School sharing our contact details with other parents

[O0yghbv4]

My daughter is going to start reception at an independent school this September. We recently received a party invitation from a parent whose kid is going to the same school. It was posted to our home address. We never met. We don’t know them and they don’t know us. So it must be the school who told them that my daughter is starting this school and our contact details. While it’s great to meet up with future school friends, we feel a bit odd that the school shared the information without our consent. Is it Ok that school shares your contact details with other parents without your consent?

No.

Could it be that the school sent them? Long shot but just wondering with it being an indie they might be more accommodating to that kind of thing.

Is it possible the parent asked the school to post them out on their behalf?

I’d have thought giving out names and addresses is a huge GDPR violation if parents haven’t given consent.

Have you asked the school how it happened, because that would be the easiest route to start with?

Our school does this but with permission at the start of the year. They do it because party invitations are not allowed to be passed out in school. It’s great we just text the invite now 🙌

Our school has posted out invites in the past for reception children.

Normal at an indie I would think the parent asked the school to mail out. We had to fill in a form with address and tel numbers which was distributed as a class list not for commercial endeavour.

I wondered if the school has mailed them out on behalf of the parents. It seems more likely than them giving loads of addresses out.

Would a school really be happy to sit and write names and addresses on a load of party invitations though? Not sure that’s what the office staff should be spending their time doing.

Missing the point a bit here but I think it's a bit odd that the party mum is happy to invite people she has never met to her daughter's point

I too would guess the school sent them.
It’s nice that they’re willing to do this and with a child whose birthday is in the first week of the new school year I understand how weird it is.

My DC's school shared contact info. which was useful but I'm fairly sure you had the option to opt out.

Given the cost of postage, what school would offer to do this?

I would imagine that the parent supplied the invites in envelopes with a stamps on SaraClara.

If your details have been shared then it is a GDPR breach. You should have to give your consent for personal information to be shared - a conscious opt in. Opt out is also no longer a valid option with the introduction of GDPR.

TheInvisibleMrsCrane
That would be my guess too.
And in terms of putting some addresses on, I can imagine an independent would ne more willing to do that.

I would speak to the school. In theory they could have addressed them If the parent sent the stamps in, otherwise that's a days breech.

Data

The parent might have supplied invites in stamped envelopes and the school sent them.

(I think it's lovely if the school were prepare to do that)

Pretty standard at an Indie. Parents are encouraged to interact socially, she is probably the parent class rep. We were invited to gatherings over the summer holiday by class reps to get to know one another before starting at primary. Also, very normal for office to send out invites for new starters, once school starts then the norm these days seems to be for everyone to opt in to Class List.

once school starts then the norm these days seems to be for everyone to opt in to Class List.

Maybe so, but emphasis on the opting, surely?

I would be surprised if school staff would sit and address envelopes for presumably every class member, for a child's party. However I'd be much more surprised (and worried) if they'd supplied a list of addresses to another parent without your consent.

Have you got a distinctive surname? I've found people in the phone book before now and they've been very suspicious how I'd found their address until I showed them.

If your daughter is starting reception you will likely have filled out all the forms already and likely some contain something about this! Otherwise yes it would be a breach. It’s absolutely standard for data to be shared and rare to opt out but you definitely should have been asked.