Moving to Hale, Manchester - advice please!

[chaiselongues]

Hello mumsnetters, advice needed please!

My husband is likely to be offered a job in Trafford and we need to decide whether to move there as a family with 2 primary aged and 1 nursery aged boys. We’re looking at Hale primarily (but happy to be told somewhere else is better!) because it has a grammar school and looks nice!

I lived in Manchester (more centrally) 20 years ago and loved it, but it’s a while later and I’ve got a family now so I’d love some input. I’m from London (husband European), but we’re currently living in Dublin in a lovely, safe, calm but also fairly dull seaside suburb. All my family is south of uk but we do have a few northern friends.

I will be able to work from Manchester (or most places in the uk).

The kids are happy and settled here in Ireland but it’s much harder for me to work here (far less childcare), prices are high, and we have no family help (which would be similar in Manc tbh). They’re at a lovely school which is private (we can’t afford private in the uk, it’s much much cheaper here).

so my questions are:
is Hale (or elsewhere) a good place to live as a family?
what are the primary schools like?
anyone know anything about Altrincham Grammar school for boys (and nearly non grammars - kids seem to be doing well at school but that’s no guarantee) - is it a happy place? Any bullying? Hard to get into?

help!!

thank you hive mind!

It's a lovely area and the grammar schools are fantastic but really competitive.

Both my boys are there and it's fantastic but it's getting harder and harder to get in. We sent them to private primary which did a lot of prep with them. If they're in state primary you will need to tutor.

If you're in hale you likely want to be on the side that puts you within half a mile of Wellington school as that probably the best non grammar in Trafford but the catchment is tiny.

A lot of people send their kids to private round here if they don't pass for alti grammar.

Hope that helps !

Thanks so much that’s really helpful - could I ask the names of any particularly good/successful private preps? Would you recommend the ones you used? I’d be relying partly on making friends (for me!) at the school gates, through the gym, kids activities etc - is that likely to be hard to do? Sorry for all the questions!

Bumping!