An in-year transfer is when you ask us to move your child from one school to another, outside of the usual admission rounds.

Moving schools is a very serious step that we advise you to consider carefully, unless the request is the result of a house move. 

There are many difficulties that can be resolved without changing your child’s school, and sadly, problems that your child may currently be experiencing may not go away as a result of changing schools.

You are strongly advised to work with your child’s current school to resolve any issues. Transferring schools can be very disruptive to your child’s education and should always be a last resort.

There is no guarantee that we can offer places at your preferred school. Your child must continue to attend their current school until you have a confirmed place and a planned start date agreed with the new school. Please do not remove your child from their current school before this.  

Factors that you must consider before making such an important move: 

Curriculum 

It is important to consider that that each school teaches the Curriculum for Wales in different ways and at different times of the academic year.

Changing schools part way through a year could result in your child repeating or missing work, which will have a significant impact on their progress.

The attainment of pupils who make in-year moves is markedly lower than their peers and lower still among pupils who change school multiple times.

In the secondary phase of education, GCSE option subjects, college courses and curriculum design differ quite significantly from school to school, and so a change of school can have a very negative impact on your child’s progress.

Transferring in Years 10 and 11 is particularly disruptive and can have a seriously damaging effect on your child’s education. Years 10 and 11 are a two-year course, and it is likely that the school you wish to transfer your child to will not be able to offer the same choice of subjects as your child's current school, or they could be at different stages of teaching the curriculum.  If this is the case, the work that your child has already done towards their GCSEs may not be able to be used.  

Support for learning needs

If you are considering a change of school because you feel that your child’s current school is unable to meet their learning needs, please discuss this with your school’s additional learning needs co-ordinator before submitting a transfer request. Your child’s current school is best placed to discuss any concerns you may have, and to help to resolve them. The school admissions team can only allocate mainstream school places and are unable to allocate places within resourced provision classes.

Financial pressures 

There are financial pressures attached to a school transfer due to factors such as a new uniform and transport costs.

You should carefully consider how your child will travel to your requested school. Funded school transport is provided to your child’s nearest suitable school when this is beyond walking distance. If you choose to transfer your child to a school that is not your nearest suitable school, you will then have full responsibility for transport arrangements.  This will include making the necessary transport arrangements and meeting the cost. For more information, see our school transport policy.

If your requested school can offer a place, your child will be expected to have the full uniform as outlined in the prospectus before they can take up a place at the new school. The local authority will not be able to provide you with financial support towards the cost of this. For eligible families, the School Essentials Grant can be claimed once for each academic year.  If you submitted a claim in the summer for the current academic year then you will not be able to claim it again.  

How to apply

Only the persons with parental responsibility for a child can make a school application. Where there is shared parental responsibility, all persons who hold this responsibility must be in agreement with the transfer request. It is your legal duty to make sure that everybody with parental responsibility is aware of your request and agrees with it.  

if your child currently attends a school in Wrexham, the information on your application form (including the reasons for the transfer) will be shared with your child’s current school as well as your requested school.

If you have read the above and still wish to continue with a transfer request, you can request the necessary transfer forms by emailing Admissions@wrexham.gov.uk. 

When will I hear back?

All areas of the application form must be completed before the school admissions team can start to process it.  This includes the parental responsibility declaration and, if you’re moving from a school that is outside of Wrexham, the Section C information from your child’s current out-of-county school.  

If the application is incomplete, this will delay the admission process.  

Once we receive a completed application form, we aim to respond to your request within 15 school days. Your child must remain in their current school while the transfer request is being processed. 

The transfer request will be considered within the context of our admissions policy, which can be found in our Parents’ Guide to Education Services.  If your application is for a Voluntary Aided (Faith) or Foundation school, the application will be passed to their Governing Body to consider, and the school will respond to you directly.  

If a transfer request is not successful, parents will be advised of their right to appeal against the refusal decision. The right to appeal does not apply at nursery stage.  

Fair access protocol and managed moves – children with challenging behaviours

A managed move is a carefully planned transfer of a pupil from one school into another. It is a voluntary agreement between two schools, the parent and the pupil. It can be particularly beneficial for pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties, or pupils who find that attendance at their current school is negatively affecting their emotional welfare.  

For more information on the managed moves process, see Managed moves.

In Wrexham we also have a fair access protocol that aims to ensure a fair, equitable and open allocation of school places for learners who may be experiencing challenges in their current school and wish to transfer to a new school.  

This means that when we receive a transfer request for a learner who has received 20 or more days of exclusion during the previous 12 months, or who has been permanently excluded from their current school, we take the application to our fair access panel to identify the most appropriate school place to meet the learner’s needs and provide them the best chance of success in their new school. We will write to you if your application meets our fair access criteria.  

For more information about our fair access protocol and this process, please email admissions@wrexham.gov.uk