Has the world gone mad?

[Onyuk100]

Little bit of background - my daughter's preschool shut unexpectedly in December so Jan she started a new one.
A few weeks into term I asked the teacher if I could have a few names (first names) of children my daughter plays with to invite to her party (she is 3 turning 4). The teacher initially said yes then the reception advised they are unable to even give out 1st names due to data protection and advised me to ask my daughter. Unfortunately my daughter has a slight speech delay and having not long started also doesn't know the names. In the end I just sent blank party invites and asked the teacher to place them in bags of who she plays with. Not many have replied maybe because they weren't named on invite specifically.
Now I have slightly older children at a different school and there school will give you a class list of 1st names only for party invites/Christmas cards.

So AIBU -
Unreasonable - my school won't give out 1st names
Reasonable - my school gives out 1st names

We would give out the first names and give the first letter of the second name if more than one child had the same
first name

I don't think that's the world going mad, that's someone in the nursery who doesn't really understand data protection/how to safely handle data. As you say yourself, your older kids school are happy to give out that information.

I have never had cause to ask, but if I did, I would not expect to be given names for privacy reasons.

Agree with you - someone here has over interpreted GDPR rules. If your child had done home and said they names, you would know them. It’s hardly some state secret. It’s normal information you can be expected to know through the course of your activities. Your poor dd 🥺

I’ve noticed British people have become more and more weirdly robotic and “computer says no” in recent years.

This was happening 15 years ago pre GDPR.

Have the first names, invite...

Other parents have got loads on and your party is the last thing on their mind.

My kids are adults now and having seen this nightmare, I would reply straight away.

I do think you're being melodramatic.

Please come to my party at
... Confirm to...

It's not working and I can't open my mouth and speak!

Seems bizzare to me. Names are often on pegs/hung up drawings etc. why would giving first names breach GDPR? There’s nothing identifying about that at all.
Wheb my DC were at school we got a full class list of full names, phone numbers, addresses etc. You had to consent to it and it was pre-GDPR, but it was very useful for invites/arranging playdates etc.

Of course nursery is being daft.

First names list.

If not a generic 'Daughter would love you to come to her party'

You're in control. If you can't manage invites and she had a shit day, it's not on the nursery 🙄

Sorry reading back does sound overdramatic. What I meant was because I don't know the kids names I can't even chase up for rsvp's as I have no idea which kids have been invited. Either way I am expecting them to turn up, they have party bags and luckily it's a party that doesn't really matter about RSVPs as it just has a max no. As a mum of 3 I know how busy parent life is and how things get forgotten

I did do that, it's just frustrating I don't know who is invited to be able to follow up with them. Not the end of the world but I do think in other circumstances like when kids like to write Christmas cards one child may miss out because there name isn't remembered which is slightly sad. Like others have said 1st names are on school pegs and if my child could talk properly I would know the names anyway.

I wasn't expecting full names just 1st names, like others have said if my daughter could talk I would know 1st names, likewise they are on pegs/drawers in some cases even with a child's picture

Oh no! I've got tea towels from when mine were at nursery years ago, where there is a self-portrait or hand print of every child in the class with their name underneath. Do I need to destroy them because of GDPR? 😂

ETA: I've just realised how old some of my tea towels are. 😳

My mum still has mine from a child too!

Years ago to find out information on people required effort. A large part of my career was based on information gathering. These days it’s at the touch of a few buttons. A full family name means a huge amount of information can be found easily. But I’m surprised first names can't be given.

This makes me feel old. My 15yo dd - before she even started school we were given the complete list of names (complete names) for both her class and the other class in the year group. It stayed on my fridge throughout primary and was really useful!

Me too! My adult DD found one the other day and we had a right laugh looking at all the drawings!!

My dd's nursery are really strict and wont even tell me the names of children she has played with. Even if she tells me a name they wont confirm or deny it.

I think they are so interesting as you can see various stages of development. They start off with a face that has arms and legs sticking out like Humpty Dumpty, then they go on to a stick man type drawing with a separate head and body, and then you get ones that have a proper hairstyle and hands with fingers.