Dear P6 Parent/Guardian
It is come to my attention that some of you may be uncertain of the transfer arrangement for your child when they move into P7 and prepare for Secondary or Grammar school.
On 19th May 2020 the Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin asked that the Post-Primary Transfer Test be suspended this year in Northern Ireland due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite the Education Minister Peter Weir rejecting the Bishop’s plea, on 29th May, the Abbey Christian Brothers’ Grammar School, Our Lady’s Grammar School, Sacred Heart Grammar School, and St Colman’s College which are all in Newry, and St Louis Grammar School, in Kilkeel, announced they would act on the request of Bishop Martin and suspend the transfer test for this year.
Therefore, no Catholic pupils in the catchment area of these schools will be sitting the Transfer Test in the next academic year. The above named schools organise for the sitting and administration of the transfer test but next school year 2020/2021 they will not be producing a test.
The selection of pupils for the schools named will take place and these schools have outlined their selection criteria for the incoming year given the absence of the Transfer Test. The criteria laid out by individual schools should be available on their School Websites. Although there has been no mention of any test related criteria, including records of performances from Primary Schools, this could be a possibility. Key Stage 2 (P5/P6/P7) results have been requested in the past for the purpose of transferring to Grammar School. It could be the case that the Grammar Schools will look towards the standardised scores from previous years to make their selection.
Therefore, our focus for the pupils who will be entering into P7 this September 2020, will be to work towards the internal standardised tests that will be administered in the Spring term within our own school.
I hope that this communication goes some way to removing any misunderstanding you may have had in relation to transfer arrangements for this incoming P7 year 2020/2021.
Yours sincerely,
Peter McDonnell
Principal