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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To change our contact details on the school's class list

94 replies

katemiddletonsothermum · 15/09/2015 11:45

The contact details for my son's year group has been sent home. This is a sheet of paper with the home addresses and phone numbers on, obviously intended for us all to organise lots of coffee mornings and lunches.

We are the only family without a house name, or farm name, or hall name, or barn name. Oh, the shame of it. We are listed with just the street number. Our house does have a name, actually, but I can never be bothered to use it.

Should I insist that the school changes our details and amends / resends the contact list? Or should I just think f it.

OP posts:
JeremySpokeInClassToday · 15/09/2015 12:09

How bizzarre.
We do have a Facebook page, which is started by the parents, and the school is not added to the 'friends' list as we intend it to be for parents only. We arrange the odd night out this way, remind about non uniform days, special events etc.
But to have this information given out without permission - not good !

LurkingHusband · 15/09/2015 12:09

House names for every address -,surely this is a light hearted thread!

This is AIBU.

And to be fair, the OP flagged some serious issues worthy of serious discussion. Parent/child contact details being spaffed around a playground could lead to serious consequences.

LurkingHusband · 15/09/2015 12:10

it might be 'opt in' in that way that schools have where if you dont 'opt out' then you are 'in' by default?

Specifically invalid for DPA purposes. You are not allowed to assume an implicit opt in.

APlaceOnTheCouch · 15/09/2015 12:13

You're Kate Middleton's other mum - change your house name accordingly and make them reissue the list. With strict instructions that all previous copies of the list must be destroyed, preferably, eaten!

UrbaneFox · 15/09/2015 12:14

You're over thinking this.

Jackie0 · 15/09/2015 12:15

Light hearted or not this is actually quite serious.
Did you give permission op?
I grew up in Belfast through the worst of the troubles and I can assure you no one of my background and generation would treat the disclosure of anyone's address or telephone number lightly.

totalrecall1 · 15/09/2015 12:16

I think it is irrelevant whether your house has a name or a number, as per quango I know plenty of people in large houses with numbers. However a name and a number is pretty pretentious. If you have a number you don't need a name.

murphys · 15/09/2015 12:19

What we really all want to know is - what is the name of your house?

Wink
LargeGoldAtrociousCunt · 15/09/2015 12:19

I would be fuming if my contact details were given out to random parents. I have had dc in schools now for 15 years and never heard of such a thing.

murphys · 15/09/2015 12:20

But I have to say I would be livid if my details were just handed out willy nilly. You must of agreed to this somewhere along the lines, a school wouldn't just dish out information like that.....

murphys · 15/09/2015 12:21

must have agreed..... before the grammar police start on me..... Wink

TwmSionCati · 15/09/2015 12:21

I have never, ever heard of it.

Ebony69 · 15/09/2015 12:24

My DCs attend a variation of state and independent schools. It is normal practice for independents to ask your consent for this information to be shared. It can be very useful, for instance when a child has lost an item at school to send a mass email to other parents. I have never encountered any difficulty with this.

Abraid2 · 15/09/2015 12:25

Totally normal for private schools. You perhaps ticked a box to opt in? Every year we have to sign various forms.

PolishRemoverOfNail · 15/09/2015 12:26

Most schools in our locality do this and it's opt in. It's not a big deal or breach of DPA so long as it's consented to.

The real question is what's your house name OP? And can MN think of a better one for you Wink

PinguForPresident · 15/09/2015 12:28

I'm guessing Independant school.

We had nothing like this when my daughter was at state school. Now she's at an independant and the class list came out with full contact details. HOwever we'd all agreed to them being shared and there's only 10 of them in the class, so they're hardly going to every Tom, Dick and Harry. No names houses on our list. We're all street & number. I expect we're lowering the tone horribly.

Janeymoo50 · 15/09/2015 12:29

What I want to know is who is the Celeb Telly Mum mentioned upthread...

slicedfinger · 15/09/2015 12:30

Most schools in our area do it, it is opt in, and very useful.

In the spirit of the OP however, I'd suggest you re-name your house to something uber fabulous, AND get it put on the list, OR come up with some spurious reason why you don't use the name (swingers/mass murder/fraud/roundheads etc associated with the name).

fredfredgeorgejnrsnr · 15/09/2015 12:31

Everyone who's confidently claiming that it's a breach - what specific part of the DPA is being breached?

I don't believe names and address is "sensitive personal data", so explicit consent is not actually required. It's quite possible that the registration and appropriate privacy notices exist such that the school is fine to do it. It may be objectionable to many, but the DPA does not provide the rules people often ascribe to it, as long as you tell people (and often just on the website is enough), and include it in your registration then you can share quite a lot with just about any one.

Ladymuck · 15/09/2015 12:31

At least one of Ds's classmates have their own postcode.

One of the mums is quite open about putting the class list through Zoopla every year.

BathTangle · 15/09/2015 12:32

We have this at my DCs' independent school. Celebrity comedian parent and famous news reporter parent included....(who both live at addresses with just street numbers btw). You are over thinking it, assuming that your consent was given.

TwmSionCati · 15/09/2015 12:34

" t least one of Ds's classmates have their own postcode."

That is not actually that hard. I think there are about five houses in ours. So what? we live rurally it doesnt mean we are loaded! And if some bitch put my address through Zoopla ......lol well she could do one.

NotYouNaanBread · 15/09/2015 12:38

Build a barn, stick children out there with the au-pair (who works 75 hours a week for 20p), and update school with new contact address - Othermum Barn, Middleton Road etc. Far easier for them to go through au-pair anyway, rather than troubling you, when you're busy looking up the other families on Zoopla anyway.

My DD's new school use schoolclasslist.com, which is v. useful. Like a mini facebook, opt in, and you can put as much/little info as you like.

TheRealAmyLee · 15/09/2015 12:39

I would go mental if my details were shared in this way but as I am assuming this is lighthearted may I suggest informing the school that you didn't realise full information had to be disclosed so you now wish to amend the list to reflect your true status which is thus:

Lady Katemiddletonsothermum Plonkington-Smythe III of Plonkington-Smythe Towers, 215 My Street etc.

Bonus points if you manage to refer to an orangery.

JohnCusacksWife · 15/09/2015 12:43

Where did the OP say this was done without permission??