Children go to a number of different secondary school settings when they leave Keresley Grange. 

Applications for secondary schools are made in the first half of the autumn term of the year in which a child is in Year 6. The majority of secondary schools hold their open days in late September and early October. Open days are a useful way to find out about a school’s admissions procedures. These are advertised through letters provided to us and sent home with the children, on school websites, or you could phone the schools you are interested in and ask when they plan to hold their next open days. Other ways to find out about schools include: looking at their websites, talking to parents and pupils, and looking up Ofsted inspection reports and league tables. 

 The School Admissions Code states that children in public care (‘looked-after’ children) must be given top priority. Other oversubscription criteria that is used include:

 -Distance from the child’s permanent home address to the school. Often this is referred to as being in ‘catchment’ for a school. The distance is not necessarily based on the simple radius from the school - it can be a designated area. In densely-populated areas, the catchment area may just be a specified number of streets around the school.

- The parent or child has a disability which makes travel to a school further away more difficult.

- The sibling rule – priority is given if the child has a brother or sister already attending the school.

- The child’s faith – this is only a factor at faith schools. Priority is given to children who have the same faith as the school (ie if you are Roman Catholic and wish your child to attend a Catholic primary or secondary). Some faith schools may ask you for a reference from your priest or other religious minister as confirmation that you attend a relevant place of worship.

If your main concern is whether or not you are in a school’s catchment area, the best thing to do is to phone the school and ask them to clarify their catchment area criteria.

If you need support with your application, we are more than happy to help. Drop into school at any time and we can support you with the application process. 

We have close links with our local secondary schools and take part in a number of opportunities across the school year to ensure all children are ready for the next stage of their school career. We are continually looking for ways to make the transition process for all of our children even better so that every child feels ready and eager to start their new school.

Staff at Keresley Grange lead and attend English and Maths curriculum continuity groups which include staff from both primary and secondary schools across the academy trust. Participation in these groups has enabled staff to develop our understanding of the secondary curriculum and assessment and reflect on our own practice. Primary and secondary school teachers have collaborated as part of these groups to develop transition units for both English and Maths to be delivered during the summer term of Year 6. The maths transition unit focuses on equipping children with key calculator skills and builds on their learning of algebra. The English transition unit focuses on teaching children the skills of comparison, analysis and evaluation. These are 3 key skills the children will be required to apply from Key Stage 3. 

During Year 6, children take part in a wide range of enrichment opportunities at secondary school such as theatre productions, science days, author visits, poetry slams and drama showcases. 

We draw upon the skills and expertise of secondary school staff and often have workshops and interventions run by secondary school teachers. These have included drama workshops, greater depth writing groups and grammar booster groups. 

We also invite secondary school students to our school to work with the Year 6 children and give them an insight into what secondary school is like. This is a great opportunity for the children to hear first hand what to expect on their first day in Year 7, dispel any myths that the children may have heard about secondary school and for the children to ask any questions they may have.

All Year 6 children will spend a minimum of 1 day at their new secondary school before the end of the summer term, however we often arrange for additional visits if we feel a child would benefit from this. Many secondary schools hold specific events for their new Year 7 intake including Easter and Summer camps and this is something that we will often recommend children for if we feel it would be particularly beneficial for them. 

We want all Year 6 children at Keresley Grange to face the next stage of their education with confidence. We continually promote the skills of independence, self-organisation and resilience throughout their primary school years.