Apply to Loreto Grammar School, in plain English.
Loreto is a selective Catholic grammar school for girls in Hale, Altrincham, run by the Sisters of Loreto. Girls sit the school's own Governors' Entrance Examination — register direct with the school by 31 July 2026 — and must pass it to be considered; places are then ranked by faith, baptised Catholics first, with no catchment area. Around 444 girls apply for roughly 150 places, so passing the exam does not guarantee an offer.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
Your daughter sits Loreto's own entrance exam — register by 31 July 2026.
Loreto is not in the Trafford Consortium; it runs its own Governors' Entrance Examination — closed GL papers in English and verbal reasoning, plus the school's own maths test — sat on the morning of 18 September 2026. You register directly with the school online; registration opens 27 June 2026 and closes at 1pm on 31 July 2026, and late entries cannot be tested until after offer day. Your daughter must pass to be considered, and you are told the outcome by 21 October 2026, before the council deadline.
Faith comes first — and you must produce a Baptism certificate to be ranked on it.
Among girls who pass the exam, places are allocated by faith category: baptised Roman Catholics first, then baptised girls of other Christian denominations, then everyone else. To be considered Catholic — or of another denomination — you must produce an original Baptism certificate at registration and before 10 July 2026; the child must have been baptised before registering for the exam. Without it your daughter is treated as a girl of no faith and ranks in the lowest categories.
There is no catchment — a Catholic parish link helps, distance only breaks ties.
Loreto has no designated catchment area and considers applications from any local authority. Living in one of the school's nominated Local Pastoral Areas and attending an associated Catholic primary lifts a baptised Catholic girl up the Catholic order — but it is a faith-priority, not a boundary. Where girls tie for the last place in a category, the closer home wins, measured in a straight line. So distance matters only for tie-breaks, not for the faith ranking itself.
Five steps — starting now.
If more qualifying girls apply than there are places, these criteria decide.
First, a girl with an EHC plan naming Loreto who has passed the exam is admitted. Then, among girls who passed, places are allocated by faith category in the order below. Within every category, girls in receipt of the Pupil Premium are ranked first, then by exam marks, with straight-line distance only as the final tie-break. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A baptised Roman Catholic girl who has passed the exam and is currently in council care, or who left care through adoption, a child arrangements order or special guardianship, has the very first priority. This includes international baptised Catholic looked-after girls.
What the document says: Baptised Roman Catholic 'looked after girls', Baptised Roman Catholic 'previously looked after girls' and International Baptised Roman Catholic 'looked after girls'.
In plain English: A baptised Roman Catholic girl who has passed the exam and has a sibling at Loreto when she would start. A sibling means a sister, half-sister, adopted or step-sister, or the child of a parent's partner, living at the same address.
What the document says: Baptised Roman Catholic girls who have sisters* in the school at the time of admission. (*Sibling as defined by Trafford.)
In plain English: A baptised Roman Catholic girl who has passed the exam, attends one of Loreto's associated Catholic primary schools and lives in a nominated Local Pastoral Area. The parishes and primaries are listed in the policy (St Ambrose Deanery in the Diocese of Shrewsbury and Our Lady's Deanery in the Diocese of Salford). This is a faith-and-parish priority, not a geographic catchment — both the school and the home parish must match.
What the document says: Baptised Roman Catholic girls who attend an associated Primary School and live in a nominated Local Pastoral Area. A list of nominated Local Pastoral Areas and associated primary schools is appended to the policy.
In plain English: Any other baptised Roman Catholic girl who has passed the exam — those without a sibling link or a matching parish-and-primary link. This is where most Catholic applicants without a sibling at the school sit.
What the document says: Other Baptised Roman Catholic girls.
In plain English: After the four baptised-Catholic categories come, in order: other looked-after and previously looked-after girls; then baptised girls of other Christian denominations (with a Baptism certificate); then all other girls. A girl does not have to be Catholic to apply, but non-Catholic girls rank below the Catholic categories above.
What the document says: 5. Other 'looked after girls', 'previously looked after girls' and 'International previously looked after girls'. 6. Baptised girls of other denominations. 7. Other girls.
In plain English: The faith categories above set the order. Inside each one, if there are more girls than places, girls in receipt of the Pupil Premium are ranked first, then girls who achieved the highest marks in the entrance exam. Distance is only used to separate two girls who are otherwise equal.
What the document says: If in any category there are more applications than places available, then priority will be given in the following order: those girls who are eligible for Pupil Premium; then those girls who achieved the highest marks in the Entrance Examination. In the event of a tie-break then closest distance from the home address to Loreto will be applied.
Tie-breaks: Within any category, after Pupil Premium and exam marks, the closer home wins — measured in a straight line from the seed point of your home (Trafford's Local Land and Property Gazetteer) to the school. Passing the exam does not guarantee a place, and a place can be withdrawn if false evidence is given on baptism, siblings or residence.
No boundary — faith decides, and distance only breaks ties.
Loreto has no designated catchment, so a girl who passes the exam can be considered from anywhere on equal terms. What orders the list is faith — baptised Roman Catholics first (looked-after, sibling, parish-and-primary, then other Catholics), then other looked-after girls, then other Christian denominations, then everyone else — with Pupil Premium and exam marks deciding rank within each group. Distance is only the final tie-breaker for the last place in a category.
Distance is measured in a straight line from the seed point of your permanent home address to the school, using Trafford's mapping system — not by walking or driving route. The displayed circle on our map is illustrative only; it is not a real boundary, and no fixed cutoff distance is published.
See Loreto's location on the GrammarBound mapFaith ranks ahead of a closer home from another group.
Both girls pass the exam. Girl A is a baptised Catholic, placing her in the Catholic categories; Girl B lives closer but belongs to a lower faith category. Because faith sets the order before distance, Girl A is ranked ahead. Distance would only separate two girls inside the same category.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Girls who passed the exam but were not offered a place are held on a waiting list, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria — not by the order you joined. The list is kept until 31 December 2027; re-register in July if you want your daughter held for the following year. Ask Loreto to keep her on the list.
Request a waiting-list place via Loreto directly.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent panel, which follows the statutory School Admission Appeals Code. The appeal information is published on the school's admissions page. Appealing does not remove your daughter from the waiting list — you can do both.
Joining Year 12.
Loreto admits 160 girls into Year 12, including around 20 external places, within a sixth-form capacity of 300.
The grade floor.
The general entry requirement is a minimum of six GCSE subjects at grade 6, with at least a grade 6 in the subjects to be studied at A-level, plus a grade 5 in English and Mathematics. No equivalent qualifications are accepted. Individual courses set higher subject-specific grades on top of this, published each year in the sixth-form prospectus.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants apply directly to Loreto by the published deadline — sixth-form entry is not co-ordinated by the local authority. Offers are conditional on GCSE results and confirmed on results day once the grade requirements are met, including any subject-specific grades. Where the sixth form is oversubscribed, the same faith categories apply to external candidates, ranked by highest GCSE grades with distance as the tie-break.