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Thinking about applying to Sale 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 Sale Grammar School
Address: Marsland Road, Sale, Cheshire, M33 3NH
Number of pupils: 1,300+
Admissions contact: [email protected]
Number of places in Year 7: 190
11+ exam: Trafford 11 plus
Catchment area: Yes
Dates for your diary
The 2025 exam dates haven’t been published yet. However, they are likely to be the same as 2024. Please use the dates below as a guide.
11+ registration opens: Thursday 25th April 2024
Open evening: Thursday 4th July 2024
11+ registration closes: Friday 21st June 2024
11+ exam date: Monday 16th September 2024
11+ results released: mid-October 2024
Secondary school application deadline: Thursday 31st October 2024
School allocations: Monday 3rd March 2025
About Sale Grammar School
Sale Grammar School is a mixed (girls and boys) selective school and a Trafford Grammar Schools Consortium member. It was founded in 1991 and rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted. It has specialist status in the visual arts and science with maths. The school has a high reputation for pastoral care. It prides itself as a ‘happy and vibrant place to be.’ It records impressive exam results and leavers’ destinations. Sale Grammar School creates an environment where students are ‘equipped to lead happy and successful lives.’
How to apply to Sale Grammar School
Sale 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.
Sale Grammar School is a member of the Trafford Grammar Schools Consortium, along with four other grammar schools in the Trafford area. All five grammar schools use the same 11 plus exam. This means that your child will only have to take the exam once, regardless of how many schools in the Consortium you are applying to.
Registration for the Trafford 11 plus opens April 2025 and closes in mid-June. The exam will take place in September 2025 and you’ll receive your child’s results in mid-October. You can then use these results to decide whether to apply for a place at Sale 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.
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 Sale Grammar School below.
What subjects are on the entrance exam?
Children applying to Sale Grammar School take the Trafford 11 plus. This consists of two one-hour papers. Your child will take both papers on Monday 16th September, with a short break in-between.
The papers are entirely multiple-choice and consist of questions in:
Maths: based on the Key Stage 2 national curriculum
Verbal reasoning: solving problems with written information. This also includes some reading comprehension
Non-verbal reasoning: solving problem with visual information, such as shapes, diagrams and pictures
Guide to the Trafford Grammar Schools 11 plus
Find out everything you need to know in our complete guide to the Trafford 11 plus. Plus, get access to free 11 plus resources to help your child feel confident for their exam!
How does place allocation work at Urmston Grammar School?
After the 11 plus, your child’s marks are added together to create a raw score. This is then converted into an age-standardised score to take into account your child’s age in years and months at the time of taking the test. The qualifying mark for grammar schools in the Trafford Consortium is usually at least 324 – and sometimes 334.
If the number of children who have met the qualifying standard for entry to the school exceeds the number of places available, Urmston Grammar School applies oversubscription criteria. Children are prioritised for places in the following order:
Entry category A: i) Children with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) naming Urmston Grammar School who have achieved the qualifying score. ii) Looked After and previously Looked After children.
Entry category B: 20 places are allocated to the highest-scoring candidates in order, regardless of where they live.
Entry category C: 10 places are allocated to the highest performing children who get free school meals, regardless of where they live, and who did not qualify under categories A or B.
Entry category D: children of Urmston Grammar staff members who have had a permanent contract for at least eight years.
Entry category E: 120 places are offered to children who achieved the qualifying score, in order of how close they live to the school. M41 and M31 postcodes are prioritised.
Children living in M41 and M31 postcodes are prioritised for entry.
Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation
The Trafford 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in Greater Manchester. 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.
Tailored preparation for the Trafford 11 plus
Wish you could give your child a roadmap to success in the Trafford 11 plus? You can. Atom Home has everything you need to get prepared, in one package.
You don't need a tutor to get into your top-choice grammar school. You just need Atom. We’ll create a tailored plan for your child and support them along their fun revision journey.
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90,000+ adaptive questions
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Navigate the Trafford 11 plus with confidence.
Start your free trial today. Our local admissions specialists will get to work on your child’s plan. Relax, 11 plus prep is sorted.
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