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Primary education

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Original poster

Is this really a breach of data or just plain ridiculous???

128 replies

ishouldprobablygettherapy · 11/10/2023 16:40

So I need to send birthday party invites out fairly soon. My daughter has not long started reception. I've asked the teacher yesterday morning if I can please have a list of either all of the children in the class with the girls highlighted, or just a list of the girls. So I am able to write the invites with my daughter.
This is a fairly normal question - in my opinion.. as how else would you go about it ? (No school WhatsApp groups etc)
She told me this was probably not possible, and they will have to essentially hold a talk about this, as handing out the children's names is not allowed.
I can somewhat understand.. but on the other hand I find it ridiculous.
When I was at school (which isn't really that long ago) we are able to request register lists from the teacher to play with at breaks, lunchtimes ... and they weren't accounted for and nearly always came home.
Forgive me if I'm being stupid... but I cannot think of another way to go about doing the invites without having the children's names !!
What do I do?

OP posts:
MidnightOnceMore · 11/10/2023 17:23

When I was at school (which isn't really that long ago) we are able to request register lists from the teacher Times change! GDPR has been excellent for protecting privacy, which is much more necessary due to the internet.

KatyN · 11/10/2023 17:28

Not convinced this is gdpr (whilst it gets blamed for a lot).
However it is absolutely due to safeguarding. What if a child in your class was from an abusive family and could not share her name outside of the school?

My school don't do invitations in classrooms because there is too much upset about 'they got invited and I didn't' and it distracts from the school's purpose.

GetTheGoodLookingGuy · 11/10/2023 17:51

I work in a school and we can't give out a list. If you asked us how many children in the class/how many boys/how many girls we would be able to tell you and you could send your child with the right number of blank invites. I would try this with your school.

We have a class list (first names only) which lives on our wall in the classroom all year round as each child is assigned a number and all their stationery is numbered rather than named, so children can look at the list and reunite lost things which the right child. At Christmas, we make a big thing of "we can't give you a class list, but we couldn't stop you coming over here and copying this list down", but obviously that wouldn't work with younger children.

Figgygal · 11/10/2023 17:53

My sons school went from a full list, to a list of first names to now not issuing anything at all for same reason so seems not unusual

Stroopwaffels · 11/10/2023 17:54

My eldest is 20, youngest is 14, we were never given a list of children's names and the school made it clear they would not get involved with party invitations in any way.

jenpil · 11/10/2023 17:56

evergreener · 11/10/2023 17:04

I am a secondary teacher, and I am not allowed to have a list of class names in my planner. Children are not allowed to write their full names onto their exercise books, or on their work on the walls

Bloody hell, that's taking it to extremes.

We'll all just be given numbers next....

Slothlikemum · 11/10/2023 18:00

As soon as they start using something like Google classroom you can see the whole class list anyway

ObsessedWithZach · 11/10/2023 18:00

Ask at school office staff instead of the class teacher, they were always ok with giving out a list of first names here.

tenbob · 11/10/2023 18:00

My DC’s school sends a class list around a week before term starts with first names and surnames of all pupils in their class

It has this disclaimer at the bottom:

”Due to data regulations, we are unable to share your information with other parents. However, your PTA rep’s email address is at the top of this sheet, so please email them to share your preferred contact details. This will then be collated and shared with the other class parents to help you arrange playdates or social gatherings, as well as inform you about other PTA related news.”

The PTA rep then creates a whatsapp group and does a spreadsheet of parent contact details which is shared on the group

But we get the names of all the pupils in our childrens’ classes directly from school

Qilin · 11/10/2023 18:01

We can't officially hand out lists if children's banes to parents.
However, all have agreed to being on the password protected education website, which has private personal pages and a class blog. On the blog page you can see a list of each child in that class, their first name and a small photograph (if they've agreed to the shared photograph.) so they can technically obtain the names from there.

