John Ball to Secondary Transition

Our pupils go on to a wide variety of secondary schools, both state and independent. The state system for secondary transfer offers each child just one place, as opposed to being able to select from several offers. Additional places are offered through the independent sector. This is a guide to the application process for both sectors.

When your child is in year 6 you must make your secondary application by 31 October. If you are interested in selective schools you may need to apply to sit an entrance test when your child is in year 5. It is important that you spend time visiting schools on their open days to choose the best option for your child(ren). Advance booking is often required. This useful video from Lewisham explains the process:

Lewisham Secondary Transfer Process  

Final destinations for John Ball pupils

Community, Academy or Faith Schools

 Grammar Schools

 Independent Schools

State or Grammar Secondary School Applications

Applying online

You can apply for admission to secondary school at www.eadmissions.org.uk regardless of where you live. Here you will apply to the council you pay council tax to. You can apply for schools outside of your borough. 

The benefits of applying online are:

• it only takes a few minutes
• you will get an email confirmation saying your application has been received
• the system helps you by checking for errors
• there is no risk that your application will get lost in the post or arrive late
• you can change your preferences of school up until the closing date
• your details are held securely
• after 5pm on 3 March 2025, you will get an email saying where your child has been offered a place.

Read a step-by-step guide to applying online at www.lewisham.gov.uk/secondaryadmissions

After you submit your application, you will get a reference number that will be similar to this: 209-2025-09-E-002009. If you do not get a number, your application has not been submitted.

Lewisham

There are 14 secondary schools in the Lewisham borough. It is a good idea to research a range of schools, including those closest to your home address, as not every child can be offered their first preference school. Please spend time looking at the links below to aid your selection process.

• Lewisham Secondary Schools Admissions Brochure 2024
• Important Dates for Secondary School Admissions
• Before You Apply

Greenwich

There are 16 secondary schools in the Greenwich borough. It is a good idea to research a range of schools, including those closest to your home address, as not every child can be offered their first preference school. Please spend time looking at the links below to aid your selection process.

• Greenwich Secondary Schools Open Events for Entry in September 2025
• Greenwich Secondary School Admissions Information

Children with an EHCP

Catherine McNerney will be in contact with the families of children with an EHCP. The process is slightly different and she will work closely with you in order to offer you the relevant support.

Academy Banding Tests

Some academies, including Leigh Academy and Halley Academy and Harris Academy Greenwich require that children sit a fair banding test to ensure that children are admitted from across the ability range. These tests are generally done in October of year 6 and must be booked in advance. Applications for these schools may not be considered unless your child has done the fair banding test. Please visit the websites of these schools for more information.

Important Dates

Applications

Offers

Appeals (may vary by borough)

Myth busters – get the facts!

It is easy to make assumptions about how school admissions work. Here are some of the common myths and misunderstandings, as well as the facts for state admissions.

Grammar schools

If you want your child to apply for a grammar school, they will need to sit an additional test. You will need to apply for this when your child is in Year 5. For our current Year 5 students, the deadline to apply for the Bexley test is 31st May 2025, and for the Kent test, it is 1st July 2025. The children will then sit their test in the autumn term of Year 6.

Bexley Selection Test

This is an optional test for those parents who want their children to attend a Bexley Grammar school. The Bexley Selection Test consists of two papers containing a mixture of questions on verbal reasoning and comprehension, non-verbal reasoning and mathematical reasoning. Each paper is divided into timed sections, most questions are multiple-choice, and all answers are marked on a separate machine-readable answer sheet. Test sessions take place in September annually on weekdays only (Monday to Friday). All children registered for the Bexley Selection Test will be invited to a test session at a test centre. This invite will be shared with parents / carers in early September. 

It is the responsibility of parents / carers to ensure that registration for the Bexley Selection Test has been completed by the end of June (when their child is in Year 5) if parents / carers would like their child to sit the test in September. All parents / carers who register their child for the test will be sent a link to familiarisation materials. 

In exceptional and extenuating circumstances, for example in the event of a year 5 child moving into the local area in July or August and wishing to sit the Bexley Selection Test in September, despite missing the end of June test registration deadline, parents / carers should contact the Bexley LA School Admissions Team on 020 8303 7777 or via selectiontests@bexley.gov.uk to request a late registration for the Bexley Selection Test. 

We recommend that parents / carers read the information outlined in the links.

• About the Test
• Information for Parents

Kent Grammar School Assessment

This is an optional test for those parents who want their children to attend a Kent Grammar school. Parents wishing their children to sit the Kent Grammar school assessment are required to register with the Kent Admissions Team (either online or using an alternate method available from the team).

Details regarding the administration of the Kent test for Grammar school will be made available to parents in time for the registration. 

The tests are multiple-choice with a separate answer sheet. They are marked by a computer. The first test will be an English and Maths paper and will take 1 hour. Each section will involve a 5 minute practice exercise followed by a 25 minute test. The English section will involve a comprehension exercise as well as some additional questions drawn from a set designed to test literacy skills.

The second test will be a reasoning paper. It will take about 1 hour, including the practice sections and questions. It will contain a verbal reasoning section and a non-verbal reasoning section of roughly the same length. The non-verbal reasoning will be split into short sections, administered and timed individually.

There will also be a writing exercise which will not be marked but may be used by a local headteacher panel as part of the headteacher assessment stage of the process. 40 minutes will be allowed for the writing task, including 10 minutes planning time.

This document explains the Kent Test papers for children who will take them: Kent Test Familiarisation Booklet.

Fee-paying/Independent schools

Entrance assessments

Each independent school has its own entrance requirements and tests. These are usually taken during the Autumn term when the child is in year 6.

Reference requests

Due to a rise in reference requests and the significant time it takes to prepare a high-quality reference, we will be charging a flat fee for each reference. Starting from 1st September 2024 we will charge £20 per reference, applicable only to fee paying independent schools. Please contact scole@johnball.lewisham.sch.uk if this is a service you require.