Preparing for Secondary School

One of our school's aims is to develop every child to enable them to achieve their academic potential, and our most recent inspection states, 'The school successfully meets its aim to ensure that each child achieves their full academic potential.'

We have a proud history of children leaving us and moving on to the schools that, in partnership with the parents, we know will best suit each child.

Our teachers and school leaders have the highest aspirations for all our pupils - but we recognise that every child will take a different learning journey. Our small class sizes facilitate this, alongside a carefully designed learning environment, which promotes pupils' self-confidence as well as academic attainment. As a non-selective school, children with various additional needs make excellent progress from their starting points thanks to individualised learning programmes, and the encouragement and support from dedicated and experienced teachers.

Of course, academic success is measured by examination performance. Whilst exams are by no means the sole measure of a child’s abilities, they are a fact of educational life and so our pupils are gradually introduced to and prepared for this.

The quality of their academic and other achievements is excellent, and our/their examination results speak for themselves.

However, it is important for parents to understand that we can only achieve this success after the whole curriculum has been delivered at the end of Juniors. The school's curriculum is designed so that all the children are equipped to tackle the full range of examinations at 11+ in Year 6.

At the end of Year 6, three options are available for our students.

1. Local high schools, such as Wellington High School, North Cestrian. There is no examination for such schools, and the offer of a place is primarily determined by postcode.
2. a) The local foundation schools.

Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Sale Grammar School, Urmston Grammar School, and Stretford Grammar School.

Two examinations set by GL Assessment determine entry into these schools. Each paper includes maths, verbal, and non-verbal reasoning. Our Year 5 pupils have specialist lessons in all three elements to prepare for these exams. Whilst the lessons familiarise the children with different types of questions, advise on techniques, and give practice against "the clock," inevitably, as in any other examination, a decisive factor will be how an individual child performs in this environment.

During the summer holiday between Year 5 and Year 6, all children are invited to school for preparation sessions each week, and for a full week of lessons in readiness for Trafford Grammar School examinations in early September. Additional preparation and support sessions are routinely offered throughout the year.

2. b) St Ambrose and Loreto grammar schools.

These schools' examinations can vary, but generally include verbal reasoning, maths, and English papers. All are covered in the school timetable, and we have practise examinations against the clock to support children’s preparation.

3. Independent grammar schools:

All of these include maths and English examination papers, and the content of both papers is adequately covered in our school curriculum. Increasingly, there is a reliance on IQ testing, including non-verbal elements, and the precise formats can vary from year to year.

A major difference between the local foundation grammar schools and the independent grammar schools is that the independent grammar schools interview pupils. We have found that the range of topics our pupils have covered as part of our curriculum has proved invaluable in these interviews.

A number of the independent grammar schools' examinations are now taken online. However, our pupils enjoy IT lessons from Year 1 and also complete examination practice on computers, so this does not present any major problems for them.

Where our pupils have progressed to.

Pupils are frequently offered places at more than one school, but the table below shows the list of the final choices since 2015. On occasion, there is an unequal number of boys and girls.

After Hale Prep - Destinations Since 2015:

Pupils are frequently offered places at more than one school. Below is a list of the final choices since 2015. On occasion, there are an unequal number of boys and girls.