Manchester and Trafford

[ElizabethMedora]

We are a way off this but I was browsing the entrance requirements of our nearest Trafford grammar - which told me that 50% of children come from Manchester LEA, as places are given on a combination of score and distance (we are on the border). But when I look at the Manchester secondary school nearest to us you have to be in a feeder primary school to get a place. So, it looks to me like Manchester children can attend Trafford schools (the selective ones, at any rate) but Trafford children can't attend Manchester schools. Is that right?

No, not exactly because the rule is that you have to be in a Manchester primary feeder school to get priority. So the key is whether anybody can get a place in a manchester primary school when they live in Trafford. They would then have priority as being in a Manchester feeder school, even though they live in Trafford.
I don't know the answer to that but Manchester LA managed to convince the Schools Ombudsman about the legality of their admission criteria as it applies to secondary schools. For primary schools admission criteria it is effectively medical /social needs then siblings then distance.

I don't know which Trafford grammar you are looking at, but I would be surprised if 50% of the pupils come from Manchester LEA. Whilst its kind of true to say that they offer on the basis of score and distance - the first round of places (certainly for the Trafford grammars local to me) offer solely based on pupils passing the entrance exam who are within the catchment areas (which are definitely within Trafford). They have a small proportion of places that are for "out of catchment" children but its slightly complicated in that you need a higher school than in catchment children. And those out of catchment children can come from anywhere, not just Manchester LEA (eg Bolton, Cheshire etc).