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When a student moves to another school, their safeguarding records must be transferred securely. This is a statutory requirement under Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) — the receiving school needs the full safeguarding picture to continue supporting the child. Signal makes this process straightforward and secure through your establishments directory.
The Transfers page with Incoming and Outgoing tabs and transfer records with status badges

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How transfers work

All transfers are managed through your establishments directory — an address book of schools and settings you send records to or receive them from.

Send Transfer

When a student has left your school, archive them and send their safeguarding records to the receiving school’s establishment in your directory.

Request Transfer

When a new student arrives, request their safeguarding records from the previous school’s establishment in your directory.
If both schools use Signal, the platform can also automatically detect when a student has moved between schools and prompt you to approve the transfer — no manual setup required. Most schools you deal with will not use Signal. They do not need an account — they receive an email with a secure link and sign in with a one-time code. See Schools Without Signal for what they receive and which address it comes from.

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Establishments

Establishments are the schools and settings you transfer records to and from — nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools, pupil referral units (PRUs), and other educational settings. You manage your establishment directory in Settings > Transfers > Establishments. When adding a new establishment, you can search for a school to prepopulate the name and lock the email domain. This ensures the notification goes to the right domain while letting you choose the specific contact. You can also enter details entirely manually. Building your establishment directory makes future transfers faster, as you select a destination from your saved list rather than setting one up each time.
If you change an establishment’s email address, all pending transfers linked to that establishment are automatically updated to use the new address.

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Archive the pupil first

Records can only be sent for a pupil who has been archived — Signal treats a transfer as something you do once a child has left. Archive them on their profile before you start, or the student picker on the transfer form will be empty. See Archiving students.

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Review and approval

Transfers are tracked from creation through to completion, and are marked Pending, Awaiting Approval, Approved, or Completed so both schools can see where a request has got to. The receiving school reviews what has arrived before accepting the records into their system.

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Learn more

Creating a Transfer

Step-by-step guide to preparing and sending a student’s records.

Managing Transfers

Receive incoming transfers, track outgoing ones, and manage your establishments.

Schools Without Signal

What the other school receives, the address it comes from, and how they sign in.