Stretford Grammar School

If your child does best somewhere small and friendly rather than large and busy, Stretford is one of Trafford's quieter grammars, and it sets real store by good manners and the relationships between pupils and staff. The Good Schools Guide has reviewed it, and the school is well regarded as one of the borough's smaller, close-knit options. Its own description points to a diverse community where good behaviour supports learning and where children show genuine respect for one another, which is much of what gives the place its calm, orderly feel.

The school has deep roots in the area. In its current form it dates to 1986, when the separate Stretford Grammar School for Boys and Stretford Grammar School for Girls merged, but the boys' school had opened in 1928 and the girls' school a few years earlier, so its story stretches back almost a century. It is co-educational now, taking boys and girls aged 11 to 18 in Trafford, on the southern edge of Greater Manchester. Lessons are matched by clubs and activities outside the timetable, including drama, music and sport, so children have somewhere to follow an interest beyond their subjects, and the school has improved steadily in recent years under its current leadership.

Led by headteacher Mr Michael Mullins, under whom the school has made clear progress, Stretford suits a child who will do well in a smaller grammar that values courtesy and steady effort over scale, and who would rather be known by name than be one face in a crowd.