When did no surnames become a thing?

[jewelcase]

There are bigger problems in the world, sure. But it was my younger DD’s school play the other night. The Y8s do a play every year, and this was hers.

In the programme, they listed the cast. But they only put first names. The school newsletter is the same. No surnames.

When did this start, and why is it a thing? I guess for some kind of safeguarding reason, but what’s the risk? It just seems to infantilise the kids, and you can’t tell one kid from another with the same name.

Is my kids’ school the only one? I suspect not.

AIBU to want surnames back?

Yes. My casual query about why there are no surnames in the school play programme means that I am firmly of the view that nothing bad can ever happen to children and that nobody needs or has a right to privacy.

Many, many years ago, my name and photo was in the local newspaper for a school netball match I think.

One day my mum called me to the phone, as there was a call for me.
To my primary aged self, it was an old man, and he proceeded to ask me what colour pants I was wearing.

I was a bit surprised, to say the least, and put the phone down, and told my Mum.

I don’t think she did anything about it, or phoned the school. ( to alert them, to warn other parents, would have been something I would have done as an adult)

I did wonder why, when she answered the phone and heard a strange adult man, she didn’t ask who it was who wanted to speak to me ?

Or the ability to use a search engine before asking a draft question?

I remember back in “olden times” when every kid got their full name and their GCSE results published in the local paper!

The most obvious safeguarding risk would be if mum flees abusive partner. And he is now trying to track down her and the kids. One of his relatives shares the program of the play on social media saying “I’m so proud of my kid” and abusive ex sees the program also includes his kids names. Now he knows their school and can follow them home or try to collect them etc.

similar for kids in foster care or any who need to maintain privacy.

At my childs school we were told at any event by the head prior to the start under no circumstances to share pictures on social media of the children and childrens first names only were used.
My assumption was that there were children and families unders serious risk of harm if they were found. I assume this is not every school, but I would also assume if say a child is in witness protection or under care of a foster family or mum has been moved to a shelter that the police would have notified the school to put in place certain additional measures.
Editing to add that there were a lot of police families in the area too, so could also be that they need to add additional protection for their children.

God if we all had to use search engines before asking daft questions then the Mumsnet forum would lose about 95% of its activity.

In the school I was working at it changed about 7ish years ago from full name stickers on the front of books to first name and initial of surname and everywhere else. GDPR/safeguarding reasons. On artwork that went up around the school, in programmes for plays, in newsletters that were published on the website, everywhere.
Almost tripped up a colleague who was told to go and get John S to have a chat as he had been struggling with his parents divorce (although thankfully she realised just in the nick of time!).

It’s not tiny and trivial though OP, many people have given you examples here about safeguarding and you’re not respecting them even if you say ‘safeguarding deserves respect’

Protecting someone’s safety and privacy may be an ‘annoyance’ to you but it’s a damn sight more important to them. It’s not detrimental to anyone and certainly doesn’t infantilise children. It’s a really serious issue which affects a lot more people than you think and you’re lucky not to realise why it exists. Give your head a wobble

Well I asked that my children's' full names not appear because DH worked with mentally disordered offenders and I was not keen for some of them who had committed really serious crimes to know where our kids went to school - and there were a couple that obsessively tried to track our address.

Also there may be someone at the school who is escaping DV etc

You said in your OP that you assumed it was a safeguarding thing what more do you need?

You then went on to say that you want surnames of children you don't know made public.

Not overly casual tbf

I agree that just having first names looks infantilising, whatever the reason.
It’s interesting that not all schools believe it’s necessary.

DD has never been in a play but full names are on the yearly class photos from both her nursery and primary school.

More accurately, it's because of the school's choice of how to interpret data protection law.

A typical guideline is "two or more pieces of information that uniquely identify an individual", and this can also be contextual.

There's also the threshold.of "is it necessary?" Since it is obviously not necessary for anyone who doesn't already know the child (or know that Tom the shepherd is your kid's friend vs Tom the innkeeper) to see their surname printed, it's fine not to include it, privacy by default.

My daughter was sexually abused by her father before the age of 3. He raped and abused me also.

