Local authority · North West
Trafford has 21 secondary schools in this dataset — 20 state-funded and 1 independent. 8 are selective, admitting on an entrance test; 5 have a religious character; 13 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of +0.22 (above average) — 0.23 of a grade per subject above the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 18 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -0.66 to +1.04. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 1.02 first preferences per place — more pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 10 of the 19 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 7.0% for the typical school here, below the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Altrincham Grammar School for GirlsAcademy converter | +1.04well above average | +0.80 to +1.232023–24 | 82.9 | 1.34× | Outstanding |
| 2 | Loreto Grammar SchoolAcademy converter | +0.92well above average | +0.82 to +1.312023–24 | 75.7 | 1.61× | Outstanding |
| 3 | Altrincham Grammar School for BoysAcademy converter | +0.90well above average | +1.09 to +1.552023–24 | 78.6 | 1.40× | Outstanding |
| 4 | Saint Ambrose CollegeAcademy converter | +0.89well above average | +0.82 to +1.272023–24 | 73.1 | 1.50× | Exceptional (achievement) |
| 5 | Stretford Grammar SchoolFoundation school | +0.72well above average | +0.58 to +1.022023–24 | 74.2 | 1.55× | Good (Improving) (ungraded) |
| 6 | Sale Grammar SchoolAcademy converter | +0.71well above average | +0.59 to +1.012023–24 | 75.9 | 1.35× | Outstanding |
| 7 | Urmston Grammar AcademyAcademy converter | +0.62well above average | +0.64 to +1.112023–24 | 74.4 | 1.40× | Good |
| 8 | Wellington SchoolAcademy converter | +0.30above average | +0.38 to +0.742023–24 | 54.1 | 1.26× | Good (ungraded) |
| 9 | North Cestrian SchoolFree schools | +0.30above average | +0.25 to +0.742023–24 | 52.3 | 0.64× | Standards maintained (ungraded) |
| 10 | Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic CollegeVoluntary aided school | +0.15average | +0.06 to +0.402023–24 | 49.7 | 0.73× | — |
| 11 | Ashton-on-Mersey SchoolAcademy converter | +0.02average | -0.13 to +0.222023–24 | 50.7 | 1.02× | Good (ungraded) |
| 12 | Stretford High SchoolFoundation school | +0.01average | -0.14 to +0.282023–24 | 45.5 | 0.90× | Good |
| 13 | Flixton Girls SchoolAcademy converter | -0.09average | -0.20 to +0.232023–24 | 48.4 | 0.96× | Good |
| 14 | Altrincham CollegeAcademy converter | -0.15average | -0.26 to +0.202023–24 | 48.0 | 0.63× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 15 | St Antony's Roman Catholic School, a Voluntary AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.32below average | -0.41 to +0.082023–24 | 42.7 | 0.85× | Requires improvement |
| 16 | Wellacre Technology AcademyAcademy converter | -0.36below average | -0.58 to -0.062023–24 | 44.4 | 0.80× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 17 | Lostock High SchoolCommunity school | -0.56well below average | -1.15 to -0.322023–24 | 40.0 | 0.47× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 18 | Broadoak SchoolAcademy converter | -0.66well below average | -0.89 to -0.282023–24 | 44.2 | 0.73× | Requires improvement |
6 of the 17 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Altrincham Grammar School for Girls's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 5 schools here have an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| Afifah School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
|---|---|
| Sale High School | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| The Trafford and Stockport College Group | Sixth-form or 16–19 site — no GCSE cohort, so no Progress 8 |
The most sought-after school in Trafford for 2026 entry was Loreto Grammar School at 1.61 first preferences per place — 258 families named it first for 160 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Trafford on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Trafford you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.