In our school, all references must ultimately be signed off by either the bursar or headmaster, and most come via me. I would definitely advocate keeping the authorisation to as small a group as possible.

Most schools requesting references will follow a similar and quite detailed format, so typically I've not needed to provide much guidance beyond "keep it factual". School references are mainly much broader than businesses, so sticking to facts (and not unsubstantiated opinion) is critical.

Safeguarding is such a crucial area of a school's referencing that this will be the predominant aspect of most reference formats.

Happy to help further if useful.

Nina