Transition into Year 7 September 2026

Transition contacts:

Information for parents (for Year 7 intake Sept 2026):

Offer Day Information
Free School Meals Application
Edulink Guide to update information
Offer Day Booklet - Welcome to Thomas Clarkson Academy
Information Booklet
Tutor Information
Tie Update

Transition resources

Parents may find the following resources useful:
Transition resources for Year 6 pupils
More resources for both Year 6 pupils and parents
BBC Bitesize: Year 6 transition
BBC Bitesize: Celebrity tips for starting secondary school
BBC Bitesize: Supporting a child moving to secondary school with Dr Radha
BBC Bitesize: First day nerves - how to prepare, keep calm and carry on
BBC Bitesize: Starting secondary school

Transition Programme

Our aims

  • To reassure Year 6 students about their transition to Thomas Clarkson Academy and to prepare them for academy life
  • To support parents and provide them with all the information they need throughout the transition process
  • To gather relevant information from all our feeder primary schools about each student joining Thomas Clarkson Academy in September.

Transition Programme

Thomas Clarkson Academy believes that it is imperative that Year 6 students have a positive move into Year 7. It is vital that they feel confident and equipped to make the transition into the Academy at the start of the academic year.

We feel that in order to achieve a positive transition, parents should be fully informed about the process; therefore, we have put together a timetable of the process below.

 

To make an application to Thomas Clarkson Academy please visit Cambridgeshire County Council Admissions Citizen Portal.

If you can't apply online

  • You can apply online using free WiFi and computers at Cambridgeshire libraries.
  • You can apply on paper, and return to Cambridgeshire County Council. Please call Cambridgeshire Admissions on 0345 045 1370 for a form.

Paper Applications

If you apply using a paper form you cannot receive your offer by email. You will have to wait to receive your offer in the post.

We recommend that all paper application forms are posted by “signed-for” recorded delivery, and that you get proof of postage. Cambridgeshire County Council accept no responsibility, and will make no exceptions, for applications that do not reach us and are not posted by this method. Do not send original documents.

If you have already made an online application for your child, you must not also submit a paper form. If we receive both a paper and an online application, the application with the most recent date (last one received) will be the application that is processed.

TCA Open Evening Postcard

 

This is the national closing date for secondary applications. Any applications received after this date will be classed as late applications and offers will be made in the second round. 

  • 1 November 2025 - Second round applications open
  • 31 March 2026 (midnight) - deadline for second round applications
  • 24 April 2026 - Offers sent out to applicants who submitted applications from 1 November 2024 to 31 March 2025.
 

If you applied by the 31st October you will receive an email from your local authority with the offer of a place for your child(ren) or alternatively you can check online yourself within the application portal.

Please contact Thomas Clarkson Academy to accept your child’s place - 01945 585237.

You can also accept your child’s place online via the Citizen Portal.

If you wish to decline your place you must do this in writing to your Local Authority, please also email admissions@thomasclarksonacademy.org.

If you applied for a place on paper, then your Local Authority are aiming for you to receive your confirmation letter on this date.

LINK: Cambridgeshire County Council
Information for parents (for Year 7 intake Sept 2025):

Offer Day Information
Free School Meals Application
Edulink Guide to update information
Offer Day Booklet - Welcome to Thomas Clarkson Academy
Information Booklet
Tutor Information
Tie Update

 

We will be sending out emails to all parents of year 6 children who have been offered places at TCA for September. If you have not received an email then please contact us to update your email address.

This will confirm your offer of a place with us and give you details of how to accept.
 

Final dates for appeal applications, please ensure you get the correct date for the local authority area you live in:

Cambridgeshire:

  • Appeals deadline – 26 March 2026
  • Appeals will be heard – 06 May to 17 June 2026 (40 school days from deadline)

You are still able to submit an appeal, after the deadline has past. Your appeal will then be heard within 30 school days of receipt of the form requesting the appeal.

This form should be completed by those parents who wish to appeal the school place allocated for their child: School Admissions Appeal - Data Protection - Cambridgeshire County Council website 

Upon the receipt of a completed appeal form, the appellant will be sent a letter of acknowledgement.

LINKS: 
Cambridgeshire County Council
Norfolk County Council
 
  • Transition Evening is TBC
    • An important information event where you will also get to meet your child’s tutor. 
  • Transition days: TBC

    • This will be an opportunity for your child to:

      • Experience two days in the life of a secondary school student
      • Spend time with the TCA team
      • Meet their fellow tutees and build relationships and friendships

Useful information:

Free School Meals Application

Uniform Policy and Ordering Process
 

TBC

This is an evening event for you and your child to come along and speak with their tutor to discuss how they are settling in to life at TCA.