Northern Ireland

The transfer test in Northern Ireland

The SEAG entrance assessment, applying for a post-primary place, offers and appeals for September 2027 entry.

Moving from primary to post-primary school in Northern Ireland happens in Primary 7, and works differently from England.

The SEAG entrance assessment

Grammar schools use the SEAG Common Entrance Assessment: two papers sat on Saturdays in November of Primary 7. Each grammar school’s admissions criteria say how it uses SEAG results, and some admit some or all pupils on other criteria, so check each school’s criteria. Sitting the test is optional, and non-grammar schools don’t use it.

Tests: Paper 1 is on Saturday 14 November 2026 and Paper 2 on Saturday 21 November 2026.
Results: SEAG statements of outcome are released online on Saturday 23 January 2027.
Re-marks: you can ask for a re-mark online from 25 January to 3 February 2027.

Registration for the November 2026 tests has closed. Registration for each year’s test opens on the SEAG website in Primary 6. See the SEAG area guide for the dates we have found.

Applying for a place

Apply online through the Education Authority’s portal. Applications close at 12 noon on Wednesday 3 March 2027.
List at least four schools, including a non-grammar school. No child is guaranteed a place at a particular type of school.
Children with a statement of special educational needs are placed through a separate process by the Education Authority and do not go through the competitive transfer process.
Read each school’s admissions criteria before you list it. Each school publishes how many places it has and the criteria it uses if it receives more applications than places. Schools use only the information on your application form, such as brothers or sisters at the school or free school meal entitlement.

How places are decided

Schools apply their criteria to the applications they receive. If your child is not offered a place at your first preference, the application passes to your next preference, and so on until a place is offered or the list runs out, so the order of your preferences matters. Check whether a school’s criteria give priority to children who list it first.

You receive the outcome through the online portal at the end of the process. If your child is not offered a place at any school you listed, you will be asked to choose from schools that still have places.

Appeals

You can appeal if you think a school did not apply its published admissions criteria, or did not apply them correctly. For September 2027 entry, appeal forms must arrive by 4pm on Thursday 20 May 2027. Your notification explains how to appeal.

The appeal tribunal does not challenge the criteria themselves, and it considers only the information the school’s governors had when they offered places. It can uphold an appeal only if the school did not apply its criteria correctly and would have offered your child a place if it had.

Separately, the Exceptional Circumstances Body considers cases where a child must go to one particular school because of exceptional circumstances. It is not part of the normal process, has no deadline, and cannot consider academic ability or the type of education a school offers. It is not open to pupils with a statement of special educational needs.

Sources

Reviewed 1 November 2026 by UK School Map (checked against nidirect and SEAG, November 2026). Rules change every year: check the current admission arrangements with your council and the school.