It’s always good to know what will happen, which SEAG dates you need to be aware of and how the year will pan out, so I hope this overview of the transfer calendar will help you get organised.
Registration Opens
Registration Opens – 8am, Monday 20th May 2024
When registration opens on the 20th May 2024, a lot of people try to get in early so they are guaranteed their grammar school centre – but other than that, there’s no need to rush.
Registration Closes
Registration Closes – 5pm, Friday 20th September 2024
Trust me….if you miss this deadline you will really struggle to get a place for your child to sit the SEAG test and as soon as it closed last year I had a number of parents contact me and tell me they weren’t aware that they needed to do anything – so please don’t leave this until the last minute, or start it and not finish it on time.
SEAG advise that “It will not be possible to make a Pupil Application after the 5pm deadline on Friday 20th September 2024. The area on the website which parents complete to make a Pupil Application will not be available after the deadline has passed” and since there’s no telephone number to contact someone, you will inevitably struggle to even make a case to apply late and you’ll have to apply to your post-primary under Special Provision and might even have to sit another test if you want to go to a grammar school.
Moral of the story – don’t miss the deadline (and actually don’t leave it until the last minute either).
Access Arrangements Deadline (for example, extra time) is also the 20th September 2024 and at this time you must apply with all your evidence submitted at the same time. As an aside, you can make an application and indicate you want to apply for Access Arrangements but provide the evidence at a later date. This will secure your place at the grammar school to sit the test and give you more time to get the rest of your paperwork together.
SEAG Test Dates
Paper 1 – 10am, Saturday 16th November 2024
Paper 2 – 10am, Saturday 23th November 2024
Every child will attend both SEAG dates and complete both papers.
Each test day (paper) will include:
- Practice Test of 10 questions, but these answers won’t contribute to the overall result
- English Main Test with 28 questions (22 multiple choice and 6 free-style answers)
- Maths Main Test with 28 questions (22 multiple choice and 6 free-style answers)
- All answers are written on a separate Answer Sheet
- All multiple choice questions have an option of five possible answers
Unlike the old GL test, there will be no option for a supplementary test date if the child is unwell and they will receive a mark with an ‘e’ beside it indicating they’ve just done one paper. For example, instead of a TSAS score of 196, it will say 196e.
School Open Days / Nights for P6s and P7s
(Most) School Open Days & Nights Are In January 2024
Most of the grammar and high school open days/nights will take place throughout January but there are some schools that hold these early in December e.g. Regent House School, or a little later into early-February so keep an eye on my social medias and I will ensure all Transfer Tutor customers receive this information directly to their inbox so they won’t miss a thing.
These open days/nights gives the P7s a chance to have a look at the schools they will consider putting down on their transfer form (which is completed after their results) and also offer the P6s a chance to explore their potential schools in a bit of a more relaxed mode.
Results Day
Results Day – Saturday 25th January 2025
Results are made available through the SEAG Dashboard (parents log on) and they say 8am, but in reality it will likely come out a bit earlier to prevent any crash of the system at that time. If they provide the same information as last year, you’ll get the total raw score in Maths and English (both out of 56), their Standardised scores and your child’s performance in Paper 1 and Paper 2 – but all of that in good time and there will be blogs dedicated to that.
My advice – just make sure you keep you login details handy and you can access your email if you need a password reset.
Completed Transfer Forms Sent To Education Authority
Transfer Forms Sent To Education Authority – Wednesday 19th February 2025*
*Estimated from last year.
The Education Authority (EA) Connect portal opens around the 30th January 2025 (just after results) which means there isn’t a lot of time between receiving the results and then making your school choices so you need to be prepared. Follow the page on social media and as usual, if you’re a Transfer Tutor customer you’ll have all information directly to your inbox, but either way I’ll keep you right and nudge you at the appropriate times.
Before this time, you will have hopefully been out and about checking out the post-primary schools during their open days (and nights), be an expert of the admission criteria and lowest scores previously accepted by the school and this will give you a good idea of what’s likely to be expected (and this year we’ll have the benefit of having been threw it before).
More about all this closer to the time.
School Allocation Confirmed By Education Authority (EA)
School Allocation – Saturday 17th May 2025*
*This is an estimated date based on previous years.
For me, this is always the most important date and the one that really matters as this is the end of the transfer journey for many parents as their post-primary school decision has finally been confirmed, however some parents may choose to appeal and that’s an option that is open at this time.
It’s always my hope that everyone gets their first choice school but whatever happens, in my many years of experience, it always works out for the best in the end.
I hope this helps and removes some of the mystery of what lies ahead in the year.
More about The Transfer Tutor (Multi-Award Winning Online Quizzes)
The Transfer Tutor’s Online Quizzes provide a fun and interactive way to learn and practise Maths and English questions which are directly aligned to the new SEAG (replacing AQE and GL) specification.
There are many, great features including (but not limited to):
- Quizzes broken down into specific English and Maths topics, to allow for focused learning and the ability to hone in on areas of weakness.
- Mobile friendly and works on any internet device.
- ‘Hint’ option supports the child’s learning. For example, in question about calculating area of an irregular shape, the hint will say, “Break it into two” – enough to keep the child going but teaching them for future, similar questions.
- The Leaderboard at the end makes the child feel like they’re playing a game and having friendly competition.
- Good use of colour and graphics which makes it exciting.
- Parents receives a progress email at the end to let them know how their child did.
Google Reviews
Check out the Google Reviews to read what other customers felt about The Transfer Tutor.
How To Buy
Simply choose the licence you need depending on the length of time you need access, click on the blue box below (Explore & Compare Licences), pay and then you’ll be off within minutes.
For any further questions, please contact me or check out the Frequently Asked Questions page.
All of these are a one-off payment until they expire – so no additional costs.
Try It Out:
To give you a feel for the quizzes, why not try out the quick fire free quiz by clicking on the button below (no need to register or pay, so don’t worry). This will hopefully let you see how the questions work – or more importantly, let you see if this is something that would inspire and encourage your child to learn.
Social Media Links – Keeping Up To Date
Follow or like The Transfer Tutor on your social media channel of choice and ensure you never miss a beat with the whole transfer process, handy tips, advice, special offers and competitions.
Click below for your preferred channel or search for @TransferTutorHQ wherever you are.
Free Facebook Group
You may have read in the reviews about people referring to the Facebook Support Group and this is certainly a great place to keep informed, ask questions, get support and keep up-to-date with anything happening in the transfer space.
It’s free to join but please ensure you have a genuine Facebook profile picture (ghost pictures are not approved as not deemed authentic) and then simply click here and answer the simple questions -> Join Facebook Group.