Sale Grammar School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About Sale Grammar School

Sale Grammar School is a co-educational state grammar school for 11 to 18-year-olds on Marsland Road in Sale, Trafford. It is one of five schools in the Trafford Grammar Schools Consortium, alongside Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Stretford Grammar School and Urmston Grammar School, which share a single entrance test run in partnership with GL Assessment.

The school offers 190 places each year and draws heavily on its priority postcodes of M33, M23, WA14 and WA15, so competition for places close to Sale is intense. Because the entrance test is shared across all five consortium schools, one exam and one result can be used to apply to any or all of them.

Sale Grammar School’s own admissions pages set out the test format, key dates and oversubscription criteria in full, and are worth reading alongside your child’s practice.

Key information for 2027: Sale Grammar School at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: Co-educational state grammar school
• Consortium: Trafford Grammar Schools Consortium (with Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Stretford Grammar School and Urmston Grammar School)
• Registration deadline: midday, 19 June 2026
• Exam date: 14 September 2026
• CAF deadline: end of October 2026
• National school offer day: March 2027
• Contact details: www.salegrammar.co.uk, www.salegrammar.co.uk/6731/september-2027-entry

Admissions information for 2027 entry: Sale Grammar School at 11 Plus (11+)

Registration for the shared Trafford consortium test opens at midday in late April and closes at midday on 19 June 2026. The test itself is sat in September, with results following in mid-October 2026.

It is important that you also submit your Common Application Form (CAF) to your local home authority by the end of October 2026; if you would like your child to be considered for Sale Grammar School, list it on the form, and remember that the order you list schools in reflects your order of preference.

National school offer day is held in March 2027. The published admission number (PAN) is 190, and the standardised qualifying score is 334, though meeting this score is a threshold rather than a guarantee of a place. Sale Grammar School then allocates places through a priority order: previously looked-after children and those eligible for free school meals first, then children in the priority admission area ranked by distance, then children from Trafford state primary schools outside the priority area, before remaining places are offered by test score.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exam at Sale Grammar School?

To register your child for the entrance exam, you as their parent/legal guardian need to complete the online registration through the consortium’s shared registration process, before the 19 June 2026 deadline. You can register through any of the five consortium schools’ websites, including Sale Grammar School’s own site.

Registering does not commit you to Sale Grammar School alone: because the test is shared, you can name any or all of the five consortium schools on your secondary school application form once you have your result.

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for Sale Grammar School?

Sale Grammar School does not set its own entrance exam. Instead, your child will sit the shared Trafford consortium test: two multiple-choice papers, each about an hour long and computer-marked.

• Maths: content taught up to the start of Year 6, covering number, measurement, geometry and statistics.
• Verbal reasoning, including English comprehension: word relationships, vocabulary and logic-based verbal puzzles, combined with a comprehension element. There is no separate standalone English paper.
• Non-verbal reasoning: shape relationships, sequences, codes and spatial pattern questions, tested separately from the verbal paper.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) Sale Grammar School exam

The most useful way to prepare for Sale Grammar School’s 11+ entrance exam is to use practice tests that mirror the consortium’s format, so your child becomes familiar with all three question types before test day.

Because the consortium test blends English comprehension into the verbal reasoning paper rather than testing it separately, it is worth giving your child just as much practice with comprehension technique as with classic verbal reasoning puzzles, alongside regular non-verbal reasoning and maths practice.

For Sale Grammar School (Trafford Grammar Schools Consortium) 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: