Loreto Grammar School 11+ guide

Thinking about applying to Loreto Grammar School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus.

Key information about Loreto Grammar School

• Address: Loreto Grammar School, Dunham Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 4AH
• Number of pupils: 1,050+
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 150
• 11+ exam: GL Assessment 11 plus and school’s own
• Catchment area: yes

Dates for your diary

• 11+ registration opens: Saturday 28th June 2025
• Open morning: Saturday 28th June 2025
• 11+ registration closes: Thursday 31st July 2025
• 11+ exam date: Friday 19th September 2025
• 11+ results released: mid-October 2025
• Secondary school application deadline: Friday 31st October 2025
• School allocations: Monday 2nd March 2026

About Loreto Grammar School

Loreto Grammar School is a Catholic girls' grammar school in Altrincham. It was founded in 1909 and is rooted in tradition. The school has strong links with sister schools in the Loreto network, which comprises over 120 schools across the world.

Loreto Grammar School was recently rated 'outstanding' in all areas by Ofsted. The regulatory body noted how students are self-motivated and independent, and feel safe and happy at school. It also praised the 'ambitious, rich and varied curriculum' which inspires all students to succeed.

How to apply to Loreto Grammar School

Loreto Grammar School is a selective school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place. As a Catholic school, girls who are Baptised Catholic are prioritised for places under the school’s admissions policy.

The 11 plus is known as the ‘Governors’ Entrance Exam’ at Loreto Grammar School. Registration for the exam will open on Saturday 28th June 2025 and close on Thursday 31st July. The exam will take place on Friday 19th September 2025, and you’ll receive your child’s results in mid-October – before the secondary school common application deadline. You can then use these results to decide whether to apply for a place at Loreto Grammar School.

To apply, you’ll need to name the school as one of your preferred schools on the secondary school common application form. This will be available on your home council website from early September and must be submitted by 31st October 2025.

Remember – passing the 11 plus doesn’t guarantee that your child will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Many grammar schools are often oversubscribed with qualified children. Schools and their admissions authorities work through admissions criteria to prioritise children for places. We’ve included the admissions criteria for Loreto Grammar School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

Children applying to Loreto Grammar School take three 11 plus papers in English, verbal reasoning, and maths.

1. English

The English paper is provided by GL Assessment – one of the country’s leading 11 plus exam providers. All the questions are multiple-choice; your child will mark their answers on an answer sheet which is provided.

The content of a GL Assessment English paper can vary. However, most grammar schools use papers which test skills in reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, grammar and punctuation. The content is aligned with the Key Stage 2 national curriculum, so it includes topics your child will have studied at school.

2. Verbal reasoning

The verbal reasoning paper is also provided by GL Assessment, and consists entirely of multiple-choice questions.

Verbal reasoning is not taught on the national curriculum, so your child might be unfamiliar with these types of questions. It assesses how well your child can apply logic and solve problems with written information, such as letters, words, symbols and numbers. Some of the key skills tested include reading fluency, knowledge of vocabulary, and the ability to discover and apply rules.

Learn more about 11 plus verbal reasoning.

3. Maths

The maths paper is created in-house by Loreto Grammar School staff. This paper will assess the maths topics your child has been taught in school, up to and including Year 5. You can find out more about maths national curriculum topics here.

How does place allocation work at Loreto Grammar School?

After the entrance exam, your child’s papers will be marked and age-standardised. This is a statistical process which takes into account your child’s age in years and months at the time of taking the test. It means that every child’s score can be compared to those achieved by other children of the same age.

Children’s scores will be placed in rank order from highest to lowest, and admissions criteria applied to decide which children to offer places to. If a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan which names the school, and the child has passed the Governors’ Entrance Exam, that child will be admitted first and the number of available places reduced accordingly.

Children who passed the entrance exam are then prioritised for places in this order:

1. Baptised and International Baptised Roman Catholic girls who are ‘looked after’ or ‘previously looked after’
2. Baptised Roman Catholic girls who have a sister at Loreto Grammar School when they start Year 7
3. Baptised Roman Catholic girls who go to an associated primary school and live in a nominated Local Pastoral Area. We’ve included more information about this below
4. Other Baptised Roman Catholic girls
5. Other girls who are ‘looked after’ or ‘previously looked after’
6. Baptised girls of other denominations
7. Other girls

You will need to provide an original Baptismal Certificate before the registration deadline on Thursday 31st July 2025 for your child to be considered in categories 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. If there are more applications than places available in any of the 7 categories, priority is first given to children who are eligible for Pupil Premium, then to girls who achieved the highest marks in the entrance exam.

What is the catchment area for Loreto Grammar School?

The catchment area for Loreto Grammar School is known as Nominated Local Pastoral Areas. This covers:

Saint Ambrose Deanery (Diocese of Shrewsbury)

St. Hugh and St John, St. Vincent de Paul’s, All Saints, St. Margaret Ward, St. Joseph’s, Holy Angels, Our Lady of Lourdes, Holy Family, West Timperley, Altrincham, Ashton-on-Mersey, Sale, Hale Barns, Partington and Sale Moor.

Saint Ambrose Barlow Deanery (Diocese of Salford)

St. Alphonsus, St. Ann’s, English Martyrs’, St Hugh of Lincoln, Our Lady and the English Martyrs’, St. Monica’s, St. John’s and St Teresa’s, Old Trafford, Stretford, Urmston, Davyhulme, Flixton, and Firswood/Chorlton.

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in the country. Here are our top tips to help you and your child feel confident for exam day!

Bitesize learning

It’s important to build a good knowledge base before the 11 plus. Using a ‘little and often’ approach when learning is key – our brains encode new information more effectively when dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of information. For children aged 10–11, child psychologists recommend regular study sessions of 20–30 minutes.

Atom Home makes learning a more enjoyable process for your child. They'll explore exciting worlds full of interactive questions, earning coins to spend in the Atom shop. Atom adapts to your child, showing them questions at just the right level of difficulty to keep them motivated.

Read widely

11 plus exams test your child’s ability to analyse and interpret written information. Regular reading is a great way to help your child build these skills.

Encourage them to read books from different genres and by a diverse range of authors. Increasing the variety of your child’s reading will help them understand different styles, tones and purposes. Meanwhile, reading a little every day will help widen their vocabulary, sharpen their analytical thinking, and enhance their imagination.

Refine exam technique

When your child feels confident with the topics they’ve learnt in Year 5, they’ll be ready to put their knowledge to the test.

Practice tests can help your child develop problem-solving skills and build confidence working under test conditions. They’re also a great way to consolidate learning and highlight knowledge gaps for further improvement.

With Atom Home, you'll unlock online mock tests and printable practice papers. Enjoy automatic marking and progress tracking with the online tests, and help your child get familiar with the real exam experience with printable practice papers.

Celebrate progress

Setting regular, achievable goals and celebrating your child’s progress – no matter how big or small – will help keep their motivation high.

Make sure to encourage a growth mindset. This means celebrating effort, as well as achievement! When your child makes mistakes or struggles to understand a particular topic, help them understand that they’ll improve through practice. Regular praise will help your child improve their resilience when tackling new and challenging topics.