11 Plus Exams Forum

Dear All,

We are looking at moving near Altrincham, primarily for the good schools and would like advice / help from members of this board. Our children are primary school age, but ideally we are more interested in the catchment areas for Grammar Schools (AGG/BS & Sale). We are thinking of renting initially and later buying a house in an around Altrincham. In order to stand a decent chance of Grammar School entry (if successful in the exams) which areas would you suggest as being equidistant? Our budget's limited for a house, so at push it wouldn't be more than 225 - 250 k max which I know isn't great for Altrincham

We have looked at Timperley /Broadheath as possible locations, what would your thoughts be? I have read about the 8 mile radius for AGGS but reckon realistically it would be around 3/ 4 miles maybe and presume it would be similar for Sale as well.

Any thoughts and ideas/ suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi Megsen,

Yes, you can do what you have mentioned, and will be eligible for catchment for both Alty Girls/Boys and Sale GS.

Main point is to move well before the closing date of the entrance exam application period. Do check the old forum posts, and they can almost answer all your questions ifs/nots etc.

Main point is that for the boys school (AGSB) the catchment is smaller ie. only postcode WA14 / WA15 and some specific roads. See the application form.

For Girls school (AGGS) and Sale GS catchment goes via the crow flies distance and usually to live within 4 miles has been considered safe distance so far. 8 miles is on the form of AGGS but this year I think they took around 5.6miles.

All the best! Welcome!

topsyturvy wrote:Hi Megsen,

Yes, you can do what you have mentioned, and will be eligible for catchment for both Alty Girls/Boys and Sale GS.

Main point is to move well before the closing date of the entrance exam application period. Do check the old forum posts, and they can almost answer all your questions ifs/nots etc.

Main point is that for the boys school (AGSB) the catchment is smaller ie. only postcode WA14 / WA15 and some specific roads. See the application form.

For Girls school (AGGS) and Sale GS catchment goes via the crow flies distance and usually to live within 4 miles has been considered safe distance so far. 8 miles is on the form of AGGS but this year I think they took around 5.6miles.

All the best! Welcome!

Hi Topsyturvy,

Thank you for your reply and welcome, it is appreciated

Potential entry to a Grammar School is good few years away ( hopefully they should still exist as Grammar Schools when my kids are eligible to apply ) but as we are thinking of relocation , wanted to move to Trafford Borough rather than just moving anywhere.

I will trawl through the threads in this sub forum and start looking at houses within the 4 mile radius

Thank you.

Hi Megsen,
If you are in Broadheath or Timperley you will be fine for the Grammars.... but only if your children all pass for one of them, it is the alternative schools that you have to be more aware of if they don't pass.( It is a real possibility that bright children do not pass for grammars in Trafford due to the competition from both catchment and non catchment children ( well over a 1000 children sit the exam for each school)
If you would want Wellington school for example as your ' back up plan', you need to check on it's catchment rather than grammars which are very large, whereas wellington's is often not more than 1 than 1 mile away!
I am saying this from experience of the system which I really didn't consider when we moved to Trafford from Stockport for the schools, if I had my time again I would proabably consider staying in Stockport where schools are good/non-selective and houses cheaper:
We have 1 in girls grammar (annoyed she is in an all girls selective system now she's a teen, wishes she went to mixed/non-selective !) and 1 in (luckily) a good high school ( didn't pass and was devastated at the time, but doing well now and happy)
Choosing 6th forms is also more difficult than non selective areas as the local choice is limited to very formal school 6th forms ( not as 'grown up' as colleges elsewhere, strict dress rules etc which 16 year olds are not too keen on!),local college which is mostly geared towards those who didn't get to Grammar or travelling into Manchester colleges .

Meant to add, your house budget should get you decent 3 bed semi in Timperley.
Timperley Village area is WA15 which in catchment for every secondary school, BTH, ACA, Wellington, altrincham grammars and sale grammar and also in catchment for several primary schools as it's equidistant to a number of them and would guarantee a place at any of them. good luck!

Take a look at Stamford Brook. There's lots of new houses there that would suit your budget. It's a new massive housing estate which is just past Broadheath towards Timperley. My daughter at AGGS has quite a few friends who live there.

catmum wrote:Hi Megsen,
If you are in Broadheath or Timperley you will be fine for the Grammars.... but only if your children all pass for one of them, it is the alternative schools that you have to be more aware of if they don't pass.( It is a real possibility that bright children do not pass for grammars in Trafford due to the competition from both catchment and non catchment children ( well over a 1000 children sit the exam for each school)
If you would want Wellington school for example as your ' back up plan', you need to check on it's catchment rather than grammars which are very large, whereas wellington's is often not more than 1 than 1 mile away!
I am saying this from experience of the system which I really didn't consider when we moved to Trafford from Stockport for the schools, if I had my time again I would proabably consider staying in Stockport where schools are good/non-selective and houses cheaper:
We have 1 in girls grammar (annoyed she is in an all girls selective system now she's a teen, wishes she went to mixed/non-selective !) and 1 in (luckily) a good high school ( didn't pass and was devastated at the time, but doing well now and happy)
Choosing 6th forms is also more difficult than non selective areas as the local choice is limited to very formal school 6th forms ( not as 'grown up' as colleges elsewhere, strict dress rules etc which 16 year olds are not too keen on!),local college which is mostly geared towards those who didn't get to Grammar or travelling into Manchester colleges .

Thank you for your detailed reply and experience catmum, we hadn't thought of a back up plan and through our rose tinted glasses had assumed that most Trafford schools are good. Will plan for a back up option and start reading about local high schools as well and plan our move around that. I appreciate your input, it has certainly made us take a mnore cautious approach.

Halemum wrote:Take a look at Stamford Brook. There's lots of new houses there that would suit your budget. It's a new massive housing estate which is just past Broadheath towards Timperley. My daughter at AGGS has quite a few friends who live there.

Thank you Halemum, we haven't been searching for new houses as the ones we saw earlier were way over our budget, circa 370 k.., will have a look at Stamford Brook. Thank you.

catmum wrote:Meant to add, your house budget should get you decent 3 bed semi in Timperley.
Timperley Village area is WA15 which in catchment for every secondary school, BTH, ACA, Wellington, altrincham grammars and sale grammar and also in catchment for several primary schools as it's equidistant to a number of them and would guarantee a place at any of them. good luck!

Thank you Catmum