Trafford grammar schools - experiences please!

[ZenNudist]

We can't go round any of these schools can anyone please offer any advice if your dc goes to one of these schools? Or even if you viewed them.

I'm very ambivalent about Urmston and Stretford Grammars.

Urmston in particular, various teachers (including the headmaster at ds primary school) tell me the school is trading on its 2008 ofsted outstanding but its results are falling. Its facilities seem underwhelming and not convinced it has an excellent extra curricular programme. Does anyone know if the school is good to attend?. It's certainly competitive but DS is testing well so seems to have a chance of getting in.

Keep hearing great things about Stretford and the children represent the school well. Better chance of getting in and we are slightly nearer.

St Ambrose impressed me with their presentation of lovely facilities and great extra curricular activities plus I prefer a Catholic school, but it's only rated Good on recent ofstead report and isn't local.

Altrincham Boys is supposedly the best of our options but this is lower down our priority list due to distance . I feel if ds can get into Urmston (or Stretford much better chance) then I should opt for Co Ed and local rather than running the risk of being rejected by Altrincham.

So baffled. I'd feel totally different if I'd been able to view the schools. Can any kind mumsnetter share their own impressions or experiences?

Thank you!

Surely they will hold open evenings as normal in September etc once restrictions are removed.

Hersetta I don't think so. Its right on top of the entrance exams and then you have to make a choice by 31 October so I can't see there being time. They usually have open days in May and June. They've gone virtual this year.

Tellingly Urmston doesn't have any pictures of the school at all on its virtual open day, just selected student interviews and a montage of photos of school trips pre covid. Makes me suspicious!

Have you rung the schools and asked if they are planning anything during the autumn term?

With regard to what you say about jeopardising a place...As far as I understand it, your son will sit the one Consortium exam ( unless he does want to go for Ambrose which I believe is still separate). If he passes for AGSB - this will be a tougher standardised score - you could put this down as no 1 choice, followed by UGS/ SGS. If he them doesn't get in because of catchment, it will just default downwards I think. I have never heard of anyone in Trafford ( Manchester, yes) passing for every school and then not being offered a place.
I appreciate what you are saying about the open days - so hard to choose if you can't get a proper feel for them. I have two DC at Sale Grammar. Out of interest, DD1 has a few new friends in the lower sixth who joined from Stretford. Retention into Sixth Form can say a lot about a school.

My DD is at Stretford (yr8) and very happy there. It's a lovely school with a real community feel. The Head is great - very down to earth and he genuinely cares a lot about the students (which has been particularly evident during the pandemic). Academically DD is doing really really well - the students are pushed to work hard but at the same time the school has a good ethos when it comes to student well-being and pastoral care.

We looked around all the schools initially but ended up opting for Stretford as first choice as it was our nearest school and we just felt it was the right fit for our daughter. We were also really impressed with Urmston and put this as our second choice. From what I recall the facilities there were really good and the students who showed us around were very positive about their experiences there. We were less enamoured with Sale Grammar at the open evening - it just didn't have the welcoming atmosphere that Urmston and Stretford had and the Headteacher's speech focused mainly on academic performance and not a lot else. Saying that, I have heard it's an excellent school so it's probably best to get opinions from people who actually have children who attend the school rather than from someone who only attended a very busy open evening!

I think that all the open evenings for the Grammars will be virtual this year. Stretford was due to have one this month but they have pushed it back to September now I think. It must be tough having to make a decision without actually visiting the schools - hopefully you'll get some more comments on this thread which will help you in your decision making. Best of luck!!

I worked very briefly at Urmston. It was.ok. Kids generally nice, staff generally good. The head was ace.

As with everywhere there is variation in quality between subjects. One dept had a long term staff absence and the cover work was absolutely crap. Same thing every week and the head of department wasn't bothered.

I wouldn't want my own children to go there tbh. I think Alty Boys would defo be the one to aim for.
I do vaguely know someone who teaches at Stretford. She loves it and would be happy to send her own child there. I have no other experience of that school.

I just wanted to clarify that there is no 'risk' involved in the order you list the schools and the chance of getting in shouldn't be a factor in the order you list the schools- list them in your genuine order of preference, including somewhere on the list at least one school that you can be pretty sure you will be offered a place at. Admissions in England have to use the equal preference system by law, meaning that they cannot prioritise people for listing them first/higher up on their preference form. Hypothetically, if you listed schools you didn't get into from 1-5 on your list, and a grammar school that you met the score/distance criteria for in 6th place, you would get a place above someone who had listed the grammar school first but didn't meet the score/distance criteria as well as you. They don't go through people who listed them first, then people who listed them second, etc.

The only time that the order you list the schools in matters is if more than one school is able to offer you a place, in which case you will be offered the one of these that is highest on your list.

You'll have the exam results before you submit your choices. If your son hasn't passed for say AGSB, then you dont list it.

If hes passes for all of them, just list them in preference. If you put AGSB as Number 1 and you live too far away / he doesnt rank high enough, they'll just move down to your second choice and so on. The only time you shouldn't do that is if there's absolutely no real prospect of him getting in (you're too far away and he's highly unlikely to rank high enough out of catchment and you'd be wasting a preference).

They are all very good schools but depends on what may suit your son (e.g. I know for instance that provision of modern languages at A Level at AGSB is limited this year because they don't have enough boys choosing those options to make it viable).

Just found this thread from last year @ZenNudist and wondered what you chose in the end. This will be us in a couple of years time!