Apply to Urmston Grammar, in plain English.
Urmston Grammar is a co-educational selective grammar that fills its 150 Year 7 places through the Trafford Consortium 11+: children must first reach the consortium's qualifying score of 334, and then most places are decided by where they live — children in the school's priority area (postcode districts M41 and M31) are ranked ahead of those outside it, by straight-line distance. A small number of places (about 20) go to the very highest scorers wherever they live, so a strong score still matters. 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.
Urmston 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 reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and mathematics — on Monday 14 September 2026. Registration is via the online form on the school's admissions page, opening 23 April 2026 and closing 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, for most places, it's where you live.
The test result is a qualifying bar: your child needs a standardised score of 334 or above (Pupil-Premium children qualify at 324, and scores of 321–333 can be reviewed up to 334). Beyond a top-20 skim of the very highest scorers, the score is then set aside — about 120 of the 150 places go by straight-line distance, with children in the school's M41 and M31 priority area placed first.
Living outside the priority area does not rule your child out.
The M41/M31 priority area confers priority, not exclusion. The top 20 scorers are admitted wherever they live, and after the priority-area children are placed, remaining places go to qualified children from further afield — 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 most of 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 Urmston Grammar for 2027 entry until after National Allocation Day.
If more children qualify than there are places, these 6 categories decide.
Only children who reach the qualifying score of 334 are considered at all. If more qualify than the 150 places, they are placed in the order below: care, then disadvantage, then the highest scorers, then staff and sibling links, then — for most places — distance, with the M41/M31 priority area placed first. Tap any category to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Two statutory groups come first, wherever they live, provided they reach the qualifying score: children with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names Urmston Grammar, and looked-after or previously looked-after children — those in council care, and those adopted from care (including from state care outside England).
What the document says: Entry Category A — "(1) Places are initially allocated to candidates with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) who have named the school and have successfully met the entry requirements. (2) A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order…"
In plain English: About 15 places are set aside for the highest-scoring qualified children who attract Pupil PremiumPupil PremiumChildren eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years (or currently eligible). You verify the eligibility when you apply. funding, irrespective of where they live, provided they reach 324 or 334R. Children tied on the lowest qualifying score in this group are also admitted.
What the document says: Entry Category B (Approximately 15 places) — "Approximately 15 places will be allocated to the highest performing applicants who qualify for Pupil Premium, irrespective of distance, provided they achieve a minimum score of 324 or 334R…"
In plain English: About 20 places go to the top-scoring qualified children, ranked purely by their test score, wherever they live. This is the one part of the process where a high score alone wins a place — a genuine route in for a strong child living too far away to compete on distance. Children tied on the lowest score in this group are also admitted.
What the document says: Entry Category C (approximately 20 places) — "Using the first list (rank score order) of candidates, the (20) top scoring candidates, irrespective of home residence, will be allocated a place under Category C…"
In plain English: Qualified children whose parent is a serving member of Urmston Grammar staff on a permanent contract held for at least eight continuous years are placed next, provided the child reaches the qualifying score.
What the document says: Entry Category D — "Children who have parents who are serving members of Urmston Grammar staff, and who have had a permanent contract at UGS for at least eight continuous years will be offered a place provided they still achieve a qualifying score."
In plain English: Qualified children who have a brother or sister on roll at Urmston Grammar on the day the entrance test was sat are placed next, wherever they live. A "sibling" includes full, half, step, adopted or foster brothers and sisters living permanently at the same address.
What the document says: Entry Category E — "Applicants who have a sibling who is a student on role at Urmston Grammar School on the day that the admissions assessment was sat will be offered a place at the school regardless of their place of residence."
In plain English: The remaining places — about 120 of the 150 — go by straight-line distance to the school. Qualified children living in the M41 and M31 priority area are allocated first, ranked nearest-first; then the remaining qualified children from anywhere else, also nearest-first. This is the criterion that places most children.
What the document says: Entry Category F (approximately 120 places) — "places in category F will be allocated in accordance with their distance from the school to their home address as per a straight line, firstly by M41 and M31 postcodes followed by the remaining candidates." Distance is measured in a straight line using Trafford's Local Land and Property Gazetteer; an exact tie is settled by random allocation.
An M41/M31 priority area — and a top-score route in.
This is the bit parents most often get wrong, in both directions. Urmston Grammar's priority admission area is defined in the policy as postcode districts M41 (Urmston, Davyhulme, Flixton) and M31 (Partington, Carrington) — taken whole. For the bulk of places (about 120), qualified children living inside it are ranked ahead of qualified children living outside it, nearest-first. It does not guarantee a place, and it does not shut out children living further away — about 20 of the highest scorers are admitted wherever they live, and any places left after the priority-area children go to the nearest qualified children from outside.
Within the distance category, 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 mainly a pass mark — it ranks children only for the ~20-place top-score skim.
See the priority area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: priority. Outside: still in the race.
Child A lives in Urmston, inside the M41 priority area, so a qualifying score places her in the distance category ahead of every out-of-area child, with the nearest priority-area children placed first. Child B lives in Sale, outside the area: unless she is one of the ~20 top scorers admitted irrespective of address, she competes for any places left after the priority-area children, ranked by how close she lives. Her address never disqualifies her — it just sits her behind the priority-area children.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If your child qualified but wasn't offered a place, they are held on the waiting list until 31 December. 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. From 1 January, an In-Year Assessment applies instead.
Urmston Grammar starts the waiting list after places are allocated on 1 March 2027; contact the school to confirm your child's position. 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 appeals within the normal round are heard within 40 school days of the deadline for lodging them. 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 Urmston Grammar also admits external students into Year 12 — the Year 12 admission number is around 185. 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 two GCSEs at grade 7, four GCSEs at grade 6, and at least grade 5 in both English Language and Maths, across a minimum of eight GCSEs in total. To take four A Levels, the school looks for grades 8–9 across all your GCSE subjects.
Apply direct to the school.
External Sixth Form applications go straight to Urmston Grammar — not through the Common Application Form. Applications open mid-November and close mid-January, after which some courses may be full. Any offer is provisional on the summer GCSE results meeting the requirements; all Urmston Grammar students who fulfil the criteria are offered places. See the school's admissions page for the Sixth Form form and deadline.