You just learn the name as a shape rather than letters. I've done it before. Harder than what you see as the insurmountable task of using a commonly used (in the UK) accent on something like Esmé but hardly insurmountable. But you know that and are being deliberately obtuse.

if you can't see the difference between using an accented character and a completely different alphabet then there really is nothing to say.

prevalent language

Is an alphabet a language? No.

TBH Friday, given you think I am incapable of typing my own name correctly into a passport application form, I don't really hold your opinons very highly.

gosh a mixed response indeed. although I note that no one with an accented name themselves has said IABU....

as an update, when I went in this morning to drop DS off the pre-school deputy head came to see me. she thanked me for my email explaining how to find the relevant letter and told me she had forwarded it to the office, to all his teaching staff and to the lady in charge of the programme printing for the upcoming nativity. she was lovely and said she completely understands where I'm coming from and that of course it is important that his name is correct. she promises they will make sure it is correct in future.

so it would appear that IANBU!!

nigella yes I absolutely expect them to learn the correct names of the children in their class in the same way I make the effort to correctly learn the names of my friends and work colleagues.

oh, and thank you TurkeySoupDragOn for meaning I don't have to respond the ridiculous concept that it is comparable to using Arabic or similar character based language!!!

Well that's a great result - glad someone at the school saw sense eventually!

I'm off in the morning to speak to our Sims help desk to find out how you put accents on SIMs to be fair we don't have any children with accents but I hate not knowing how to so something on Sims.

I have a very very common english first name, with two spellings on common use. Think Kathryn and Catherine.

My primary school were continually giving me certificates etc with the wrong one on, my mum used to take them back and demand a new one spelled properly.

By the way if the accent is é, it can be achieved by pressing ctrl + alt + e simultaneously.

HTH