Apply to Stretford Grammar School, in plain English.
Stretford Grammar is a co-educational selective grammar that fills its 160 Year 7 places by the Trafford Consortium 11+: children need to reach the consortium's qualifying score of 334, and once they qualify it is where they live that decides — children in the school's catchment area (postcodes M32, M33, M41, M15, M16, M17 and M21) are ranked ahead of those outside it, with the place going to those living nearest the school. The school is consistently oversubscribed, so register for the consortium test by 19 June 2026 — separately from, and months before, the October Common Application Form deadline.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
Register for the Trafford 11+ by 19 June 2026 — separately from your council form.
Stretford Grammar is part of the Trafford Consortium of Grammar Schools. Your child sits one GL Assessment test — two papers of about an hour each, covering verbal, non-verbal and mathematics skills — on Monday 14 September 2026. Registration opens 23 April 2026 and closes 12 noon on 19 June 2026. This is completely separate from, and months before, the Common Application Form you send your home council.
The score is a pass mark of 334 — then it's about where you live.
The test result is a qualifying bar, not a league table: your child needs a standardised score of 334 or above (Pupil-Premium children scoring 324–333 are reviewed up to 334). After that the score is set aside — qualified children living in the school's catchment area are ranked ahead of children from outside it, and within each group the place goes to the child living nearest the school by straight-line distance.
Living outside the catchment does not rule your child out.
The catchment area confers priority, not exclusion. After the in-catchment children are placed, every remaining place goes to qualified children from outside the area — ranked, like everyone else, by how close they live to the school. A strong, qualifying score is what gets your child into the race; distance is what orders it.
Five steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
Test registration (step 1) closes on 19 June 2026 — months before the Common Application Form deadline that catches most families out. Miss it and there is no route to a place at Stretford Grammar for 2027 entry until after National Allocation Day.
If more children qualify than there are places, these 6 criteria decide.
Only children who reach the qualifying score of 334 are considered at all. If more qualify than the 160 places, they are placed in the order below. The catchment area splits the list: in-catchment children (criteria 2–4) sit above everyone outside it (criteria 5–6). Within every criterion, the place goes to the child living closest to the school by straight-line distance — the test score is a pass mark, not a ranking. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Looked-after and previously looked-after children who reach the qualifying score come first, wherever they live. This covers children in council care, and those adopted from care — including children who were in state care outside England and were then adopted.
What the document says: Oversubscription criteria 1 and 2 — "Looked After Children and all previously Looked After Children" (in the care of, or accommodated by, a local authority under section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989, and children adopted or on a child arrangements / special guardianship order immediately after being looked after), and "Children who have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted."
In plain English: Qualified children living in the catchment area who attract Pupil PremiumPupil PremiumChildren eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years (or currently eligible). You must verify the eligibility when you apply. or Service PremiumService PremiumChildren of regular armed-forces personnel (or registered as a service child since 2015, or whose parent died in service). funding are placed next, ahead of other catchment families. As with every criterion, the nearest by distance come first.
What the document says: Oversubscription criterion 3 — "Applicants residing within the school's catchment area, as per category 5, who are in receipt of pupil premium / service premium."
In plain English: Qualified children who will have a brother or sister already at Stretford Grammar (in Years 7 to 11) in September 2027 come next. A "sibling" includes full, half, step, adopted or foster brothers and sisters living permanently at the same address. Closest by distance first.
What the document says: Oversubscription criterion 4 — "Children who will have a sibling attending the School within Years 7 to 11 at the time of admission (September 2027)."
In plain English: Every other qualified child whose permanent home is in the catchment area — postcode districts M32, M33, M41, M15, M16, M17 and M21 — ranked by straight-line distance to the school, closest first. This is the criterion that places most local children, and it sits above all out-of-catchment children.
What the document says: Oversubscription criterion 5 — "Successful candidates who live within the catchment area of the school; being M32, M33, M41, M15 and M16 (both within Trafford and Manchester) M17, and including M21, this being the next closest postcode to the school." Distance is measured in a straight line from home to the school using the Trafford Local Land and Property Gazetteer.
In plain English: Qualified children living outside the catchment area who attract Pupil Premium or Service Premium funding are placed ahead of other out-of-catchment families — again, nearest by distance first.
What the document says: Oversubscription criterion 6 — "Applicants residing outside the school's catchment area who are in receipt of pupil premium / service premium."
In plain English: Any remaining places go to the other qualified children from outside the catchment area, ranked by how close they live to the school. There is no minimum distance and no league table of scores at this stage — just a qualifying score, and a place left after the higher criteria are filled.
What the document says: Oversubscription criterion 7 — "Children who live nearest to the School, measured in a direct straight line from the child's permanent place of residence to the School." Criterion 7 also breaks ties within criteria 1–6. An exact tie that cannot be separated is settled by random allocation.
A postcode catchment — priority, not a wall.
This is the bit parents most often get wrong, in both directions. Stretford Grammar's catchment area is defined in the policy as postcode districts M32, M33, M41, M15, M16, M17 and M21 — taken whole, on both the Trafford and Manchester sides. Qualified children living inside it are ranked ahead of qualified children living outside it. It does not guarantee a place — in busy years the in-catchment list alone can fill the school — and it does not shut out children living further away, who still compete for any places left over.
Within every criterion, the place goes to the child living closer to the school in a straight line, measured from the home address using the Trafford Local Land and Property Gazetteer. The test score (334) is a pass mark only — it never ranks one qualified child above another.
See the catchment area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: priority. Outside: still in the race.
Child A lives in Stretford, inside the M32 catchment area, so a qualifying score places her under criterion 4 — ahead of every out-of-catchment child, with the nearest in-catchment children placed first. Child B lives in Sandbach, outside the area, so she competes under criterion 6; if a place is left after the in-catchment children, the nearest out-of-catchment children get it. Her address never disqualifies her — it just sits her behind the in-catchment children.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If your child qualified but wasn't offered a place, they stay on the waiting list, held until 31 August at the end of Year 7. When a place comes free it goes to the child ranked highest under the same oversubscription criteria — not first-come-first-served — so a later joiner who lives closer can move above you. The list is reordered whenever anyone joins or leaves.
Stretford Grammar starts the waiting list after places are allocated on 1 March 2027; contact the school to confirm your child's place on it. Positions can move up or down as families join and leave.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place, following National Allocation Day. The appeals timetable is published on the school website by 28 February each year, and appeal information is provided by your home authority with the refusal. Appeals are heard by an independent panel, and appealing does not affect your child's waiting-list position.
A separate route in at 16.
Year 7 is the main entry point, but Stretford Grammar also admits external students into Year 12 — the total Sixth Form is capped at 192. External applicants are judged on the same academic requirement as the school's own students, and apply direct to the school, not through the council form.
The grade floor.
The minimum for a Sixth Form place is an Attainment 8 score of at least 60, which must include at least grade 5 in GCSE Mathematics and English Language, plus at least grade 6 in each subject you want to study. A grade 6 in Maths is required to study one of the sciences, and grade 7s are strongly recommended where you take more than one of Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Biology.
Apply direct to the school.
External Sixth Form applications go straight to Stretford Grammar via Applicaa+ — not through the Common Application Form — by the deadline at the end of the first half of the spring term. Internal Year 11 students who meet the requirements and enrol on time are given priority; any offer is provisional on the summer GCSE results meeting the requirements. See the school's Sixth Form admissions page for the form and deadline.