Secondary Transfer

Choosing a secondary school for your child is a huge decision and one that it is essential that you make for yourself and your child, based on your knowledge of them and your own research. It can be very easy to be swayed by the community view of which schools are good and bad but the real picture is much more complicated and different for each child. Before you start this journey it’s worth taking a step back and thinking through what sort of education your child might benefit from:

• Do you want an all boys or all girls school, or would they be better off in a co-educational environment?
• Is strong pastoral care important due to issues they’ve experienced or are experiencing, or do they require support for special needs?
• What do they enjoy doing? What do they dislike?
• Are they very academic, sporty, shy, musical?
• Do they love trying new things? If so a school with lots of clubs and activities might appeal.
• Do they have a favourite subject? Languages, drama, dance, music, IT, art or sport. If so, look for strength in those areas.
• Think about whether a smaller secondary or a larger one with more facilities and clubs will suit them best?
• How long are you prepared for your child to commute? A school may be further away, but the journey may be shorter or simpler. Check out the route they would do (and ideally do it).
• Perhaps write a wish list of secondary school characteristics which you can use as a checklist. Ask your son or daughter for their views too.

You will never find the perfect school and it helps to remember that from the beginning. In every school there will be moments of magic and elements which you dislike as a parent. For children one of the key ingredients will be who exactly ends up in their class and whether they have a good form tutor. Something you cannot control whichever school they end up going to!

The Guardian Education – choosing a secondary school, a teachers guide for parents

• Talk to parents who actually have children at the school rather than someone who has heard something about it.
• Trust your instinct. Take your child with you to visit your top three schools to gauge their reaction to the “feel of the school”.
• On open days talk to the pupils, not just the staff. If a child shows you round talk to them about their experience, they are usually brutally honest when they are away from staff!
• Walk away from the main show areas. What does the school look like, what does the school ‘feel’ like – is it a place you feel comfortable in, what are the toilets like, they say a lot about a school!
• If you can manage it, visit away from the main open evening, watch the school operating on a normal day.
• Think about your child’s journey. Secondary school is exhausting at first, a long journey can put stress into the situation. Think about the return journey after sports or music events in the evening and the pressures this may put on family life.
• Fill in all the places on your application form for the borough. Putting just one school first won’t make it more likely that you get it and could mean that if you don’t get it they can allocate you anywhere.
• Put the open days and deadlines for applications in your diary in the summer holidays so that you don’t miss them.

State school applications need to be completed early in Year 6 which is why visiting Open Days in Year 5 is a good idea. The links below explains the transfer for those starting secondary school in September 2024.

Presentation shown at Year 6 Secondary Transfer and Admissions Meeting

Admission to Secondary School 2022-2023 booklet

Croydon council website – secondary school admissions

Children who have an Education Health and Care Plan will be contacted by the borough in Year 5 about their choice of secondary school and will apply through a slightly different route.

All independent schools set their own deadlines for applications so it is important to be aware of these if this is something that you are considering.

The school will endeavour to support parents and carers as much as possible when choosing a secondary school for their child. The choice, however, resides with parents and they should take the necessary steps, in good time, to ensure that they make a sensible and informed choice. Transferring to secondary school can be a very stressful time, especially for parents living in a densely populated area like Croydon, where there is a significant demand for places. If parents are looking at a popular school there are often not easy solutions and a lot of thought and time needs to be committed to this endeavour. 

Moving away from their familiar primary school to an unfamiliar, usually much larger setting can be a daunting prospect. Some children will try to mask their anxiety with bravado but it is worth thinking about some of the changes with them beforehand and preparing your child for this move to help the process go as smoothly as possible. 

It is also a time of anxiety for parents as they move away from the close support group of familiar parents and teachers to a situation where they may not be as involved. It’s important for parents to anticipate this and get support from friends or family and to be careful not to let their own anxieties project onto the child.

The following link has some very helpful tips and is worth looking at with your child.

BBC Bitesize – starting secondary school

Supporting children's transition to secondary school booklet

 A little book to support your move to secondary school

My Moving Up To Secondary School Booklet

Parent Workshop notes - Supporting Children and Young People's Transition to High School

‘STARS’ is a research study based at UCL and Cardiff University which aimed to find out what helps children make a successful move to secondary school.

Feedback for parents

Feedback to pupils

TFL – saferjourneyplanner