Students Transferring Between Schools

Schools are now required to liaise with one another when a student is transferring from primary to secondary level so as to ensure that relevant student records, assessments and psychological reports are transferred with the student on enrolment. This should be done with the full knowledge and approval of the student’s parent and/or guardian (i.e written consent). Similarly, transfers of pupils between post-primary schools should include the transfer of pupil records, again with the full knowledge and approval of the student’s parent/guardian (i.e written consent).

Incoming student transfer information – ‘The Education Passport’

In June 2012, the Minister for Education and Skills stated: “I believe that the sharing of information between primary and second-level schools is a common-sense approach that will benefit both students and teachers. This “education passport” will mean that the child’s end-of-year report card, including results from the standardised tests taken in sixth class, will be available to the second level school’.

Minister Quinn, June 2012

It is important that assessment information is transferred between schools when students transfer from primary to post-primary school. Each post-primary principal is responsible for informing the principal of each primary school of the names of students for whom enrolment in his or her post-primary school has been confirmed (DES CL 0025/2012).

Upon receipt of this information, the principal of each primary school is required to send, by the end of the first week of September at the latest, a copy of the end-of-year report card (including the information from standardised tests at sixth class in primary school) to the post-primary school to which a student is transferring.  DES CL 0045/2014 sets out what is required of primary schools in this regard. 

Reporting templates have been developed for this purpose by the NCCA.