School class lists

[afreshnewname]

My son has just started mornings in school, his school refuse to send out a list of (first) names in the class, although Iv been told they have done it every year up to now.

My plan was to go down the list and ask my son if he wanted each person to come to his party, our venue won't hold his entire class, Iv only heard two or three names so far of his friends when I ask about his day so I'm at a bit of a loss.

So aibu that this policy is not data protection, it's ridiculous?

Also, Any handy hints on gathering names gratefully received 😃

Schools are possibly being over cautious but there are key issues to remember here.
This is linked to safeguarding, which quite rightly, a huge issue within schools. GdPR comes on top of all the associated issues within that. Yes staff could lose their jobs if they get it wrong but a heart of it is children who it may cause real issues for.
Also school staff are on steep learning curve with GDPR. Things will lessen in time I am sure but people need to cut staff some slack in the meantime. They are just trying to do their jobs, at the heart of which is trying to care for and educate children

Our school wouldn’t even do it pre gdpr, I asked about 4 years ago for one of mine in reception to write Christmas cards and was told not allowed. I think it’s ott!

I'm not even sure how many kids are in his class, he wants a slime party which has min 8 kids max 15, I may have to try and sway him towards a whole class party at the leisure centre.
I hadn't wanted to influence him after giving him the options of parties, as it's his first proper birthday party that isn't just a family tea
This is turning into such a first world problem 🙈

Personally I'd be annoyed if my daughters school gave out a list of their names.

As for invites, just make generic one with party details on so that you don't have to put on a specific name.

Personally I'd be annoyed if my daughters school gave out a list of their names

Can I ask why, if it was just their first names? Not being goady, genuinely curious as I realise there may be issues I haven't considered.

My DCs school doesn't do class lists. When DS1 was in reception, his birthday was near the end of the first term and I was working FT, never getting near the school gates. I ended up sending in 29 invitations to "classmate". Even MI5 would have struggled to extract more than 5 names out of him.

The daft thing is that over time, you'll learn so many of the first names anyway. Not disclosing surnames, I can understand. A vulnerable child would have to have a very distinctive first name in order to be identified from that alone.

It’s not just about birthdays though - it’s about building a community. I’m a head teacher and I want the parents in my school to make connections whether they’re at the school gate every day or at work.

Just ask the teacher to put a generic party invite in everyone’s book bag asking parent to text you with child name and if they can or can’t come

I think this is what I'll have to do. Just a bit worried that if a child happens to be off ill that day then they/their parents would think we'd deliberately excluded them. I've seen so many threads on here about children getting upset because they're the only one not invited to a party and I'd hate to be responsible for that.

Personally I'd be annoyed if my daughters school gave out a list of their names

I am interested in why a list of the children's first names would be an issue. IME this information is available to see in almost any classroom (pegs, drawers, class work, etc) and with older children easy to compile simply by asking your own child the names of their classmates.

This isn't against any specific GDPR rules.

@MinisterforCheekyFuckery because I don't know if there is more than one of DDs name in her class (only just started) so in that case, surnames would have to be used to distinguish the children.

It also doesn't take much to have a class name and a list of pupils to fall into the wrong hands for stranger to go up to the school and same for example "I'm collecting NAME from class NAME as mummy can't make it"

Also (my child isn't one of them) some children are on these increased safety precautions.

I also don't find it appropriate. If you want to invite everyone in the class, just do a generic party invite for the teacher to pop in bags.

If I ever find out my daughters school has down this, I will be the first one in there complaining.

Schools shouldn't have done it under DPA I think GDPR has just made people wise up a bit. Even just first names can technically breach it because unless everyone in the class has the same name the first name will identify them alongside the class. Like most laws it's weighing up the risk, I imagine the most cautious way of managing this would be to gain consent as to whether parents are happy for children's names to be published and distributed, but is it worth that effort. We still got a full name class list this year.