CyberCritical · 11/10/2023 18:03

GDPR considers data to be PII if it can identify a unique individual, so a list of first names wouldn't be a breach unless one of the people on the list has a first name so unique that when combined with the general area of the country you could find the child.

Having said that it's not bad to be excessively careful.

Just send 30 invites without names on, give your mobile number asking people to RSVP by [enter date] and you'll learn names as you go. Make a list yourself from that if you plan to do Xmas cards. That's what I've done, have kept it over the years and get DD to update me on any new starters or leavers. A good way to get the names from a little kid is to ask 'who sits on your table, who sits on the table next to you....' and then any time they mention a name offhand when talking about break/lunch/Pe quickly check you have it on your list.

ImInACage · 11/10/2023 18:03

What you have to remember is, that there very well be children who are in care, or have been adopted from abusive environments in the class, for whom it would be positively dangerous to have their whereabouts discovered. It might seem like harmless information to anyone who has never experienced that, but for that child it could mean uprooting their entire life, changing school, moving home etc etc.

Iwasafool · 11/10/2023 18:04

Seems odd to me, I mean the kids hear each others names every day, it's hardly a secret. First names don't really give much away unless a child has a truly unique name.

Iwasafool · 11/10/2023 18:06

ImInACage · 11/10/2023 18:03

What you have to remember is, that there very well be children who are in care, or have been adopted from abusive environments in the class, for whom it would be positively dangerous to have their whereabouts discovered. It might seem like harmless information to anyone who has never experienced that, but for that child it could mean uprooting their entire life, changing school, moving home etc etc.

Would their first name really give their location away? I can understand first and second name which would narrow things down considerably but being Jack in reception isn't much of a giveaway. As I said unless the name is truly unique.

Squiblet · 11/10/2023 18:07

I had to produce an entire y6 yearbook without a list of pupils' names. It kept me awake nights, worrying that I might have missed one out.

Unescorted · 11/10/2023 18:07

By attending the Teams event at which you know your name is visible you are consenting to that information being shared with other participants.

The teacher in the original post most likely does not have that consent from the children or the parents of the children to share their information with other people in the manner the original poster is going to use it. Further the teacher has no control over the data once it is shared with the op.

SahliJ · 11/10/2023 18:07

Some schools don't get involved at all. No lists, no handing out invitations. Far too much going on and yet another job.

Get your daughter to think about those children she knows. This is a great indicator of friends, she can with your help write the names. Or get her to stand, beginning and end of school and give out her invitations (named or not) .

OppsUpsSide · 11/10/2023 18:07

First names only are fine to give, people just get antsy about DP and apply in incorrectly

Iwasafool · 11/10/2023 18:09

Thinking back to when mine were at school I could have got all the names from their coat pegs or book tray in the classroom.

SuddenlyISee · 11/10/2023 18:10

My son's reception class did this but I asked a friend who is a TA at the school and she got one for me. I then got permission from the other parents to share it on our class WhatsApp group. I'd hate to miss someone out when doing party invitations or Christmas cards.

CyberCritical · 11/10/2023 18:10

Oh and if your school use class dojo then look at your DCs teachers last few posts and see who 'liked' them. It lists the parents as John's mum or Jane's dad. If parents are active on there then you can get a lot of the kids names that way (it also proves that the concept of not being allowed to give out the kids first names is wrong)

avocadotofu · 11/10/2023 18:15

I'm a primary school teacher and I've recently done GDPR training and on the course it stated that two pieces of identifiable information was the problem e.g. first name and surname so at our school we still give out first name lists without the name of our school. It sounds like other schools are being very cautious.

RosaBaby2 · 11/10/2023 18:15

Ugh it's ridiculous. It is not a breach of GDPR people obviously aren't paying enough attention on their online training 🧐

Allthingsbrightandbeautifulx · 11/10/2023 18:18

We were given a list of first names for Christmas cards last year when DD was in reception.

Princesspollyyy · 11/10/2023 18:26

Someone needs a lesson on GDPR!