This article reviews transition from primary to secondary school over the period from the 1970s to the present day. It first considers the evidence from the earlier period and then at the time of the millennium before reporting on a recent investigation undertaken in four secondary schools. Using the ‘five bridges model’ of transfer, it compares the changes that have occurred over the five decades and concludes that current transfer practice has regressed so that it now more closely resembles that which took place in the 1970s. Explanations for this shift are offered particularly, the emphasis on ‘performativity’ and the loss of influence by Local Authorities due to the policy of ‘academisation’, and some suggestions made for improving transfer practice in the present contexts.