Editing North West England (section)

===Secondary education===
Secondary schools are mostly comprehensive, but Trafford retains a wholly selective school system, and there are some other [[grammar school]]s in Lancashire, Wirral, Liverpool and Cumbria.

There are around 345,000 at secondary school in the region, the third highest in England, after [[South East England]] and [[Greater London]]. This is around three times as much as there are in [[North East England]]. For school [[truancy]] the most persistent truants are in Manchester with a rate of 7.3%, followed by [[Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley|Knowsley]] with 6.9%, and [[Borough of Blackpool|Blackpool]] with 6.6%. The lowest truancy rate is in [[South Ribble]] with 2.4% followed by [[Ribble Valley]] with 2.9% (both in Lancashire).

At A level in 2010, Trafford performed the best and, again like its results at GCSE, is one of the best areas in England. The lowest performing area is, again, Knowsley but followed by Rochdale. Knowsley has had some dreadful results at A-level; [[Halewood Academy]], its last school sixth-form, closed in 2016; there is now no school-based A-level provision in Knowsley, it is provided by the [[Knowsley Community College]]. For traditional counties, Lancashire gets excellent results at A-level, being one of the best in England. Areas also performing above the England average, in order of results, are Blackpool, Warrington, Wigan, Cheshire West and Chester, Bury, Cumbria, Wirral, and Stockport. Blackpool performs not particularly well at GCSE, yet produces much better results at A level—even better than [[Cheshire West and Chester]], and the third-best in the region.{{citation needed|date=May 2011}}
[[File:Winstanley College - geograph.org.uk - 19340.jpg|thumb|right|Winstanley College]]
[[File:Clitheroe Royal Grammar School (Lower School) - geograph.org.uk - 71877.jpg|thumb|right|Clitheroe Royal Grammar School]]
[[File:Sir john deane college.jpg|thumb|right|Sir John Deane's College]]

; Top ten state schools in the North West (2015 A level results)
# [[Altrincham Grammar School for Girls]] (1223)
# [[Altrincham Grammar School for Boys]]
# The [[Liverpool Blue Coat School|Blue Coat School]], Liverpool
# [[Lancaster Girls' Grammar School]]
# [[The Blue Coat School, Oldham|The Blue Coat CofE School]], Oldham
# [[Wirral Grammar School for Girls]]
# [[Wirral Grammar School for Boys]]
# [[Loreto Grammar School]], Altrincham
# [[West Kirby Grammar School]]
# [[Clitheroe Royal Grammar School]]{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}

The areas that have school children most likely to attend university are Trafford and Cheshire, followed by Wirral, Sefton, Stockport and Bury. Four of these areas are or were part of Cheshire.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}}