Preparing to change school

We accept in-year school transfer applications a maximum of one term in advance of the requested start date, based on six terms per academic year.

Things to consider

Moving to a new school is an important step for any child and there is evidence that it can lead to falling levels of attainment.

Year 11: children born between 01/09/2008 and 31/08/2009. Many schools are unlikely to offer places while children prepare for their final GCSE exams. Extra admissions at this stage could be detrimental to children's education and the efficient use of resources at the school. In addition, some GCSE options will be full.
Year 10: children born between 01/09/2009 and 31/08/2010. Many schools will refuse admission to new children when GCSE courses have started, and some GCSE options will be full.
How will your child cope with new rules or, possibly, missing important work?
If your child has special educational needs, there may be a delay in accessing support.
If your child has brothers or sisters at the same school, transferring one child may affect the others. Will it be difficult for you to have children attending different schools?
If you are requesting places for more than one child, your preferred school may not be able to offer places for all your children.
How will your child get to school if you apply for a place at a school that is further away than your nearest available school? How will you manage the different start and finish times? Please see the Travelling to school page for further details and the full transport policy.

Bullying or related issues

If a child is being bullied or not getting on with other pupils, you should speak to your child’s form tutor or head of year first, to try to resolve the problem. If that does not help, speak to the headteacher and, if necessary, the chair of the governors.