Her father is a paedophile who has sexually abused all his children. But has not been convicted. We have been in refuges twice, and temporary safety places.

My fear is that those people who take photos of their kids at school, a photo of their kids name in a production will also be opening up the possibility of a dangerous man knowing the exact school my child is at, when they plaster it all over their Facebook and social media.

So I'm very sorry you're upset by surnames whilst I'm trying to keep my daughter safe from kidnap, rape and God knows what.

I respect them in that I’m not gonna do anything about it. It’s not like I’m starting petitions or complaining to the school. I literally just posted a query on a forum.

i just wonder whether the safeguarding risk is overdone.

Some schools clearly don’t share the same views on this as others, and some are citing GDPR rather than safeguarding.

I don’t particularly care. I was just curious. If people think their kids are at risk then OK. But I do sometimes think that ‘safeguarding’ is a word used to shut down things without actually thinking if it’s justified.

I know a child who was fostered then adopted. They can't be posted online - no photos with faces and definitely no surname as this would give clue to their adoptive family if anyone found it. This is to protect them from their abusive and dangerous birth family. So, I can imagine a school just taking a blanket stance

Yes, it's dangerous, especially if you put the school/dance company/running club etc details. Too many nutters out there who would try to then track them down. Why risk it?

It also depends doesn’t it - Hoodies etc are always just first name but surnames for yearbooks (one year there weren’t names and it wasn’t well received) since then it needs parental permission. In DDs year one child was just first name for safeguarding procedures

it is odd though because pupils have access to all this information both of mine have teams and another has outlook as well and both of those contain first name surname and pictures of the pupils. Parents can access it but the kids can

But would you want a man who was imprisoned for creating indecent images of children, telling you that he knew your child’s full name and where they went to school? Because that’s what would have potentially happened to me if my child’s full name was on the school website. To me yes, that justifies not using their surnames.

It's for safeguarding reasons. I don't need to know if Jamie's mum is in prison or if Molly's dad was in the daily mail because his child was banned from prom. Or that Oliver and his mum have fled domestic abuse.

My dc school have first names and initial of surnames. They do that for everyone although I find it a bit amusing when I see my unusual named child in the newsletter as Methuselah F, as if the was just 1 of many children called Methuselah in year 8.

No idea, full names were given 8 years ago when mine were at school

Singles out kids if one or two are surnameless, it’s easier to just do them all. when i was at school early 2000s my best friend was a foster kid and things were single name for that reason, and that’s before everyone had a camera phone and could snap programmes and upload them on fb etc.

A parent leaving a domestic abuse situation, potentially moved the kids to a new school absolutely cannot take the risk of their child being found by the other parent…amongst many other reasons….this is also why you won’t be allowed to take photos.
That child, or a looked after child’s safety trumps any moment of glory for wee Johnny

You could just choose another surname?

But surely this is privacy as well as safeguarding? These children are individuals that are too young to consent, but when they’re 30 they might not want people to be able to find their name on the internet attached to the school they went to - that’s their personal information to do with as they see fit. And given there is zero benefit to putting the names on there it seems sensible just not to do it.

It’s not infantilising at all, many actors don’t put their real full names on the credits of their movies and TV shows, many workers won’t share their surname with their customers, many women go by different surnames at work and home after marriage - keeping your privacy is a perfectly legitimate thing to do in the adult world too…

In fact it is so prevalent that I was reading an article recently about how often nowadays we don’t know people’s surnames such that we are changing how people are known socially.. it’s how common to have “John Plumber” saved in your phone for your plumber called John when you don’t know his surname but his occupation is more useful to you, or “Tom Peter’s Son” for your colleague’s child that you’ve been in touch with to give careers advice. It’s how we got a lot of surnames in the past, and it’s interesting to see this coming full circle!

It depends on the child's circumstances. My child's father doesn't know things about my child for safeguarding reasons and I'm very cautious about what information goes out relating to him, especially since names are so easily traceable online now. Consider yourself lucky this is something only occurring to you now. To me this shows that the school has solid safeguarding awareness and takes the privacy of their pupils seriously in an inclusive way.