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Saint Ambrose College vs Stretford Grammar School

Both are grammar schools in Trafford, 5.1 miles apart. Side-by-side on official DfE, Ofsted and council admissions data.

Side by side

Saint Ambrose College Stretford Grammar School
Phase Secondary Secondary
Gender Boys Mixed
Pupils on roll 1,096 956
Free school meals 6.4% 17.4%
Ofsted rating Not published Good
Attainment 8 — 2025/26 72.3 75.5
11+ test board School's own entrance examination (Verbal Reasoning, Maths, English) 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 149 170
First preferences per place — higher means more competition for a first-preference place 1.5 1.55

Qualifying scores

Saint Ambrose College

No fixed pass mark. St Ambrose College offers its ~140 Year 7 places in rank order of total score on its own 3-paper entrance test, with Catholic faith-based oversubscription categories applied.

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 (Verbal Reasoning, Maths, English) 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.

Saint Ambrose College

  1. Baptised Catholic boys who are looked after or previously looked after
  2. Baptised Catholic boys with a brother at the school
  3. Baptised Catholic boys living in a nominated Local Pastoral Area (all WA14, WA15, M31 and M33 postcodes, and the listed parishes)
  4. Other baptised Catholic boys
  5. Other looked after or previously looked after boys
  6. Catechumens and members of an Eastern Christian Church

Source: school admissions policy.

Stretford Grammar School

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

Source: school admissions policy.

Choosing between them

Saint Ambrose College is a boys 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.

Full detail for each school: Saint Ambrose College · Stretford Grammar School
Or see all secondary schools in Trafford ranked.

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