Headmaster's report and independent school entry

[Etienne]

It's the Data Protection Act, not Freedom of Information.

If someone asks for a copy of a confidential reference you have written about them relating to training, employment or providing a service, you do not have to provide it because of an exemption in the Act.

However, you may choose to provide the information. It would seem reasonable to provide a copy if a reference is wholly or largely factual in nature, or if the individual is aware of an appraisal of their work or ability.

However, there's a distinction to be made between the person writing a reference and the recipient:

References received from another person or organisation are not treated in the same way. If you hold the reference in a way that means it is covered by the Act, you must consider a request for a copy under the normal rules of access.

Even if a referee says that they do not want you to release their comments, you will need to provide the reference if it is reasonable in all the circumstances to comply with the request without their consent. You should weigh the referee’s interest in having their comments treated confidentially against the individual’s interest in seeing what has been said about them.

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[Froggy]

Tell your sister to phone the admissions staff for the new school and discuss it with them, and flag up the fact that there may be an issue around the head refusing to provide a reference.

My dd did 7+ entry for several of the sought-after London independents. Her primary school head hated us, hated my dd and hated private schools. I don't know whether he provided a report or not -- if he did he definitely wouldn't have talked her up, as it were. She got offered places at all of them, so it can't make that much difference.

Private school heads (especially those that take reasonable numbers of kids from state primaries) know that some primary heads are ideologically opposed to private schools and may get arsey about references. But no harm in just mentioning it ahead of time so they are forewarned.

[londonmum]

We went through the same a couple of years ago. This time more because a prep school head felt he was the expert on what children were right for which schools, and he had decided that my daughter was not academic. We were even told, despite having paid ten years of fees, that the school could not write a positive report if they felt the child would struggle.

In the end he got it very wrong with several children with my daughter getting the school of her choice when a couple of supposedly brighter girls not making it. And results at the end of Year 7 suggest that she is absolutely fine academically. Indeed she has started to dare to think that she might be clever after all. We were also helped by a supportive Deputy Head who not only wrote the report in the end, but may have phoned the school to explain why it was a good fit with my daughter.

I was told, during this pretty miserable time, and by someone working for a selective private school, that it is not unknown for schools, for whatever reason and particularly State schools to give poor reports. The suggestion was that we wrote a careful letter setting out issues, such as a lost and disregarded dyslexia assessment, being careful not to lay blame with the prep school (much as we may have wanted to) and stressing why she wanted to go to the school. If possible I would also recommend trying for a non academic scholarship because it may give a chance to submit non school references.

However I agree that it may depend on how well schools know each other and what they think of each other. In many ways it may be easier to have a state school report disregarded than one from a feeder prep.

Good luck. This is the time you want a child's school to be supportive.