If you are considering a change in schools. . . .

[Anonymous]

who do you tell at your child's current school? You need a recommendation from the current teacher, so you have to enlist her cooperation. Do you ask her to keep it confidential? Hope she keeps it confidential? After all, you might end up staying at your current school. But surely some teachers don't maintain confidentiality, and surely schools don't like to know children are applying out. What are the ramifications of that if you stay?

[Anonymous]

The schools have policies in place for this and you shouldn't put the teacher in an awkward position. She will have to tell the administration. You should be straightforward with the admin for your reasons for applying out. You can ask the teacher to keep it confidential otherwise, assuming you won't be telling anyone who doesn't need to know.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks. So schools actually have policies related to this, and you are required to tell the administration? Or teachers are not allowed to write recommendations without informing the administration?

[Anonymous]

The way it works at our school is if you hand the teacher a recommendation form they say, "Oh, you have to take to it Mrs. X." The information is shared among the administrators who need to know, especially the admissions team. It helps them with their planning for the next year so they know if there are potential slots available.

I know, it's stressful.