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

[ishouldprobablygettherapy]

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?

In reception the TAs handed out a list of first names only which was nice and easy.

In Y1 and Y2 they won't give us a list however all children have a teams account (linked to a parents email) and class messages and homework are sent via the teams channel. It includes a full list of first name and last name of each child that belongs to the teams channel!

In our school a list of first names is provided, but invites can not be handed out in school. The parents made a whats app group at their own initiative, so we share lots of personal data there😎

She's been there 5 weeks and Is 4/5. She won't necessarily know all the names yet. Creepy? Ffs how dramatic are you

It would be better if the looked after child was allowed to adopt a new school name to use for things like this.

Really, you think a child should either change their name or be left out so you can send party invites. A child who has been removed from their birth family, experienced significant trauma in their short lives, have all the uncertainty of life in care, children where too many people know every detail of their lives and the adversity they’ve faced, should adopt a new name for school because someone wants to send a named invitation to a party. Get a fucking grip.

There are a dozen different ways to make sure children are included that don’t mean every parent has a list of children. And yes even giving a first name can place a child in danger. If the birth family or someone close to them know the general area they’ve been placed it’s a simple thing to look at local schools, see where a new Sarah has joined the relevant class year and trace her. Even more helpful if feckless, selfish parents have recorded the school nativity and posted it online - because it’s so important that everyone see how talented Jane was playing the 5th angel from the left.

You really don’t understand how determined families can be trying to trace children who have been removed and how much risk they can present not just to their child but other children placed in that care setting. But hey kids must have their hand made, named Christmas cards.

Primary school GDPR is why we get emails about A that get responded to with a polite version of 'we have two thousand and thirty seven children here fulltime and 22 dual main, 5 dual subsidiary and 9 in alternative provision, 478 of whom have a legal first, preferred first, legal family, preferred family, first part of a double barrel, second part of a double barrel, first middle, second middle or diminutive of any of the above beginning with A. Would you like to give us a bit of a clue?'

@Growlybear83 she can't provide me with a full list of names as she is only 4, and has only just started. Even if she could, I wouldn't know spellings etc.

@TookTheBook because it is not going to be a whole class party, and she has requested just the girls so I will respect that

@ObsessedWithZach I will try this! Thank you for the suggestion.

@Squiblet I feel for you. That must have been very stressful !!

@OppsUpsSide this is what I thought. I do understand different peoples reasonings for not being able to do it. But surely first names are okay, as you've said!

@ishouldprobablygettherapy and I’ve explained as clearly as I can why first names can still present a risk to children who are at risk following removal. It’s no hardship to give an invite to each girl/boy in the class without names.

If you are inviting all the girls on the class normally the teacher will put the names on the envelope and hand them out for you. You will then know the kids names when their mums reply to you.

@OddBoots yes it seems a lot of things schools do actually contradict their blanket "no because of GDPR" policies !!

We were just given numbers at school. Each workbook had our number in the top right corner so teachers could see at a glance they had everyone's work and register was us just saying our numbers in order... Was a bit odd but we were used to it. This was late 90s/early 00s

@Boundoverbyacat why is that weird ?? I actually posted a thread about this previously when I was considering how to go about it and the general consensus was :
Whole class invites = fine
Just girls // boys = fine
27/30 (approx) kids in a class = not fine / unfair.
My daughter doesn't play with nor like the boys in her class very much. So why would we invite them to her party?

Definitely no WhatsApp group - none of the parents interact with eachother at all. Everyone just rushes in, ignore all other parents and rushes out the gates again.
My daughter genuinely isn't friends with any of the boys in her class, she has told me this and she doesn't like them very much. I am unsure why, but I will respect this.
She isn't too good with names as she has not long started and she is still only 4. We decided to do all girls as not to exclusively single anybody out of a whole class invite.

@Marythe1st how on earth was my request creepy??
I actually did a previous thread on the matter of who to invite and what most people do for parties in reception or just school in general and that was the general response. Either all the class, just boys/girls or a very small group of her friends.
She currently only has one actual friend, but she does like the other girls in her class, and we think it would be nice to invite them so they can all get to know each other better outside of school.
Not creepy in any way, sorry.

I do understand that it's personal data, but I've never known it to be a problem

So one the one hand you know it is against GDPR. But think they should do it anyway?

Errrrr

@fuckssaaaaake you took the words straight out of my mouth. Thank you ! X

@Iloveshoes123 this is a really good idea. Thank you

How long ago was this? The school would be in huge trouble with the ICO if they did this now and someone reported them, unless they have obtained opt-in consent from every parent.

@PlipPlopChoo I am a first time primary school mum, and things like this which SHOULD be a simple task, stress me out. Especially when I am not allowed to know the children in the class!

and things like this which SHOULD be a simple task, stress me out

Only because you are making it stressful. Drop off a batch of invites to the teach and ask them to give one to each girl. They will not give you the names so there is no benefit to be had in disagreeing with it.

@PlipPlopChoo I don't feel as if I am making it stressful. I now know what is needed, and have a few ideas of what I can do. I will speak to the teacher in the morning and see what we can arrange.

In my recent experience primary school is convinced it's a GDPR breach (I don't see how somebody can be identified by giving their name on a list although i don't claim to be a GDPR expert), and yet simultaneously have all the kids full names visible in Google classroom.... whilst dd's secondary schools put full names on their school firm group photos and are more "relaxed"

Given your request actually the "girls" part is probably the most challenging with gender being a protected characteristic, although it doesn't sound like that was the reason.