How does the school transfer process work for secondary schools? (specifically Kingston)

[Jude376]

We’re planning to move to the Kingston area next spring/summer and would appreciate any guidance on how to navigate the admissions process to maximise our chances of securing a place at our preferred school. DS is currently in Year 7, and we’re particularly keen on Hollyfield, with the intention of moving as close to the school as possible.

How common are in-year admissions if we move in April? And if we were to move towards the end of the academic year (in June) and join the waiting list, when are transfer decisions typically made? Are these decisions handled on a rolling basis over the summer?

Many thanks for any insight you can provide!

@Jude376 all the info you need is here: https://kr.afcinfo.org.uk/pages/community-information/information-and-advice/school-admissions/changing-schools-in-year

It will answer most of your questions.

Places come up fairly regularly in most Kingston secondary schools, but all the popular schools have waiting lists, which are ordered according to their oversubscription criteria. For Hollyfield, that will be by distance. Therefore, you need to move as close as possible to the school to be at the top of the list.

If you contact the council's admissions department with the address you are planning to move to, they may be able to tell you its calculated distance to the school and where that would be on the waiting list. But even if you are at the top of the list now, by the time a place comes up someone else may have moved closer.

In other words, you can't guarantee a place.

p.s. the answer to your question about summer applications is on page 14 of the Kingston In Year Transfer Guide, which is one of the docs listed on the site in my pp, but here is a direct link: https://5f2fe3253cd1dfa0d089-bf8b2cdb6a1dc2999fecbc372702016c.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/uploads/ckeditor/attachments/16547/Kingston_In_Year_transfer_guide_2024-25_v2.pdf

Thanks for the link, @fivethousand! We'll just move as close to the school as possible and keep our fingers crossed.

Hollyfield is not a very competitive school as it doesn't have exceptional results so if you move relatively close you should not have a problem with getting in . Check information about distance from school of the accepted candidates. It can be found on their site or by calling admission

That is unhelpful advice, because the OP is applying for in-year admission to year 7, not a year 7 transfer place (which would be easier).

If the year group has a waiting list then she will need to be at the top of it when a place is vacated.

Hollyfield was oversubscribed on National Offer Day 2024, so is likely to still have a waiting list. Kingston Admissions team or the school will be able to confirm that.

This table from the admissions brochure shows how many applications it had this year and it's original cut-off distance on national offer day:

In year transfers are also on the " who lives the closest" basis.