Bl**dy Data Bl**dy Protection Bl**dy Act!

[PrettyCandles]

Why can't I know the names of ds's classmates?

What do you need them for?

Oh, just the usual perversion: birthday party invitations. Shocking innit.

To get around this, myself and another Mummy, put together a class list. with addresses and telephone numbers.

Would you believe it, Sherlock, I've tried this but been forbidden from doing it!

I find the DPA to be a bit like that line the teachers used to use - "one bad person has spoilt it for the rest of you". There are lots of harmless reasons for wanting personal details but the fear factor now over rides everything else.
Could the teacher assist by handing out invites to everyone in class?

Not much use atm, but maybe something to consider in September.

I don't like the idea of handing out nameless invitations - it seems too impersonal. And, if I don't know people's names, how can I know who's responded and whom to chase up?

Well that is ridiculous {sp}

We just did a letter and asked all the parents to fill out the slip at the end and handed it around outside in the playground.

Nothing to do with school, none of our business to quote our HeadMaster.

Our school will give out a list of first names for each class, with initial of surname if needed.

Data Protection surely only kicks in when it is stuff like addresses and phone numbers. You don't need those for party invites.

Oh FGS. I think officialdom often uses DPA/Health and Safety etc. etc. as an excuse when in fact the Acts say nothing of the sort. It's the same way the UK authorities always gold-plate EU Directives while other countries ignore the bits they don't like.

If you want to prove a point, then why don't you contact the Information Commissioner's office, and ask them whether this is a correct interpretatio of the rules? Bet it isn't.

That's what I asked for, SG, but ooooh no.

What really pisses me off (sorry for the language! ) is that the school know ds has had difficulty settling in. He arrived just before the end of the spring term, and while he has settled down to the classwork very well, he feels very lonely. Why oh why won't they help me help him get to know people and be happier? We know virtually nobody in the town - I'm slowly making contacts, but ds needs connections in his school, not just his little sister's siblings.

little sister's friends' siblings

I would stand outside the classroom door and ask each parent as I saw them.

I think our school would be hard pressed to use the Data wotsit as an excuse since they stick the names of all the kids on the class photo every year and then try to flog it to us at a stupid price.

Would if I could, but the playground is an absolute menagerie at pick-up time, and I've really struggled to identify which parent belongs to which child.

reading stG's post - do you have a class photo? could you not just go through it with your child and ask the name of each child? or look at the names on their coat pegs?

I was going to suggest coat pegs myself. Our school gives out a class list from the office on request from parents.

We are registered with the DPA as an educational establishement. There is nothing in the act to say that you can not give out a list of first names, full names and addresses would be a different matter. If this was the case then work would not be allowed to be displayed with names(we actually call a register with the parents present). Technically speaking they should get all paretns to sign a slip giving permission to have their child's name given out.

However dd's nursery told me that they no longer give names out because some parents complained about party invites, they used to tell you who your child's closest friends were, then apparently children who were missed out got upset etc etc so they made the decision not to get involved with invitations in anyway.

If you as a parent wanted to make such a list independantly of the school there would be nothing to stop you, as an individual you would not come under the DPA.

If you can't do this then how about writing the names down from the cloakroom pegs.

Am amazed at this - our school happily gave a list of all the names of children in DD's class at Xmas time. (surnames as well!)

Does everyone else's school refuse to give out names?

At DD's school, the PTA rep produces a list showing children's first name,last name, Carer's name and Carer's contact details (phone, email).

Our school put a copy of the name part of the register in the window of each class at christmas to assist with card writting. I am fairly certain that if I went to the school office and explained that I was throwing a party for my daughters class they would give me a list of names.

Flabberghasted!
DDs' nursery happily posted a list of names (and surnames) on the door for Christmas card lists.
Perhaps someone will now track them down and prosecute?!
And all you want to do is invite them to a party!!
Would school let you put a poster up on a notice board inviting parents to give you a call if they would like their child to come?

The PTA are useless in this school. I would like to join - if only to address this issue - but I can't even find out when they meet! I get the feeling the PTA is one particular woman and her friends. She's deeply uninterested in helping me with this, or any other getting-to-know-people.

Love the idea of putting a poster up - I just bet the school would have a problem with it. I may not be a PTA mum, but they probably think I'm a PITA mum over this names business.

Can your DS not manage to tell you any of the names?

He won't know them all, as they mix the forms up when they go from Reception to Y1. It's an unreliable method, anyway, and, as I want to invite the whole class, I don't want to risk upsetting children or offending parents by missing out anybody.

What a PITA.