Why does the Nursery admissions form ask for the parent's occupation?

[KeithTalent]

The form is very basic- name,address, d.o.b., doctor, siblings- so why ask what yer mum and dad do?

The nursery is the one attached to our local primary, so state community primary.

Do they use the data to label your child from the outset?

I think I may ask Mumsnet Tech for a paranoid emoticon.

I've always wondered this sort of thing!

was going to say I didn't see why it had to be on antenatal notes, but I suppose if your job title's "asbestos remover" or "prison riot calmer" then they need to know

Possibly so that if you are a postman or a doctor or a firefighter then they can tap you for an appearance at nursery in full uniform to talk about your job when they are covering a relevant topic?

So they know who to tap when they need a favour, a cheap deal or a donation ...

we've just decided to add this to our pre-school information list.

One reason is that we're a charity and one of our committee is able to get matched fundraising becuase of where she works, so we thought if we knew what parents do they could possibly get this too and it's basically money for doing nothing so it'll benefit the pre-school.

The other reason is that it can help when you're talking to the child 'so Daddy is a doctor is he?' etc

Plus for the reasons cat64 said and maybe a bit of nosiness

Surely it's so your children can be judged, labelled and categorised appropriately? Everything from university places up and down is subject to targets and gov medelling.

Personally I am even more careful what information I give to who in relation to my children