Things to consider before moving to a new school

Moving to a new school is an important step for any child, even if you are not moving address but would like to change your child’s school.

You should consider the following:

• how your child will cope with learning new rules and having to do things differently, or possibly having missed important work. Children who transfer schools after their exam subjects have been chosen in Year 9 are likely to find that they cannot do the same subjects, or that the exam board and courses are different
• if your child has special educational needs and received support, the support will not transfer to the new school and there may be a delay in accessing new support
• if your child has brothers or sisters at the same school, transferring one child may affect the others
• if it will be difficult for you to have children attending different schools
• how you will manage different start and finish times
• if you are requesting places for more than one child, your preferred school may not be able to offer places for all your children.

If you need advice on schools with places available, you can contact us. The information we give is only a guide; the availability of places depends on the number of applications for each school.

Only you can make the decision to move your child; their current school cannot ask you or influence you to move your child.

If you want your child to change school for other reasons

We recommend that you talk to your child about moving to another school.

If they say they are 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 you have done this and still have concerns, or are unhappy about the way the school is dealing with your complaint, you should make an appointment to speak to the head teacher. You may also write to the chair of the school’s governing body.

Page last updated: 16 June 2026