Looks like catchment has changed (AGGS)

[Catseye]

I asked Trafford whether the number of school places available to Trafford children had been affected by the number of OOC children being offered places and they said no but they didn't mention that that was probably because most of the grammars have put on an extra class.

Pinecone-I understand your frustration-this is an anxious time,AGGS has never really been a local school,in my DD class at least 50% are further than 4 miles from the school(as the crows flies) and disportionate number from prep schools.

AGGS has consistently been in the top 10 state schools in the Uk outperforming most true superselectives-its success can only make it worse for local girls and a lot of girls that would of gone to WGS or MHSG are now going for AGGS since the government has directed top flight universities to accept more state children at the expense of privately educated students.

To be honest it has always been thus but it reassuring that the same number of local lasses are getting in

Good Luck-hand on in there.

[Pinecone]

When you compare 4 miles with 16.5 miles though, it's a big jump and it's not necessary to go that far to find children who are bright enough to attend grammar school.

Re the private school comment, there were indeed 10 girls from Withington Girls School offered places at AGGS this September.

[Catseye]

Re the private school comment, there were indeed 10 girls from Withington Girls School offered places at AGGS this September.

How do you know this? just curious- source please.

This is unusual, WGS, tend to cling on to their juniors this was true even during the depth of the recession.

If true, it's worse than I thought, the attempted social engineering by the government to squeeze out Indies students from top universities is backfiring as wealthy parents are opting for state grammar schools(as we have done with DD )-next in line will be grammar schools-sooner or latter we will all be sending our children to 'sink' schools?-then of course every middle class child will tutored one to one until 18

[enema]

The mileage for entry in 2016 was 16.495 miles according to a FOI on 'Whatdotheyknow.'

[enema]

Does anyone have an indication of AGGS distance today?

[wangxiaosara]

Does anyone have an indication of AGGS distance today?

I know someone lives in Stretford has been offered a place this year (7 miles ish).

[catmum]

Catseye, I have to say that your comment re AGGS never really being a local school is incorrect ( if we go back far enough!) I myself attended AGGS many years ago and there was only one girl in my year who lived outside the Trafford boundary, and she lived a stones throw from the boundary in Brooklands, her parents fought to get her in.
In those days it was all much simpler, we didn't have all the pressure and tutoring, the brightest, local children were guaranteed a place at a local grammar and that was that.

I am not sure the way we do things these days ( tutoring from young age, travelling long distances to schools where friends don't live nearby, forcing local bright children to miss out on grammar schools which have become superselective) is the best for our children- hence the massive increase in mental health problems amongst children and teens today

[Catseye]

Catseye, I have to say that your comment re AGGS never really being a local school is incorrect ( if we go back far enough!) I myself attended AGGS many years ago and there was only one girl in my year who lived outside the Trafford boundary, and she lived a stones throw from the boundary in Brooklands, her parents fought to get her in.
In those days it was all much simpler, we didn't have all the pressure and tutoring, the brightest, local children were guaranteed a place at a local grammar and that was that.

I am not sure the way we do things these days ( tutoring from young age, travelling long distances to schools where friends don't live nearby, forcing local bright children to miss out on grammar schools which have become superselective) is the best for our children- hence the massive increase in mental health problems amongst children and teens today

Perfectly sensible post imho but AGGS still is not superselective it has a largish in-catchment boundary of 8 miles so not confined to Trafford alone and preference is given to those who live closest to the school i.e. more local girls.

I'm not sure when this boundary came in but I don't think it is that unusual when comparing to other non-superselelectives in the UK.

I think overall AGGS admission policy is fair as much as any selective policy at the age of 10 can be, one could reasonably argue that the true superselective policy based on exam rank alone is the fairest but I rather keep out of that contentious discussion.