Loreto Grammar School vs Stretford Grammar School

Both are grammar schools in Trafford, 4.5 miles apart. Side-by-side on official DfE, Ofsted and council admissions data.

Side by side

	Loreto Grammar School	Stretford Grammar School
Phase	Secondary	Secondary
Gender	Girls	Mixed
Pupils on roll	1,075	956
Free school meals	5.5%	17.4%
Ofsted rating	Outstanding	Good
Attainment 8 — 2025/26	75.2	75.5
11+ test board	School's own entrance examination (Maths; English and Verbal Reasoning by GL)	GL Assessment
Admission system	pass/fail then criteria order (score doesn't give priority after passing)	pass/fail + catchment (passing the test is a gate; living in the catchment area determines priority over score)
Places offered — 202627	160	170
First preferences per place — higher means more competition for a first-preference place	1.61	1.55

Qualifying scores

Loreto Grammar School

Not published as a fixed pass mark. Loreto Grammar School runs its own 'Governors' Entrance Exam' (3 papers); girls meeting the school's standard are then prioritised by the Catholic faith-based oversubscription criteria, with distance only as a tiebreaker.

Council source ↗

Stretford Grammar School

334 (2026 entry)

Trafford Consortium qualifying score: 334 or above (standardised, across the two consortium papers). Reaching 334 is eligibility, not an offer — each school's oversubscription criteria then apply.

Council source ↗

These schools use different tests (School's own entrance examination (Maths; English and Verbal Reasoning by GL) and GL Assessment), so their pass marks are set on different scales and cannot be compared as numbers.

Who gets priority

Where a school is oversubscribed, these are the first criteria applied, in order. This is usually what decides an application.

Loreto Grammar School

Baptised Roman Catholic looked after and previously looked after girls
Baptised Roman Catholic girls with a sister at the school
Baptised Roman Catholic girls at an associated primary school living in a nominated Local Pastoral Area
Other baptised Roman Catholic girls
Other looked after and previously looked after girls
Baptised girls of other denominations

Source: school admissions policy.

Stretford Grammar School

Looked after and previously looked after children, including those adopted from state care outside England
Children in the catchment area receiving the Pupil or Service Premium
Children with a sibling at the school in Years 7–11
Children living in the catchment area: M32, M33, M41, M15, M16, M17 and M21
Children outside the catchment area receiving the Pupil or Service Premium
Other children — nearest first (straight line)

Source: school admissions policy.

Choosing between them

Loreto Grammar School is a girls school and Stretford Grammar School is a mixed school, so for many families the starting point is which one can admit their child. The figures on this page are the published ones — they describe intakes and results, not what either school would be like for your child. The right choice depends on your family's own priorities and circumstances.

Other Trafford comparisons

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