'Occupation of main breadwinner' on Secondary Form??

[gingertoo]

Just had the confirmation offer letter from the secondary school where my son will be going in September along with loads of forms to fill in - personal details / emergency contact / photo consent etc (they are very on the ball!)

I'm puzzled by one of the questions - 'Occupation of main breadwinner'.

Not puzzled by how to answer (!) but puzzled by why they would want / need to know...

Any ideas?

(It's a state faith secondary if that makes any difference!)

It's nosey IMO, can you just write Jedi Knight on there?

Occupation:
Pretend chicken?
Escort?
Male Nude/female nude?

Brilliant suggestions

How about 'N/A, we do not live by bread alone'

I don't think ours had that - seems like an anachronistic concept.

Can't see any reason why they would need to know it - but if we are asked that then I'm going with ofsted inspector too

Who knows... but why do some people think it alright for private schools to ask a whole range of personal questions but not maintained schools

Maybe there are looking for internship opporutnities for their students

Having putdown our info last year for DD, DH was approached and asked to do part of a careers evening and offer work experience

BarryK lol - love that idea!!!

When I first started teaching, Back in the olden days, parents were asked occupations on the children's registration forms. One child in my class had a dad who was an ofsted inspector and a mum who was a psychologist and was also the chair of governors! No pressure then.

Was the form printed in the 1950's?

Director of Education for Local Authority?

This bothers me: it smacks of an attempt at social engineering somewhere down the line.

I recently found out that dd's primary school knows parents' educational attainment from the census form. (Obviously last census was a while ago, but they still have some idea, apparently.)

I think parents will be thinking up 'dumbed down' job titles for themselves - eg Chief Executive of Barratts will put down 'builder', or MD of Tesco 'shop worker'.

Why the passive aggression? Why not just answer it truthfully?

School is not the enemy.

I don't like the term breadwinner, I never answer that. We have two wage-earners in our household, and I refuse to put either of us as the breadwinner.

I am going into school (primary) soon to tell the kids about my job though (for Science and Technology week), so is ds, I don't mind doing that but wouldn't want to put it on a form. Not without knowing why they needed to know that.

Is there a bit on the form that asks "occupation of pin money earner"?

Put 'Pimp' - go on: I dare you!

Stupid questions deserve stupid answers imho.

Thanks for your replies

I've had a good look through the form since the DCs have gone to bed and to be honest I don't think there is anything sinister, I just think that they are using a really old form!
Another question is 'Home salutation?'...

"I'd read it as them trying to find links to all sorts of different careers for their work experience placements and careers talks. It would be really useful to have loads of contacts with different jobs."

Hahahahahahahaha. I take it that you have had no contact so far with schools careers advice.

As Gramercy says, it's for social engineering purposes.

I'm amazed at how many forms ask 'Name of head of household?' - sounds like a Victorian parlour game!

It is nosey really but it will be to do with statistical information

It is very nosey and also potentially illegal. It would certainly be illegal for this question to have been asked before the place was offered or asked on the supplementary form that many faith schools are allowed to have for admissions.

My feeling is to just put N/A on it and see what happens. But I do like OFSTED Inspector, that really would give them something to think about.

It is good for the school to get a full picture of your child - for their benefit. Finding out about their home circumstances is not for the titivation of the headteacher.

This thread is so contrary to the one the other day about parents' evenings and how the schools don't take into account the family circumstances when cruelly choosing inconvenient times. How are they to know, unless they know something about the family?