Do you have to tell the current school, dc taking exam to get into a different school?

[LifedestroyerifYOUletthem]

I'm not sure I want her current school to know...

She's got an entrance exam coming up.

Assuming it’s for an independent school they will ask her current Head for a reference (which is a pretty important part of her application). So yes, you do need to keep the current school in the loop.

Don’t worry - schools are accustomed to this!

No it's not

Ok. Well you’re not giving much information so it may be difficult for posters to advise.

I’m not familiar with entrance exam procedures for state schools so can’t help.

If this is state schools, there is no requirement for you to tell your child's current school that you are trying to get a place at a different school for your child.

What do you think would happen that makes it essential to lie?

Somebody gets asked to confirm attendance data and might or might not give further information (it's not legally required to share until they actually walk in the door of the new school to share anything - it could be used by another school to discriminate against the child in an application if they were to be told in advance of an offer of SEND/behaviour/attendance/ability).

The worst outcome would be a single unauthorised absence for the test or an eyeroll at the 'tummy ache' that happened a couple of weeks earlier. Or muttering to themselves that they'll be bitterly disappointed if they think their perfectly agreeable and perfectly average child is top grammar school material with an average standardised score of 101 at CAT4 and KS2.

Oh, and whether you say in advance or don't tell them until the last day that the DC won't be returning, tell them where they are going - you'll still be contacted for absence from the following school day until the new school confirm that they've arrived and put in their request for the electronic file transfer and SEND/Safeguarding records.

It's just not that big of a deal.