Transferring into a Tokyo private school mid-year: the term-end vacancy list, and one school's January round

A move between Tokyo public schools is paperwork at the ward. A mid-year move into a private junior high or high school is an exam for a vacancy. The Bureau of Citizens and Cultural Affairs publishes who is holding one, from a survey by the Tokyo private junior and senior high association (東京私立中学高等学校協会). The latest notice, 11 June 2026, is for entry from the second term of fiscal 2026, compiled as of 25 May 2026.

Two words on the notice

転学 (tengaku): you are enrolled at a junior high or high school, there is no gap, and you move straight into the equivalent grade at another school.

中学校、高等学校に在籍しており、空白期間がなく、引き続き他の学校の相当学年に移る場合。

編入学 (hennyūgaku): after entering high school you left, and you enter again, and similar cases.

高等学校に入学後、一度退学した後に改めて入学する場合等。

The list uses both words for junior highs too, while the 編入学 definition is written around high school. Ask which word applies. A row is a reported vacancy, not a place held for you.

Who was on the June 2026 list

The notice counts the schools holding an exam: 81 junior highs and 96 high schools (88 full-time, 8 correspondence).

	Boys'	Girls'	Co-ed	Total
Junior high	7	37	37	81
High school, full-time	6	39	43	88
High school, correspondence	—	—	8	8

Each row gives places by grade (often 若干, jakkan, a small unspecified number), the dates, the subjects, and an eligibility code.

Code	Meaning on the notice
①	A parent's job transfer or the family moving house (転勤・転居)
②	Return from overseas (海外帰国)
③	No condition (条件なし)

A deadline printed as 随時 (zuiji, at any time) can close when the school has enough applicants:

願書締切日が「随時」の学校については、応募状況により募集を終了する場合がある。

Documents and office hours are not on the notice. Ask the school. The bureau desk is 生活文化局私学部私学行政課, 03-5388-3194. The association is 03-3263-0541.

The dated exams run from June through September 2026. By 9 October they have passed.

The next list

The association's page of 11 June 2026 says the bureau publishes once a term, and that the schedule can change:

List	When the association says it will be published
End of the second term	Around mid-November 2026 (令和8年11月中旬頃)
End of the third term	Around mid-February 2027 (令和9年2月中旬頃)

A June row is still relevant only if its deadline was 随時, and that recruitment may already have stopped. Call the school before you request papers.

The association's usual file, which it says to confirm with the school: the school's form; proof of the address you live at or are moving to; a transfer enquiry (転学照会書) and a certificate of enrolment (在学証明書) from the current principal; a transcript (成績証明書); anything else that school asks for; and an exam fee (入学考査料), with no amount printed. A public-school move uses different papers (moving schools inside Japan).

One school with a December exam

Tokyo Jogakkan (東京女学館, girls, Hiroo) publishes January-entry guidelines for its international class, separate from the bureau table. The exam is Monday 14 December 2026, for a small unspecified number of places in junior-high years 1 to 3 and high-school year 1.

All four conditions apply. She names this school first. Her age matches the grade (12 to 16); a mismatch from a school system abroad needs the school's agreement. A parent has lived abroad for at least a year, and the family returned on or after the date one year before the exam, or is still abroad and returns by 31 December 2026. Junior high needs Eiken 準2級 or above; high-school year 1 needs 2級 or above (Eiken dates and fees). Another English exam converts from CEFR A2 up. There is no English paper. 準2級 counts as 40 points in years 7 and 8 and 80 in year 9; high-school year 1 starts at 2級 = 80. Japanese and mathematics follow that grade's textbook range, plus a 10-minute interview of the student only. Results are on the school site the same day from 15:00.

Step	When
Apply in person, weekdays 9:00–16:00; post must arrive	18–24 November 2026
Exam fee, cash	¥25,000
Overseas transfer in her name, if you post from abroad	16–24 November 2026
Exam; gather at 8:45	14 December 2026
Collect the offer and pay, or it lapses	14 December to 16:00, and 15 December 9:00–16:00
Briefing. Absence counts as withdrawal unless you have called	16 December 2026, 10:00–11:30

Call ahead if you are abroad or she cannot leave her current school. Bring the 2026 first-term report, or the first semester if that school has two terms. If it is not in Japanese or English, you or your child translate it. The office on the guidelines is 03-3400-0867, weekdays and Saturdays 9:00–16:30.

Enrolment is ¥290,000 in cash. Third-term totals are ¥253,500, ¥426,000, ¥443,000 and ¥359,000 for years 7, 8, 9 and high-school year 1: tuition, facility charges, materials held in trust, an earthquake fund at entry only, and the parents' association. Uniforms are about ¥220,000 to ¥240,000 extra. A tablet and the term-2 savings balance are unset, and prices can change. She pays enrolment again at high school. A later reduction, by selection, exists when a high-school family can no longer pay. The page does not say who qualifies. The bureau names an exam fee and does not price it. Only these yen figures appear. Some lines are blank.

A 各種学校 (kakushu gakkō, miscellaneous school) is not on the June list (international and foreign schools). Kanagawa private schools use a different publisher.

What goes wrong

• A summer date on the June list is treated as still open.
• Code ② (return from overseas) or ① (a job move or a house move) does not match the family.
• 転学 is used after the child has already left. The definition requires no gap.
• The 16 December briefing is missed. Jogakkan treats that as withdrawal unless you have called.
• A report in a third language arrives without the translation asked for.

What to do now

1. Before mid-November, ask the school whether a 随時 vacancy is still open. The phones above find the list. They do not take an application.
2. Read the eligibility code on the new list before you request papers.
3. Ask the current school now for a 在学証明書, a 成績証明書 and, if needed, a 転学照会書.
4. If a returnee window fits, read that school's guidelines this week. Jogakkan's window is 18–24 November 2026. A public-school move uses the ward counter in the moving-schools article.