Yes, the child sits the same exam (for the 4 consortium schools) but gets a different mark for each school, as the cohort is different for each.

Last year's furthest distance for AGGS was 8.48 miles (details in this doc, along with info for other Trafford schools: https://www.trafford.gov.uk/residents/s ... pectus.pdf). This was on offers day on March 1, so the final distance may well have been further, once people accepted/turned down initial offers. It's been further out than 6 miles for the last few years, I think.

Last year (when my child took test) there was quite a big difference in scores between the schools. I think it was a difference of around 18 marks between Stretford and Altrincham. The marks were slightly closer this year but still all different by a few marks at least.

My daughter scored 337 for Alty Girls and 356 for Stretford so there is quite a difference between scores, so some can pass for one school and not another

Thanks you all for your help! I’ll take a closer look at all the schools now as it seems a more option now, albeit with tutoring for the exams. Lots of think about. 8 miles is a huge catchment area so there’s pros and cons of that too and obviously some are easier than others to get into if not in specific post codes

The link that Percymum put on her post is really useful - think its page 22, it shows how the schools allocated places as of 1 March last year. Gives you the over subscription criteria they used and final distance or score where relevant.

If its any use, and helps in the decision making, your DD will take the same exam for Altrincham, Sale, Urmston & Stretford. You can tick a box for which schools you want her test result to be considered for.

The pass mark for all of them is 334, however, as explained above, each school has different students ticking that school's particular box, and the scores are standardised depending on the cohort, so the scores differ for each school.

Historically, the lowest score your DD will achieve is the Altrincham Girls score. So, if your DD gets 334 or above for Altrincham, she will also get at least 334 for all the other schools.

Sale is usually next (although I believe Urmston was next last year) - this year my DD got 7 more marks for Sale than she did for Altrincham.

Urmston is next - my DD got 9 more marks for Urmston than she did for Altrincham.

We didn't tick the box for Stretford but it is usually the highest score, as set out above, a poster's DD got 19 more marks for Stretford that she did for Altrincham.

So that implies that AGSG has one of the lowest requirements?
Anyone with 334 gets in pretty much within 8 miles.
There’s so much talk about it being the best state school in the country I had assumed it was the highest requirement.

Pondering - no it is the opposite. If you request scores for all four schools then typically your child will score the highest mark for Streford (i.e my child got 370) and the lowest score for Altrincham (i.e my child scored 352). It is harder to achieve the pass mark for Altrincham.

No, its the opposite. The fact that your DD would get the lowest score for Altrincham (out of the 4 schools) means its the most difficult to pass if that makes sense.

So on the difference in scores referred to above, your DD could get

350 for Stretford (above 334, pass)
340 for Urmston (above 334, pass)
338 for Sale (above 334, pass)
331 for Altrincham (below 334, not a pass)

Does that make sense?

No, it's the one exam sat by everyone - it means that the mean raw score of the cohort being assessed for that school is higher than the mean score of the cohorts for the other schools, so a raw score of, say, 75% with a mean raw score of 70% would get you a lower standardised score than a raw score of 75% agsinst a mean of 60% Does the school have the rep of only being for 'really clever' girls, so the cohort tends to be more highly self-selecting than the 'opt ins' for the test generally?

x-posted with poppety and Mandy21

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Sory, x post with poppety!