access to school references.

[Tonytiger]

Hi all, my DS is at an independent senior school. Things are not going too well at the moment and we think we may have to jump ship. We asked our current school for a reference which they happily sent to the school we were considering. I would like to get a copy of the reference, does anyone know if the school has to disclose this information ??? would it come under the freedom of information act??
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you .

You (or your son) can only ask but the current school does not have a legal requirement to provide a copy.

The Freedom of Information Act does not apply as this is information about a person. Personal information is covered by the Data Protection Act but there is an exemption for references supplied. See pages 41 and 42 of this guidance.

You could, in theory ask the receiving school for the reference citing the DPA and they are theoretically obliged to provide the information but might argue that there are reasons not to supply it.

Thanks very much NW7, that is really helpful.
I'll have a go and see what happens.

Hi @Tonytiger Did you get anywhere with your current school disclosing the reference they provided? We are in a similar position now and current school are ignoring our requests for a copy.