To report the school to the ICO?

[OrangeCrushes]

My ex is abusive. There is a current situation going on where he has shown the school that he is dangerous to me and my child.

From day one, I have asked the school not to share my address with my ex.

Today I learned that the school HANDED MY EX AN ENVELOPE TO GIVE ME WHICH HAS MY ADDRESS ON IT.

What should I do? I feel so unsafe.

First I'd call the non emergency police number and explain what's happened and that you feel unsafe. Ask that they note a fast response if you call.

Speak to the headteacher about the disclosure and ask how they will prevent this happening again. If you're not satisfied contact ICO.

But also have you seen women's aid? It sounds like you could really do with support.

Also if you think it's needed they can help you to apply for a non molestation order to keep him Away from you. If he comes near you he can be arrested.

Well, it’s after midnight and I assume he hasn’t tuned up at your house? If you’ve locked up and gone to bed, everything should be fine for now.
If you have real reason to fear him then do as above and speak with the police, then look into a non-molestation order.

You should then make a formal complaint with the school and find out about their process regarding separated parents and data sharing to ensure this cannot happen with anything else.

That's actually quite poor of them, they should be on top of these types of issues as they arise quite often. You should make a complaint.

So your DCs dad doesn’t know where they live? Have the police issued some sort of restraining order, or whatever it’s called, against him? Also, I’d be more concerned that he’s shown the school that he’s a danger to you and your child and yet they still allow him on the premises and hand your child over to him. How on earth has that happened???

They've made a terrible mistake. But they won't have done it on purpose. But yes you need to complain, you need to make it clear how much this puts you at risk.

That's awful. I hope you're OK. Please do speak to police.
I terms of the school, I would write to the head teacher, CCing Chair of Governors, and Designated Safeguarding Lead. Make it clear you're raising a formal complaint about a serious data breach.
I would seek a meeting with all of them to agree what can be done about the breach (an apology, school should report the breach to ICO, steps taken to ensure safety of your DC at school in case ex turns up) and what school will do to ensure this never happens to anyone again.

Update

I have contacted the school. The headteacher made an unreserved apology which I accepted. She explained why it won't happen again.

We have an ongoing relationship and it's really important for me not to enter into an adversarial sort of position against them. But it was definitely incredibly upsetting.

I know the head teacher has said it won't happen again but it's too late now. He has your address.

I'd make a formal complaint. This had the potential to have serious repercussions!

I'd put it in writing politely to the school. More of a this has happened, what procedures are going to be put in place to avoid this happening again.

The school should have reported it to the ICO anyway so you aren't doing anything wrong by reporting it to the ICO. You could always ask the school to confirm they would have reported to the ICO. The school should be paying for measures to help you feel safer at home if needed (eg CCTV) People have even had their whole costs of a house move covered.

As importantly I hope you are getting advice and guidance from the police too. And you may well be entitled to compensation, I realise you might not want to go down that route but the school (or their advisors) will know this

You need to follow up in writing with head - if it's all been done in person or over the phone, they can theoretically deny any knowledge or responsibility. Follow the school's complaints procedure carefully, or write directly to the Chair of Governors stating the events and asking for it to be noted in schools records.

Well done @OrangeCrushes
I still think you should put it in writing. You can let the head know that's what you're doing and why. The head will understand. It's not adversarial. It's about protecting the school and its community and following the school's procedures. School must 100% report this to ICO. I would ask for confirmation of this.

I just wanted to let you know you’re not alone as I’m in a similar position this week.

From what I’ve learnt so far the school have a duty to report the breach to the ICO themselves within 72 hours if they don’t they face hefty fines and will likely be fined for the breach itself anyway.

The data protection officer should have spoken to you about the breach, what they’ve done about it and offer you support in handling the consequences of their breach etc. The schools website should have the data protection notice on there and they have a duty to make sure the data protection officers contact details are on it. It’s illegal for schools not to have appointed a data protection officer at all times:

If school don’t know your ex well ask them did they get ID to verify their identity? It’s scary that literally anyone who knows your child’s name and school can get access to private data if the school don’t check they are who they say they are. Also if you want to complain to the department of education you need to go thought the schools formal complaints procedure first.

My best advice is have EVERYTHING in writing from now on as my head teacher is already changing the story to cover their back.

Call 101 if you haven’t done already because you don’t want the schools safeguarding officer to do it for you and later have school imply you didn’t do enough to protect yourselves and of course you do also genuinely need to protect yourself and child just in case anyway. Ask them to put a flag on your phone number so if god forbid you do need to call emergency services the call handler will have details of the situation on the system Get in touch with women’s aid and ask the police if you qualify for a domestic abuse worker if you don’t currently have one. They can support you and arrange for CCTV to be installed at your home for free to help protect yourself if you need it. If you’re in the process of family court proceedings let CAFCASS know and also get in touch with the MASH team as again this is something the school will likely do and you don’t want them to set the narrative.

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. I know first hand the stress and anxiety this puts parents through. I hope everything works out ok.