Trafford 11+ 2028: The New Test, Dates and Entry

In short

• From the test sat in September 2027 (2028 entry), the Trafford consortium test is set by FSCE and covers Key Stage 2 English and maths up to the end of Year 5 — verbal and non-verbal reasoning are no longer tested.
• From 2029 entry, the test moves from September of Year 6 to the latter part of the summer term of Year 5.
• Five of Trafford's seven grammar schools share the consortium test: Altrincham Boys, Altrincham Girls, Sale, Stretford and Urmston. Loreto and St Ambrose College set a different test.
• One registration in the spring of Year 5 covers all five consortium schools; you still name schools on your council's application by 31 October.
• Each school sets a qualifying score (334 at Stretford for 2027 entry). Reaching it is not an offer — priority categories and distance decide who is offered a place.

The short answer

The Trafford 11+ is changing. The test sat in September 2026, for 2027 entry, was the last set by GL Assessment: two papers of about an hour each covering verbal, non-verbal and mathematical reasoning. From the test sat in September 2027, for 2028 entry, the Trafford Grammar School Consortium's provider is FSCE, and the content is the Key Stage 2 English and mathematics curriculum up to the end of Year 5. From 2029 entry, the test also moves earlier, to the latter part of the summer term of Year 5. If your child is in Year 5 now, this is the test they will sit. The rest of this guide covers which schools use it, how registration works, how qualifying scores turn into offers, and what to practise. For the borough overview, see our Trafford 11+ region guide.

What changes with the new test

The headline change is what is tested. GL's Trafford papers assessed verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and maths. The new FSCE test draws on the Key Stage 2 English and mathematics programmes of study up to the end of Year 5, and FSCE says its approach draws heavily on that curriculum content. Verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types — letter codes, analogies, shape sequences — are no longer part of the Trafford test. Our FSCE test explainer covers how FSCE tests work at the other schools already using them. The timing changes in two steps. Families applying for 2028 entry still sit the test in September of Year 6. For 2029 entry onward, the consortium moves it to the latter part of the summer term of Year 5, so today's Year 4 children will sit it a term earlier than their older siblings did. What has not changed: one shared test for the consortium schools, age-standardised scoring, a qualifying score set by each school, and offers made through your home council on National Offer Day (1 March).

Which schools use the consortium test

Trafford has seven grammar schools. Five form the Trafford Grammar School Consortium and share one test: Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Sale Grammar School, Stretford Grammar School and Urmston Grammar. A child sits the test once, at one centre, and the result goes to whichever consortium schools the family chooses. The other two — Loreto Grammar School (a Catholic girls' school) and St Ambrose College (a Catholic boys' school) — are not in the consortium. They set a different test with its own registration; for 2027 entry it was held on 18 September 2026. The Manchester Grammar School and Withington Girls' School are independent, fee-paying schools with their own entrance examinations, and are not part of Trafford's state grammar system at all.

Registration and key dates

For the consortium schools, there is one registration. You choose where your child sits the test and which schools receive the result; schools recommend choosing the one nearest home as the test centre. For 2027 entry, the online registration form was open from noon on 23 April to noon on 19 June 2026, and the test was on Monday 14 September 2026. Late registrations were not accepted, and a child who misses the window cannot normally be tested until after National Offer Day. Registering for the test is not an application for a place. Every family also names its preferred schools on its home council's Common Application Form, by 31 October of Year 6. Results reach families before that deadline. Dates for 2028 entry are published by the consortium schools in the spring. If the pattern holds, registration will again open in late April 2027 — but confirm on the schools' admissions pages rather than relying on last year's dates.

Qualifying scores and how places are allocated

Scores are age-standardised so the youngest children in the year are not disadvantaged, and families receive a single standardised score rather than a breakdown by paper. Each school sets its own qualifying score in its admissions policy: Stretford Grammar's was 334 for 2027 entry, and Altrincham Grammar School for Girls has used 334 in recent years. Reaching the qualifying score is not an offer. Places then follow each school's priority categories — typically looked-after children first, then combinations of catchment, pupil premium, siblings and straight-line distance. At Altrincham Girls, every candidate above the pass mark is considered equally; scoring well above it does not move a child up the list. How contested a place is depends far more on where you live than on the margin above the pass mark. Trafford Council says catchment children who pass and apply on time have been offered a place at the Altrincham boys' or girls' grammar or Sale Grammar in all recent years. Stretford Grammar is much more contested for families outside its priority postcodes: for 2026 entry it made 170 offers for 160 places, and its final, distance-based category reached 4.414 miles. See our Stretford Grammar guide for its categories.

How to prepare for the new test

Prepare for English and maths, not for reasoning. With verbal and non-verbal reasoning gone, the test rewards a child who is fluent and secure in the Year 5 curriculum and can apply it under time pressure. In maths, that means instant recall of times tables, confident written methods for all four operations, fractions, decimals and percentages, and multi-step word problems. In English, it means reading comprehension with inference and vocabulary questions, plus secure grammar, punctuation and spelling. Twenty minutes of reading every day — and talking about what was read — remains the single biggest lever on the English side. Use the consortium's own familiarisation material as soon as it is published, and treat older GL-style Trafford papers with care: their maths is still useful practice, but their verbal and non-verbal reasoning sections no longer match the test. If your target list also includes a GL area such as Kent or Buckinghamshire, keep reasoning practice for that as a separate track. GrammarPrep's free plan includes adaptive maths and English practice that meets your child at their level; our year-by-year guide on when to start covers pacing.

Can out-of-borough children sit the Trafford 11+?

Yes. Any child can register and sit the consortium test. What differs is the chance of an offer: each school's priority categories give weight to catchment, defined postcodes or straight-line distance, so the same qualifying score can lead to an offer at one school and not another. Read each target school's admissions policy and the council's published admission outcomes before deciding where to apply.

Do all Trafford grammar schools use the same pass mark?

No. The five consortium schools share one test, but each sets its own qualifying score and priority categories, and Loreto and St Ambrose use a different test altogether. Because those details change between policy years, check each school's current admissions policy rather than an older figure — and make sure your council application includes at least one non-grammar preference, as Trafford Council advises.