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You need to be Deputy DSL or above, or hold the School Admin role, to create transfers.
Signal supports two transfer flows, both initiated from Settings > Transfers. Use Send Transfer when a student is leaving your school, and Request Transfer when a student has arrived and you need their records from a previous school. Both flows require you to select an establishment from your directory — or create a new one during the process.
The Transfers page with the Request Transfer and Send Transfer buttons

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Send Transfer (outgoing)

Use this flow when a student is leaving your school and you need to send their safeguarding records to the receiving school.

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When to send a transfer

  • A student is moving to another school (primary to secondary, or any school change)
  • A student is transferring to a pupil referral unit (PRU) or alternative provision
  • A student is moving to a school in another local authority
You should initiate the transfer as soon as you know the student is leaving, so records arrive before or shortly after the child does.

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Steps

You can only send records for an archived student. Archive the pupil on their profile first — see Archiving students. If none of your pupils are archived, the student picker is empty.
1

Start a new transfer

Go to Settings > Transfers and click Send Transfer.
2

Select the archived students

In Select Archived Students, search for and choose the pupil whose records you are sending. You can select more than one — useful when siblings move together.
3

Choose where to send them

Under Send records to, start typing the receiving school’s name and pick it from your establishments directory. If it is not there yet, click Add new establishment — or Can’t find it? Add establishment manually to enter the name and email yourself.
4

Send the transfer

Click Send Transfer. The receiving school is emailed to say records are waiting for them, and the transfer appears on your Outgoing Transfers tab so you can track it. If they do not use Signal, see what they receive.
The Send Student Transfer Records dialog with an archived student selected and the receiving school chosen from the establishments directory

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Request Transfer (incoming)

Use this flow when a student has arrived at your school and you need to request their safeguarding records from their previous school.

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When to request a transfer

  • A new student has joined your school and you need their safeguarding history
  • A student has transferred from another setting and records have not yet been provided
  • You need to follow up on records that should have accompanied a student on arrival

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Steps

1

Start a new request

Go to Settings > Transfers and click Request Transfer. Select the student whose records you need.
2

Select or create an establishment

Choose the student’s previous school from your establishments directory, or click Add new establishment to create one. You can search for the school to prepopulate the details, or enter them manually.
3

Send the request

Confirm and send. The previous school is notified by email that you have requested safeguarding records for the student. Send it to a mailbox someone monitors — the sign-in code goes to that same address. See Schools Without Signal.
Request Transfer form with a student selected and the establishment to request records from
Once the previous school responds, the incoming transfer appears on your Transfers page for you to review and accept.

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What gets included

A transfer sends the student’s safeguarding record across, which can include:
  • Incidents — the full incident record, including description, categories, date, and any linked information.
  • Comments — comments on those incidents, preserving the communication trail.
  • Documents — files from the student’s document library and attachments on their incidents.
  • Context — additional context about the student’s situation.
Start building your establishments directory early. Adding the schools you commonly transfer to or receive from saves time when you need to create a transfer quickly.
Check the pupil and the receiving school carefully before you click Send Transfer. Once sent, the receiving school is emailed and can access the records.