My child has special educational needs. How does the transfer test work for us?

If your child has a statement

Children with a statement of special educational needs don't need to sit the SEAG test. SEAG says a separate Year 8 Admissions Process applies to them, and SEAG results don't form part of it. You don't apply through the online Post-Primary Application.

Here's how it usually runs:

• The P7 transfer Annual Review. It's held in your child's primary school, and that's where you name your preferences for post-primary school.
• The Amendment Notice. The school sends the review papers to the Education Authority (EA). Your child's SEN Link Officer then drafts an Amendment Notice to the statement and sends it to you, usually between November and January. You can name your school preferences again at this point.
• The placement. The EA consults the school, and once the school and your family have agreed, a final statement is issued. You're told once the placement is finalised, rather than on a fixed date.

When the EA suggests a change to the statement, you have 15 days to ask for a meeting about it, and it must tell you its final decision within eight weeks. You have the same rights to choose a school as you had when the statement was made.

### What each school is asked to consider

Each school is asked to consider only two things:

• whether it's suitable for your child's age, ability or aptitude, or their special educational needs;
• whether including your child is compatible with the efficient education of the children they'd be taught with, and with the efficient use of resources.

### If your child sits the SEAG test anyway

A child with a statement can still choose to sit the test. If they do, you can ask the EA to add a copy of the score, with evidence, to the papers it sends to schools. But in the EA's own words, the score "cannot be used to determine if a place in a grammar school is suitable to meet the needs of a child." If your child sits the test and needs extra time or other help, see the access arrangements below.

The EA's SEN line is SEND Central, 028 9031 7777, option 1 (Statutory Assessment and Review Service), Monday to Friday, 9am to 4.30pm.

If your child is still being assessed

If the statutory assessment hasn't finished, your child goes through the general admissions process, applying online like everyone else, until a proposed statement is progressed.

If your child doesn't have a statement

Your child registers and sits the test like any other child. If they have a specific, significant need, you can apply for extra time or other help on the day as part of the registration.

Extra time and other help on the day

SEAG calls these Access Arrangements: reasonable adjustments for children with a specific, significant need. They can't be put in place just for the test. They have to reflect how your child normally works in class, and the evidence comes from the primary school: your child's stage on the school's SEN register, and the adjustments the school already makes for them.

You apply with the Pupil Application, before registration closes: the window for access arrangements closes in September of P7. The EA is separate from SEAG and doesn't test children for it, but you can send documents the EA already has. There's more on extra time and access arrangements.

What I've seen

In my experience, children who apply for extra time with a good reason have always been granted it. My sense is that SEAG wants every child to have the best chance on the day, and extra time is there so a child who needs it gets that same chance as everyone else.

Applying for schools

Unless your child has a statement, you apply online through the EA. For September 2027, applications open at 12 noon on Wednesday 27 January 2027 and close at 12 noon on Wednesday 3 March 2027. List at least four schools, including a non-grammar school. There's more on how to apply.