Teacher hand delivered certificate usually given out in class.

[howmanycorners]

I don’t know what to make of this, dc is in primary school and every week someone gets a certificate.
Suddenly I saw my child’s teacher walk past the lounge window at about 8 pm and post a certificate through the door.
Aibu to find it a bit strange and wonder why she did this having had to look up our address and purposely drive to our house when all certificates are handed out in school and she would see my child in the morning?

Teachers often go out of their way to do things for children. Cant you just be pleased and thankful.

Why does the teacher need access to the pupils address - I know the school does but why the teacher?

Because all their details are on the system. You click on the name, you get the information.

I'm not sure why the business insurance post was made as some sort of 'gotcha'. My school also transports pupils in cars and of course we have business insurance. It costs all of about £4 extra a year. We provide evidence of this to the school. We're not idiots.

No, that's not why schools have students' addresses on file. It's not to "support full access to learning", whatever that word salad means.

Addresses are held as part of the admissions process, for prearranged home visits, emergencies and written communication. Not for the purposes of being accessed because a teacher wants to make an unarranged visit to deliver a certificate.

Accessing the electoral register is perfectly legal and something we are all entitled to do.

So again, what is the difference? If anything accessing the electoral register in this hypothetical is more defensible, because as a voter you can opt out of the open register. But as a parent you can't opt out of your details being accessed for non emergency reasons.

What? The teacher needs access because they have access? What?

Yes I agree a very different situation. I was just responding to you stating the teacher who popped round has a DBS (therefore presumably safe for her to have access to the child's address).

I was making the point a DBS isn't worth the paper it's written on. Its as good as the day it was done only.

Perhaps schools shouldn't make it mandatory and spend £millions on it then?
Although all the evidence confirms that it has made a significant improvement in child protection.

Ok. The teacher goes on to the registration system. The students name, plus all their details are available.
They don't "need access because they have access". I'm not sure where you got that from, or even what it means. They have access because they are teachers in the school.

I got it from you. Another poster asked why a teacher (as opposed to the school) needs access.

You replied because their details are on the system, so the teacher can click and get the details.

So, you were answering the question "why does a teacher need access?" With "Because they have access".

It's really not a word salad.
Why so hostile?.
I don't think this conversation is very productive, I'm trying to explain things, so I don't get your unpleasant responses.
Schools operate in this way. You don't like it? Take it up with the DfE.
I'm done.

Your reaction to this is exactly why wonderful, hard working school staff are leaving the profession is their droves. Please reconsider your view on this and don’t be so suspicious and hating on this teacher. Do you have any idea how hard they work????

It is weird. There’s no rationale explanation, and it seems there must be an underlying reason for her to go out of her way at 8pm to bring over something so unnecessary. The certificate is clearly the cover story for whatever she was actually up to. People calling you out for being paranoid likely haven’t experienced a school parent blaming, behaving unlawfully etc. I’d be asking whether the visit was authorised by the school, and under what policy.

Why won't you engage with the actual point I'm making?

Would it be ok for a parent to go to a teacher's house, or is that overstepping boundaries?

I don't understand why you need the info though? Information should be accessed on a need to know basis. I can't see how a teacher needs to know a pupils address. But even if the teacher can gain access, they need to use that information in an appropriate way. The address information belongs to the parent too - they have a right to privacy. I just don't understand - someone else mentioned earlier that everyone who works in a school has access to all a child's person info - that seems excessive and unnecessary.
I hold info for all our employees - their managers would not have access to their address, the company owner does not have access to their address - none of them need it - so unless there is a good reason and the owner of the info has agreed I would not be sharing it and that includes for nice things too - like celebrating their birthday, sending them a bottle of champagne to congratulate them on their engagement etc.

Take it to the ICO. Where the teacher will no doubt argue legitimate interest and that she was performing an administrative part of her job. Or get a life. Whichever.

I'll never understand why people ask for opinions online, it's self torment on a different level (I don't imagine this thread has provided any succour OP, it'll have done the opposite!).

@howmanycorners I'd suggest that lots of people would feel mild discomfort at their child's teacher arriving at their home mid/late evening for no vital reason; it's weird and not at all usual. Some people have more considered social skills than others, it's nothing more than that though hence not worthy of question/worry (I'd also suggest that the judgemental, cancel culture rhetoric which permeates social media probably puts otherwise rational people on edge when it comes to innocent occurrences).

If she hadn’t popped it around, would you then have been in here complaining that your child hadn’t received their certificate? And people wonder why teachers get oissed off and leave. She didn’t even knock on the door so as not to disturb you. Thoughtless cow. 🙄

Why do I need to get a life?

I'm simply interested in whether people think it would be ok for a parent to go to a teacher's house, or whether they would consider that to be overstepping boundaries.

She would have access at school via the communication system like Bromcom. All teachers, head and senior office staff do.

What part of the parent’s professional role do you imagine they would be fulfilling by visiting the teacher?

I've dropped things round at my kids' teachers' houses on many occasions. Sometimes that's all that happened, sometimes we've (gasp!), had a bit of a chat. I've even been inside a few times, and I didn't see any Beautiful Mind-style wall displays featuring photos of parents taken with a telephoto lens, but then maybe they keep that in the basement with the chloroform and cable ties and stuff. But it's becoming apparent that I live in some weird parallel universe where teachers are just members of the community; people...that teach, and not some strange 'other' breed of person that must be kept separate because 'professionalism' or whatever other batshit and quite sad reasons have been espoused on this bonkers thread.

I've worked in teaching and healthcare. In healthcare some of us had access to every patient's GP data in not only one GP surgery but the whole Primary Care Network, including address. If we accessed a healthcare record for any reason that wasn't very obviously necessary and within the scope of our role, it would be a big problem.

It would be an issue if one of us looked up a patient's address and dropped round some non urgent forms at 8pm rather than posted or rang them quickly beforehand. This would still be true even if some people thought it was 'lovely'.

None whatsoever.

I'm talking about a hypothetical scenario in which a parent obtains a teacher's address through legitimate means, and then visits that address to deliver a card because they think it's a kind thing to do.

Would that be overstepping boundaries? Would the teacher be justified in feeling uncomfortable?

One of my dc's teachers told me she didn't work locally because her pupils knew where she lived and came around to her house to offer to wash her car- it made her feel very uncomfortable. I don't think I'd drop by someone's house I knew in a professional capacity without getting their ok on it first - I don't think I'm alone in that.