Secondary school admissions
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.
Banding assessment dates
-
If your child is in Year 6 at a Tower Hamlets primary school or academy, they will automatically take the CAT4 assessment at their primary school in September. The school will arrange the assessment.
-
If your child attends a school outside Tower Hamlets, attends an independent school, is home educated, or misses the test in their primary school, you must register them for the CAT4 Banding Assessment before 31 October.
-
Children who have been registered will be invited to sit the CAT4 at a Tower Hamlets secondary school in November. The Admissions Service will contact you via email to tell you the date and venue for your child's test. The session will last about three hours.
There are no alternative assessment dates and it is your responsibility to make sure your child is available to take the assessment on your allocated date.
Failure to take the test may result in your child's application being considered after all the applications for children who have taken the test.
All the borough’s community schools use banding.
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.
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.
Admissions policies for the following schools are available from the schools' websites:
National Offer Day - 3 March 2026
Parents will be able to log into their account on eadmissions to view the outcome of their application on 3 March 2026. They will also receive an email, this 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.
School visiting dates 2026
Most secondary schools hold open events for parents. For a list of the open events held by secondary schools, please refer to the individual schools website.
Map of secondary schools and registered independent secondary schools in Tower Hamlets
Contact the Admissions Service
By email
You can contact the admissions service by email at school.admissions@towerhamlets.gov.uk
We can only make changes to an existing application if you email your request - this includes change of address and preference/s.
By telephone: 020 7364 5006
The service is extremely busy at this time of year, this may lead to a significant delay in the time it takes to answer your phone call.
Need a school place today?
If your child is of secondary school age now and does not have a school place, please contact the School Admissions Service or visit our in-year admissions page.
Further information