Results for Trafford’s grammar school exams will be arriving through letter boxes from this weekend.  It’s a nerve-wracking, scary, exciting time and it’s only natural to feel that the results envelope opens the door to your child’s entire future: but … let’s just take a deep breath and get it all in perspective.

Entrance exam results will be arriving soon.

Passing any of these very tricky exams is a huge achievement and, if your child has succeeded, you should be delighted.  If, on the other hand, your child has failed, you needn’t be despondent.  It’s a myth that anyone’s future career could be limited by an exam that they sit at the age of ten or eleven.  Whether your child attends grammar school or not, they’ll still need to study hard and work for good GCSE grades.  The results achieved by the top ability students at, for example Flixton Girls’ School and Wellacre Academy are equal to the overall results achieved by students at Urmston Grammar School.

Over the next few years, today’s Year 6 students will undergo huge changes, both physically and emotionally.  Thus far, there are no exams that can predict how your child will cope with adolescence.

So, when those results arrive, take a deep breath, open the envelope, read the results and get on with your life.