Starting Secondary school in September 2026

If you live in Tower Hamlets and your child is in Year 6 (born between 1 September 2014 and 31 August 2015) you will need to make an online application via eadmissions portal for them to transfer to secondary school in September 2026.

The closing date for making applications is midnight on 31 October 2025.

Banding

Banding is used at secondary transfer to help to ensure that secondary schools maintain a balanced admission intake. This should reflect the full range of abilities of all children in the local authority. Every child who applies must sit a cognitive ability test (CAT).

The results are used to group applications into four ability bands (quartiles). For administrative purposes, the quartiles are referred to as Band A, B, C, and D. The results are not published at any stage during the transfer to secondary school process.

In the case of oversubscription, secondary schools will take an equal amount of pupils from each quartile, ensuring that children from all abilities have equality of access. 

The banding information page contains further details. 

Before you apply

The Ready for Secondary School in Tower Hamlets booklet contains all the information you need on applying, including a step by step guide to making your online applications, plus details of all Tower Hamlets secondary schools.

When applying for a school place please remember that it will be your responsibility to ensure your child gets to and from school safely.

The council provides support with home to school travel in exceptional circumstances only, and you would usually be expected to apply for your local schools before any support would be considered.

If you are not sure where your local schools are, please use our school finder tool. Find out more about the school travel policy.

The Tower Hamlets Transition Support Service provides impartial advice, information and assistance to support children, young people and their families during key points of transition.

They can provide help with a range of school issues including school admissions, appeals and home/school communication.

National Offer Day

Parents will be able to log into their eadmissions account to view the outcome of their application on 2 March 2026. They will also receive an email, which is sent after 5pm.

Waiting lists

If your child is not offered a place at your first preference school or you are offered one of your lower preference schools, your child will be added to the waiting list.  

You may wish to make further applications to schools in Tower Hamlets, including those with vacancies.

You will need to reapply in December 2025 to remain on the waiting list after this time.