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?

I would classify it as a letterbox delivery, rather than an in person visit.

Yes, the teacher visited the house. Obviously.
What she didn’t do by any sensible definition was ‘visit the family at home’. She didn’t visit the family for a start. Or see ‘the home’. Just the outside front and letterbox.

I receive quite a lot of things through my letterbox and mine alone.
Christmas cards from parishioners - I am a parish councillor
Cheques and cards from clients - I am the chair of a local charity
dh is treasurer of a local church and also receives receipts and various other bits of paperwork through the letterbox on a weekly basis.
I would not class any of these events as a visit. Quite often we are not at home when these items are delivered so if they were planing a ‘visit’ they would probably want to check first that we would be in.

I would classify a "letterbox delivery" as something impersonal. Like the takeaway leaflet example.

Bear in mind the OP's child saw the teacher out of the window and the teacher waved. Not because they thought it would be nice to wave at a child, but because they knew them. It wasn't just an letterbox delivery, it was a specific
visit with the aim of making a delivery.

If the teacher hand delivered two certificates, would they both be visits?

Yes. It wouldn't be the number that makes something a visit, it's the nature of the action. If each involved accessing the pupil's address, and travelling to those addresses, and physically approaching the child's home, that's a visit. Doesn't matter if it's one certificate or 30 really. It's doesn't magically become impersonal mass delivery

So if x posts the collection receipt through my letterbox and I happen to be washing up in the kitchen and they wave at me - that’s a visit?
If x posts the collection receipt through my letterbox and they don’t see me because I’m in the bedroom (and there is no friendly wave) is that still a visit?
I do feel it’s vital to be completely accurate with regard to what constitutes a visit.

If they post the certificate through the door when they know the family are out, are they still visiting the family?

I like your thinking. IMO it’s really important to drill down on this ‘visit’ definition.

Are people unaware that you can visit a place or even just a house and not necessarily a person?

I don't know what x and collection receipts mean, so I can't comment on that.

I'm not sure it really is that vital to define the word "visit" here. It's just something the YABUs have latched onto to try and dismantle an argument.

It doesn't really matter. Call it a letterbox delivery, call it a visit, call it Jeff. Whatever you call it it was a clear breach of GDPR and the OP was entitled to find the situation odd.

Evidently so.

We have funny street numbering, which means we get post for people in nearby houses. I don’t want them to think I’m visiting when I’m just sticking it through the door. They might feel obliged to get the gypsy creams out.

am aware, but thanks for the helpful reminder.
i can visit an exhibition, i can visit a museum, i can visit a site on the internet…

I take it your child wasn't at school that day m. Did you give a reason? Do you think they suspected you were not telling the truth? Sometimes teachers make a safeguarding visit to see that the child is home with family. We have done them before when a parent didnt phone about the child’s absence in the morning and didnt return calls. It’s to check the child is ok. But that would involve actually knocking on your door to get sight of the child.

You, you mean? You are the one insisting that touching a house is exactly the same thing as visiting the family at home.
I quite clearly said they visited the house but didn’t make a home visit.

Happily not odd enough to query further. And lo, another teacher roams the UK carrying out random visits and breaching data protection without ever knowing she’s done anything wrong. Sad times.

So op did you ask the teacher today why they ‘ invaded your privacy’ ?

To clarify the situation for you.
x is person unknown
collection receipt is a receipt for the church collection.
so with this additional knowledge are both the examples I gave ‘visits’?

I think if they see you and you wave they are obliged to get the hobnobs out. A gypsy cream just doesn’t not cut it in this situation.
edited for typo

I've said no such thing.

I'm still not entirely sure what you mean by person unknown, but if you mean that somebody has come to your house specifically, to deliver something meant only for you, and this isn't part of some kind of mass local anonymous delivery, then yes, it's a visit.

Visit is correct language. Consider the formality of a news report or court transcript for example:

"My client visited the address to carry out the work agreed, but the homeowners were not in."

Or "The defendant visited the property several times prior to breaking in".

Do either of these sentences that don't involve contact with the person inside sound incorrect?

So you agree the teacher just visited the address/ the property in much the same way as any other delivery person would visit the property. They didn’t however visit the family. Correct?

So it’s visiting the property, not the person.
so in the teacher scenario - the teacher visited the property, not the family. Yes?

What a considerate teacher, your child is lucky.