I went to top-ranked school in desirable Greater Manchester town - the entry process is as brutal as ever

Altrincham Girls Grammar [AGGS] is one of the best schools in the country and competition for places is fierce. At just ten and eleven years old, prospective students have to pass the 11+ and a rigorous entrance exam - but there are many more hoops that families have to jump through to keep themselves in the running, and the strain can be immense. 

As an AGGS alumni myself I remember how stressful it was - and, looking back, the inequalities that this intense application process fosters, only become more apparent. 

Of the 1,482 students who sat the entrance exam in September 2022, just 382 passed. An even smaller number - 211 - were offered a place at the prestigious school. Only nine girls who lived beyond the narrow catchment area (an eight-mile radius from the school grounds) were offered a place. That is a lot of rejection letters. A lot of disappointed little girls.

But disappointed is actually too flippant a term for the intensity of feeling that surrounds school placements. Parents reading this will know that the fight to get your child the best possible education can be brutal - it can take over your life. Speaking to parents who live in Altrincham, Timperley and Sale, their lives have been dominated by the battle for AGGS for many years before their child was old enough for secondary school. It impacts where they choose to live or move to, many start tutoring their children years before the exams, and then there is the emotional fallout if their child is one of the 1,000-plus applicants who is unsuccessful. 

A close school friend who still lives in the area and works as a GP, tells me the “competition is ridiculous”. Among her colleagues, she says their children all have tutors - specifically to get them into the grammar schools - from Year 4. Living in Brooklands, she wants her daughter to go to Sale Grammar and her desire to remain within the catchment area for “the good schools” will impact where she and her family choose to live in the future. Her daughter has just turned 3. 

24 years ago, when I was vying for a place, it was a similar story. My single mum stretched herself financially to the limit to rent us a house within the catchment area. And then it was all on me. We spent a summer agonising over my 11+ results. We couldn’t afford a tutor, so I spent my weekends at the dining room table doing practice paper after practice paper. I still barely scraped a pass on the maths part of the exam. I was in a cohort of girls at my primary school who were very much expected to get a place, expected to “do well”. I remember lying awake the night before my AGGS letter was due to arrive, praying silently into the darkness that I hadn’t ruined my life.

I got accepted. But then, two years later, my little sister didn’t. She ended up going to Knutsford High School instead - chosen specifically because it’s in a different borough with no 11+ and therefore a more equal system. Knutsford is still a good school, but not Alty Girls good. She was crushed. The fallout for our family was difficult, and my sister spent years processing the emotional impact of that rejection. The process of getting into Trafford’s famously excellent schools is brutal for families, and the further away I get from my education, the more I question the equity of such a system. 

There will always be competition for good schools. In last year’s parent guide in the Sunday Times, AGGS came first in the regional rank and 10th nationally, followed by Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, which came second regionally and 21st nationally - both beating out hundreds of top private schools. On the face of it, the fact that some of the UK’s best schools are non-fee-paying feels fairer and more accessible. You don’t have to come from a mega-wealthy family in order to attend. I was proof of that. Without grammar schools, I never would have had access to the country’s top institutions. But, as the competition intensifies, the inequalities that exist below the surface of a system that is meant to provide more equal opportunities are only becoming more pronounced. 

Last year, 75.6% of children in Trafford got a place at their first choice school, compared to a national average of 82.6%. Competition is so tough the council now includes what is essentially a disclaimer on the application forms: "All secondary schools in the Altrincham and Sale areas are significantly oversubscribed."

According to RightMove, the average house price in Altrincham is upwards of £650,000. In Hale it’s £730,000, and an average property in Bowden goes for more than £960,000. So, you don’t technically have to come from a wealthy family to attend these successful grammar schools, but in reality… you do. These schools are supposed to be a force for social good, built on a system of meritocracy where in theory the ‘brightest’ children from any background should be given a shot, but true meritocracy is impossible in these circumstances. 

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MP Graham Brady recently said Altrincham is a “victim of it’s own success.” Writing in the Messenger last month he added: “In recent years it has been increasingly obvious that secondary schools were filling up,” but this is a problem that stretches back decades. 

Brady suggests the solution lies in more school places in the borough (he suggests that joining together Loretto with North Cestrian could pose an opportunity for expansion), but creating even a few hundred more places is a temporary fix. Demand will continue to grow, while house and rental prices in the catchment area continue to spiral upwards. All this does is perpetuate another tier of inaccessibility within our education system - where the best is only available for families who can afford to live in the area and pay for additional tutoring.

What we need is an education system that is genuinely accessible for all. A system that doesn’t write children off before they’ve even started, or put them under undue pressure to compete for their future at age 11. Altrincham’s schools are a triumph, but they can only remain as such if children from all walks of life are able to benefit from their impeccable standards.