Backstabbing parents, extortionate private tutoring companies and a 'web of deceit'. This is the world of Trafford Grammar Schools, a highly selective group of schools where each year, desperate families put their children through extensive private tutoring to pass the rigorous 11+ exam. Are they living up to their original promise of delivering exceptional education to working-class children? And is there a sense of cruelty in how the system works? Ophira Gottlieb, staff writer at The Mill, takes you inside her reporting.

Read Ophira's first story: Backstabbing, crying, and a ‘web of deceit’: Inside the fight to get into Trafford’s grammar schools

Read her second story: Grexit: should Trafford keep its grammar schools?

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