William Hulme or Chorlton High School?

[Eudaimonia5]

I've filled in the secondary school application but don't know whether to change the order of preference.

My child is bright and sat the Trafford CEM exam. Unfortunately, she messed up the exam and hasn't got in any of the grammar schools. She did very well in her mocks but didn't pass the actual exam.

We're looking at either Chorlton High School (Nell Lane) or William Hulme Grammar School. We live closer to William Hulme but may move closer to Chorlton within the next few years.

We've pretty much only just moved to South Manchester so have no idea about the reputations of any of the schools.

The admissions page for William Hulme mentions an assessment to make sure there are equal numbers of children in each class. I've never heard of schools doing that before.

If anyone has any insight or experience of either school, it would be much appreciated.

Both are good but different style schools. Have you visited? I'd say Chorlton is more diverse and bigger

I would agree that Chorlton probably more diverse. It's a really big school too if that has any bearing on your choice. I have quite a few friends with kids there and I think they are generally happy although I do know of one whose child has had to deal with some bullying issues. It's great for arts, drama etc and we were impressed with the facilities when we looked around. There is also Chorlton high south too which is in a brand new building and also seems to be ok (according to people I know with kids there). I know less about WHGS other than it has a slightly different admissions process. Also to note that it's a 3-18 school so there will be a lot of children who automatically move up from the primary section.

Thank you for your replies.

Unfortunately due to work commitments, we haven't been able to attend any open evenings. I think that's why I'm so unsure, ideally I'd have liked to go to see the schools. It's such a big decision and I feel like I'm going in blind.

My daughter has attended the summer childcare sessions at William Hulme but they were run by an external company who have nothing to do with the school.

@peacypops and @Feetache please can you elaborate on what you mean by diverse? I thought both schools were pretty equally diverse in terms of having a lot of children from different backgrounds.

My friends daughter is at CHS, her other daughter at Stretford Grammar. I don't think she thinks it's great for academics. It's a very large school and the support for her dyslexia has also been poor. With a SEN child myself this would concern me.

I don't know anything about WHGS unfortunately.

There is likely a lot of talk about secondary schools on the M21/Chorlton Facebook group. I'd have a look there or start your own post. Also, although you haven't been in the area long, are there neighbours with kids at these schools you can ask?

@yoshiblue my daughter doesn't have any SEN so I luckily don't have that added stress of trying to find somewhere that can provide adequate support. I definitely want somewhere that will encourage my child academically, she gets bored of the slow pace at her current primary school. She wanted to go to Stretford Grammar but she messed the exam up so that's no longer an option. We live in a flat so there aren't any neighbours with high school age children. I barely see the neighbours so I can't even ask if they know anything about schools. They all seem to be professionals with no children.

Although your child doesn't have SEN, to me that's an alarm bell that they are not supporting basic provision for dyslexia adequately, which by law they should be.

From what my friend has said, I'm not convinced she would get the challenge academically from CHS.

Is private an option? I know a few friends from that area that have sent to St Bedes in Whalley Range. The exam is January but I presume is 'easier' than the Trafford CEM, given I know others have used it as a back up to Stretford Grammar. I know a couple of children that started at CHS then pulled out to go to St Bedes as they were unhappy with CHS.

It's certainly on our list if Trafford CEM doesn't work out for us.

@yoshiblue Yes, I take your point about it being a red flag if they can't provide basic support for children with dyslexia. St Bede's is very near where we live but we're not Christian and we're skint so not an option.

I'd say from my limited knowledge that there is a greater range of diversity at CHS. I know plenty at CHS who are happy with it and all had as first choice

Could you expand at all, @pinksl ?

The assessment day for WHGS was at the start of December. You needed to apply to the school if you wanted your child to take the test. Rather than taking just the top scores, they split all the scores into 5 bands and take 20% from each to ensure a balanced intake. I believe they also still do a language aptitude test and some places are reserved for the highest scorers.

My older daughter is in Y11 at Chorlton High and has generally had a positive experience there. She's a firm middle-set student and has been well supported and should leave with a decent set of GCSE results that will allow her to go onto the college she wants. Most of her friends are very academic and are on track to get top grades - a couple were taken to Oxford recently as part of a programme to encourage more state school kids into top universities. The only time she's ever mentioned problems with behaviour was returning to school after lockdown when they were in bubbles and she was stuck in a group with one or two particularly disruptive boys (though it was Year 9 which is prime dickhead territory and they had a lot of teacher absences). Overall I think it's a good school with nice kids and the art, dance and drama provision is superb.

My younger daughter will hopefully be going to Chorlton High in September. She missed the score on the Trafford 11+ by a couple of points, and while we probably could have appealed for a place at Stretford Grammar, she'd already decided that CHS was her favourite.

Just realised that this is actually quite an old thread, so hopefully the OP is now sorted with school applications 😊