Letter from the schoolw

[TiredButFine]

So today I received a letter addressed " to the parents/carers of [child's full name] with my exact address.
I opened it so I could return it to the sender, I live alone and have no children. No-one else has ever lived here, it's a new build.
The letter was from a local school asking for after school club fees to be paid in respect of this girl.
AIBU to think this is really odd to address a letter like this with the child's fullname? Is this a normal thing for schools? WIBU to enclose a strongly- worded note about keeping kid's details confidential? Or do I just put "wrong address, sorry" i honestly don't know as I don't have kids!

But what about if a child was potentially at risk from abduction by members of own family?

So estranged father who is not allowed to have unsupervised contact with child knows that child attends particular after school club and attempts to collect child?

Also cases of closed adoption. Child no longer has contact with their biological parents/grandparents/extended family maybe for very sound safeguarding reasons... member of family finds out that child attends particular after school club and turns up stating they are indeed child's mother/aunt/grandparent...

Not highly likely perhaps but also not so far fetched as Clarence the paedophile.

What does "trunky want a bun" mean anyway?

I'm guessing it's a colloquialism for "Would you like to be rewarded somehow for your nosiness?"

Bit off.

our DDs' secondary school usually send out franked mail with the school logo and address clearly on the front. depending what it is, it sometimes comes to parent/guardian of X, or sometimes Mr W and Mrs Y Phantomnamechanger.

However, when they are sending out anything very sensitive such as new logins for accessing childs records/reports/changing any personal or medical info etc online, they send a blank envelope with a stamp not franked, and the letter has no school letterhead on it, just a very bland "Dear Mrs X please excuse the bland contents of this letter to protect your DC privacy. Your password for the schools online system is as follows xxxxxxxx" They send this out having previously sent an email telling you its coming. I agree the school in question have done nothing wrong sending the letter addressed how they did, but I do wonder how the mistake happened.

Oh I don't have an AIBU full house, no one accused me of drip feeding (presumably as no-one is actually really reading half of this)

Address is not easily confused as per the example given. Flat block has a certain name.

Address is also not a simple typo, I know the block neighbours, two little girls go to a different school and are highly likely to have surname more closely linked to their ethnic and cultural background than the one on the envelope.

I get loads of post for a business that was set up from my address, another unrelated name but I just return it to HMRC with "not known at this address"
Not sure why my address is so bloody popular. Just assumed it was a London thing.

annoyed parent

not sure what you are getting at, but schools and clubs all keep records of exactly WHO is and is not permitted to collect a child. Children from the background you describe are especially well protected. You can't just turn up saying you are there to pick up a child and have the child handed over to you. Some schools insist on a new adult, picking up in an emergency, having been given a codeword by the parent.

At a school I worked at the whole school went into "lockdown" when a banned father entered the grounds, intent on taking his child. The child was taken along with one friend to an upstairs office with a staff member and , all other children were taken into the hall and all external doors were locked and the police were called. The school used to practice this sort of drill once a term liek a fire drill.

It could be an address that a specific person (postal worker?) is confident about intercepting post to?

Maybe the odd things you've had are the ones that slipped through?

So annoyed - the long lost estranged uncle twice removed just happens to live in the mistaken address...ok, so let's work that one through...

Estranged uncle (we'll call him Clarence) lives just round the corner from his estranged niece/nephew. One morning, a letter pops through the letterbox! PRAISE BE TO GOD..Uncle Clarence falls to his knees and does the praisey thing.
Then realises, oh shit, they won't hand the kid over because they don't know me from Clarence the Paedophile.

Fwiw "clarence" would be more likely to internet research child to find mum and attempt to befriend her possibly based on her having money trouble.

If I was a fraudster looking for addresses to use, I'd think an address occupied by a single adult householder has more possibilities than most (often nobody answering during day; safe to 'sell' to someone wanted to fraudently claim benefits for imaginary DC - no existing claim at that address etc)

(It's the fact that you've occupied it from new that would give me pause)

Not sure why you are being so sarcastic Wideopen but you know stranger things have happened than your ridiculous Uncle Clarence scenario And it wouldn't have to be the long lost estranged uncle who received the letter, it could be the person who works at the corner store or an old neighbour who is sympathetic to their 'plight'.

And yes phantom I understand what you're saying but it is also usually policy I think that said children's details are kept confidential. OPs experience indicates a slip up by the school which is a little worrying. And staff can sometimes make mistakes or a parent could slip in unannounced, much better to just treat all information as strictly confidential and not send information to the incorrect address don't you think?

FWIW I have a friend who is in the process of adopting a young child who is in the circumstance I describe. I know his information is treated extremely carefully because there are fears that his biological extended family may attempt to make contact with him. And as this was a case of serious neglect and abuse it would be less than ideal. So yes, school may go into lockdown if child's mother/father/long lost estranged uncle was at the school gates but it still might mean that child could see or hear them and this could be very distressing.

I'm not being sarcastic Annoyed - I'm just trying to illustrate the point that the risk in this scenario is negligible. I was trying to be a bit light hearted - sorry if it made you ish

And, for the record, my job is a child protection one, so risk is something I take very seriously.

but at the moment, you don't know IF the school made a mistake, or if the parents supplied the address in order to commit fraud of some sort?

I think the most likely scenario is a parent has fraudulently claimed they are living in an address in the catchment area and use OP's address.

I'd be more concerned that someone was potentially fraudulently using my address to obtain goods/services. I don't think it's unreasonable to open on those grounds. What if the bill doesn't get paid??