Trafford is not one test
Trafford has seven state grammar schools, but they do not all share an entrance test. Five of them form the Trafford Grammar School Consortium: Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Sale Grammar School, Stretford Grammar School and Urmston Grammar. Those five share a single test, sat once, with the result shared across whichever consortium schools you name.
The other two, Loreto Grammar School and St Ambrose College, are not in the consortium. Each sets its own separate entrance examination on its own date. Stretford Grammar's admissions FAQ states it plainly: "Please note, Loreto Grammar School and St Ambrose Grammar School are NOT part of the Consortium and do not do the same examination".
So a family applying across the borough may be preparing for two different exams, not one. Application logistics for the secondary place itself still run through Trafford Council, with the common application form due by 31 October 2026 for September 2027 entry.
The consortium test for September 2027 entry
For entry in September 2027, the consortium's test provider is GL Assessment.
Date. Monday 14 September 2026.
Registration. Opened at 12 noon on Thursday 23 April 2026 and closed at 12 noon on Friday 19 June 2026.
Papers. Two, each approximately one hour long.
Content. Verbal, non-verbal and mathematics skills. Maths covers material up to Year 6: number, measurement, geometry, statistics. Verbal covers word choice, vocabulary and comprehension. Non-verbal covers shape relationships, spatial awareness and codes.
There is no separate English paper on the consortium test. English ability is assessed only through the verbal questions. Any prep plan built around a standalone English comprehension paper is preparing for the wrong exam.
The qualifying score is set by each school, not by the consortium
One test, but five separate qualifying decisions. Each of the five schools sets its own qualifying score in its own determined admissions policy, and your child's result is judged against each of them separately. Stretford Grammar's admissions page tells parents to "go to the relevant website" for "the qualifying criteria for other schools within the consortium".
For 2027 entry the headline figure at all five schools is a standardised score of 334 and above. Stretford Grammar's FAQ lists all five schools at 334. But the schools differ in what they do below that line, and three of them qualify some applicants on a lower score:
Altrincham Grammar School for Boys. 334 and above for applicants generally. Looked-after and previously looked-after children qualify at 324 and above. Pupil Premium applicants qualify at 324 and above, but through capped routes: "Up to 20" places for those inside the priority admission area scoring 324 to 333, and "Up to 10" for Pupil Premium applicants at a Trafford state funded primary school scoring 324 and above. The policy states directly that "the qualifying score ... varies according to the priority category in which the applicant falls".
Altrincham Grammar School for Girls. Band W is "Applicants who achieve a qualifying score of 334 or above". Band X is applicants who are looked-after or in receipt of Pupil Premium "and achieve a qualifying score of 324 to 333", who are also qualified for admission.
Stretford Grammar School. "To be eligible for consideration of a place at the School a candidate must achieve a score of 334 or above." Pupil Premium candidates scoring 324 to 333 have their score automatically overturned to 334R, and a local review covers 324 to 333 for everyone else.
Urmston Grammar. "The qualifying score for any student who qualifies for Pupil Premium will be 324 and above. The qualifying score for any other candidates will be 334 or 334R and above in the exam."
Sale Grammar School. Its determined 2027 admissions policy does not publish a number at all. The figure appears only in the school's parent-facing information booklet: "The qualifying score will be achieved by those candidates who score 334 and above in the examination."
Two things follow. First, scores are standardised within each school's own applicant cohort, so the same test result can convert into different standardised scores at different schools. Stretford's FAQ explains it: "Although the entrance exam will be the same for each school, and the exam result will be the same, the standardised score may be different. This is because the same exam results are being used in the standardisation of a different cohort of children."
Second, qualifying is not the same as being offered a place. Stretford states it bluntly: "Please be aware that achieving the qualifying score is not an offer of a place." The schools are oversubscribed with qualifying candidates, and each then applies its own oversubscription criteria on catchment, siblings and distance. Read the determined policy of every school you are naming, not a single figure quoted second-hand.
The provider changes after this cycle
The consortium has appointed Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE) as its admissions test provider from 2028 entry onwards. The published sequence is:
2027 entry: GL, tested September 2026.
2028 entry: FSCE, still tested in September of Year 6.
2029 entry onwards: FSCE, tested in the latter part of the summer term of Year 5.
The content changes at the same time as the provider. The consortium's announcement is specific about when: "Beginning with the entrance test to be sat in September 2027, the content of the admissions test will change from verbal, non-verbal and mathematical reasoning. The new admissions test will draw on the Key Stage 2 English and mathematics national curriculum programmes of study up to the end of Year 5." So the first FSCE sitting, in September 2027 for 2028 entry, is already the new curriculum-based format. If your child is in Year 4 or below, that is the exam to plan around, and the reasoning-heavy material that suits the current cycle is a poor fit.
Loreto Grammar School
Girls, Catholic, Altrincham. Its entrance examination for September 2027 entry is on Friday 18 September 2026. Registration closes at 1:00pm on 31 July 2026; the school states late applications cannot be accepted.
Loreto publishes its paper order and lengths for the 2027 cycle:
Mathematics, 45 minutes.
English, 45 minutes, GL.
Verbal Reasoning, 50 minutes, GL.
Note that Loreto sets a discrete English paper and a maths paper, which the consortium test does not. The school links GL familiarisation material for the verbal reasoning and English papers.
Oversubscription is faith-weighted: baptised Roman Catholic applicants take priority, with looked-after status, sibling links and parish or associated-primary connections layered underneath.
St Ambrose College
Boys, Catholic, Hale Barns. Its entrance examination for September 2027 entry is also on Friday 18 September 2026, and consists of three multiple-choice papers:
Verbal Reasoning, 50 minutes, set by GL Assessment.
Maths, 35 minutes, written in-house by school staff. It assesses the Key Stage 2 mathematics curriculum up to and including the Year 5 programme of study.
English, 35 minutes, written in-house by school staff, including comprehension.
Note the shape: unlike the consortium, St Ambrose does test English as its own paper, and two of its three papers are school-set rather than GL. The school states that no sample or past papers are available for the two in-house papers.
What this means for prep
The practical consequences of the split:
Consortium-only families are preparing for reasoning and maths across two one-hour papers, with no discrete English component. Families sitting Loreto or St Ambrose need a standalone English paper and a school-set or separately-timed maths paper on top of a GL verbal reasoning paper.
Because the sittings fall on different days, 14 September and 18 September 2026, a girl can sit both the consortium test and Loreto's, and a boy can sit both the consortium test and St Ambrose's. That is a genuine two-exam preparation load, not one test with two audiences.
Choosing a Trafford 11+ tutor
Things worth confirming with a candidate tutor:
Whether they prep for the consortium test, the Loreto exam, the St Ambrose exam, or some combination. A tutor who describes Trafford as a single test has not tracked the borough accurately.
Whether they understand that the qualifying score is set per school, including the lower Pupil Premium and looked-after thresholds.
How they are handling the FSCE transition for younger children.
Which Trafford schools their students have gone on to, and in which entry years.
Use Tutorperch messaging to discuss the specifics before you commit. It's free and tutors expect the conversation. The £9.99 unlock fee only matters once you've decided you want to work together.