State secondary schools in Trafford
19 schools · North West · 2024/25 Department for Education figures
Trafford has 19 state secondaries, 11 of them with sixth forms, 7 grammar schools among them. 81% of families got their first choice last year, about the national picture. Results run from 28.3% to 100% passing English and maths, a spread of 72 points, with a middle school at 58.3%, above England's 45.4%.
Of those Ofsted has graded, 4 rated Outstanding, 10 Good, 3 Requires improvement. 2 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.
Trafford against England
State-funded schools, 2024/25
Getting a place
2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Trafford
81%
Got their first choiceof those who applied
England 84%
95.7%
Got one of their threefirst, second or third
0%
Got no offer at allfrom any preference
11%
Appeals upheld56 of 513 heard
These are figures for Trafford as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works
How much the choice matters here
Across Trafford's 19 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 28% to 100%. That is a spread of 72 percentage points, wider than most councils.
The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.
Trafford schools, subject by subject
The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.
- 1 Saint Ambrose College Altrincham · 150 entries 100%
- 2 Altrincham Grammar School for Girls Altrincham · 208 entries 100%
- 3 Altrincham Grammar School for Boys Altrincham · 202 entries 100%
- 4 Sale Grammar School Sale · 192 entries 99%
- 5 Urmston Grammar Academy Manchester · 152 entries 99%
- 6 Stretford Grammar School Manchester · 160 entries 99%
- 7 Loreto Grammar School Altrincham · 157 entries 97%
- 8 Flixton Girls School Manchester · 171 entries 85%
- 9 Ashton-on-Mersey School Sale · 253 entries 85%
- 10 Wellington School Altrincham · 258 entries 85%
- 11 North Cestrian School Altrincham · 148 entries 84%
- 12 Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College Altrincham · 260 entries 80%
- 13 Altrincham College Altrincham · 172 entries 74%
- 14 Sale High School Sale · 202 entries 69%
- 15 Wellacre Technology Academy Manchester · 130 entries 69%
- 16 St Antony's Roman Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy Manchester · 135 entries 64%
- 17 Lostock High School Manchester · 111 entries 62%
- 18 Stretford High School Manchester · 272 entries 58%
- 19 Broadoak School Manchester · 113 entries 48%
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Every school in Trafford
Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.
8 of 18 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.
- Altrincham College Altrincham · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 48%
- Attainment 8
- 48.5
- Absence
- 17%
- Altrincham Grammar School for Boys Altrincham · Outstanding.
- Eng & maths
- 99%
- Attainment 8
- 78.5
- Absence
- 6%
- Altrincham Grammar School for Girls Altrincham · Outstanding.
- Eng & maths
- 100%
- Attainment 8
- 80.6
- Absence
- 4%
- Ashton-on-Mersey School Sale · Good. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 58%
- Attainment 8
- 52.1
- Absence
- 12%
- Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College Altrincham · Inspected, after Ofsted stopped issuing a single overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 42%
- Attainment 8
- 48.9
- Absence
- 18%
- Broadoak School Manchester · Requires improvement.
- Eng & maths
- 28%
- Attainment 8
- 42.4
- Absence
- 26%
- Flixton Girls School Manchester · Good. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 44%
- Attainment 8
- 48.3
- Absence
- 18%
- Loreto Grammar School Altrincham · Outstanding. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 92%
- Attainment 8
- 73.7
- Absence
- 5%
- Lostock High School Manchester · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 40%
- Attainment 8
- 43.7
- Absence
- 30%
- North Cestrian School Altrincham · Good. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 60%
- Attainment 8
- 54.2
- Absence
- 20%
- Saint Ambrose College Altrincham · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 98%
- Attainment 8
- 76.2
- Absence
- 5%
- Sale Grammar School Sale · Outstanding. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 97%
- Attainment 8
- 76.1
- Absence
- 4%
- Sale High School Sale · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 46%
- Attainment 8
- 49
- Absence
- —
- St Antony's Roman Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy Manchester · Requires improvement. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 34%
- Attainment 8
- 42.4
- Absence
- 22%
- Stretford Grammar School Manchester · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 96%
- Attainment 8
- 74.4
- Absence
- 4%
- Stretford High School Manchester · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 37%
- Attainment 8
- 44.4
- Absence
- 25%
- Urmston Grammar Academy Manchester · Good. · no spare places
- Eng & maths
- 95%
- Attainment 8
- 71.7
- Absence
- 5%
- Wellacre Technology Academy Manchester · Inspected under the current report card, which gives no overall grade.
- Eng & maths
- 41%
- Attainment 8
- 46
- Absence
- 20%
- Wellington School Altrincham · Good.
- Eng & maths
- 63%
- Attainment 8
- 57.3
- Absence
- 13%
Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.
Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25
A levels in Trafford
11 of Trafford's 11 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.
- Altrincham Grammar School for Girls Altrincham A- 62%
- Altrincham Grammar School for Boys Altrincham B- 55%
- Saint Ambrose College Altrincham C 40%
- Sale Grammar School Sale B+ 39%
- Loreto Grammar School Altrincham C+ 34%
- Stretford Grammar School Manchester B+ 31%
- Urmston Grammar Academy Manchester B 30%
- Wellington School Altrincham C 15%
- Altrincham College Altrincham C 11%
- Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College Altrincham C+ 4%
- Ashton-on-Mersey School Sale C 2%
A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.
Bordering Trafford
Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.
What these mean
- Attainment 8
- The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
- Grades 4 and 5
- GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
- Persistent absence
- The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
- First preference
- The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
- Spare places
- The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
- Average A-level grade
- The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.