One of the obvious problems for the Headmaster in 1967 was that of bringing together what had been three separate units, particularly since Hyde Road was such a decisive factor. It was not difficult to establish quickly a united community on each of the two sides of the road. The assembly pattern, the work of form teachers, year tutors and their deputies, the functionings of societies, and curriculum sets and groupings all helped. Effective communication was available by a telephone system installed to various parts of each building. In addition, each morning, by 9 a.m., the Headmaster sent out copies of "Daily Orders"-not a good title, because the majority of the material put out was informative, but it did contain staff deputy lists and details of matters requiring attention. The name stuck, however, and the system was effective. Staff meetings, particularly at certain levels, were important. Each day, the Headmaster had a meeting with the Deputy Headmaster, Senior Mistress and Head of the Senior School. In each school the Year Tutors met weekly, and on occasions with their form teachers. The Headmaster met Heads of Departments regularly and departments had their own meetings, some more frequently than others. Small departments were always meeting informally, whereas large departments needed a more formal system. Full staff meetings were always held at the beginning and end of the school year, and on other occasions, although the numbers involved often made such meetings not particularly effective. Each staffroom had its own committee, which dealt with matters relative to staffroom amenities.

The fact that the effective playing and changing areas for games were on one side of the road, did, to a certain extent, bring the school closer together. By 1968, the range of games was reasonable- soccer, netball, hockey, cricket, rounders, swimming, cross-country and badminton. The 4th year cricket team won the league championship and the F.E. Smith Memorial Trophy, reaching the final on another occasion. The 3rd year team also won the league and the Spurley Hey Memorial Trophy, whilst the 1st year team reached their semi-finals. By 1971, the Senior cricket team topped their league for the third successive year. The 4th year football team won the semi-final of their cup competition; a 4th year Rounders team reached the area finals, and a 4th year Girls'Swimming team reached the Manchester Schools' semi-final. 5-a-side football produced a keen inter-form struggle each year, and, for a brief period, groups went to ten-pin bowling at Levenshulme. Generally, the staff were able to beat the school at soccer although their ranks were often reinforced with guest players, but they were beaten by an Old Boys team on the only occasion such a match was played. A staff hockey team beat the school in March 1971, when their style was described as "flamboyant and aggressive". Hockey was popular, and Mrs Easby took 50 girls to the Hockey International at Old Trafford. Mr. Sutton took 20 boys there on another occasion to see a County Cricket match in progress and later in that year (1970) arranged for an escorted tour of the ground and facilities at the other Old Trafford. On three occasions fixtures were arranged with visiting football teams from Northern Ireland (Hopefield Secondary School, Co. Antrim and Magherafelt High School,) as part of a brief tour of the area.

There were some excellent individual performances. In 1970, Ronald Jones played for Manchester Boys Cricket team, and in 1972/3 for Manchester Senior Boys Soccer team. In 1970/71, Ian Worthington played occasionally for Manchester Boys and in the following season Danny Stoddard was a member of South Lancashire U.18 Soccer team, and played for Manchester Boys Senior team against Glasgow boys at Hampden Park. Janice Caul and Susan Rowlands were members of Manchester Schools City Netball team in 1972/3. In 1973, when badminton had become well-established in school, Weston Samuels won the under 14 Manchester Schools Singles Championship and also the Doubles Championship with Vibhaka Mehta. Mrs Easby's skill as a hockey player was recognised when she was selected to represent Lancashire in the English County Championships. On the afternoon of 17th July,1973, the school was again honoured to receive the Teachers' Memorial Shield. The officials of the Manchester School Sports Association attended, the roll of honour for two wars was read, the band played, and the Guest of Honour, Mr. Jack Bond, the successful Captain of Lancashire County Cricket Club, received the shield and then presented it to the school. He made a delightful little speech, much appreciated by the school and their many guests, and the band played the party out.

A House system helped greatly to unify the school by giving a "vertical mix" as well as encouraging games skills and involving many boys and girls competitively. After initial discussions, the scheme began in December,1967 with six houses, named after Manchester worthies- Chadwick, Royce, Rutherford, Whitworth, Wilkinson and Woolton- and a Housemaster and Housemistress for each house and all other staff (except Senior and P.E. Staff) allocated to a house. Soon, Mr. Harper became co-ordinator of the system and each house had an assembly room, and house meetings were held quite regularly, generally at the end of the day, followed by dismissal. There was a system of merit marks for praiseworthy efforts, and trophies were available for presentation to winning houses at the end of the school year, together with an overall championship trophy. Colours were awarded, in the form of badges, and house matches were arranged within the timetable. In addition to soccer, netball, rounders and cricket, there was a cross-country event (at Wythenshawe Park but discontinued by 1970) and a Hockey Championship. Initially there were separate Swimming Galas for boys and girls at Victoria Baths, but by April 1970 mixed galas were held on a Junior and Senior School basis. Junior and Senior Sports afternoons were held, first at Longford Stadium, Stretford, with buses used to ferry the school and equipment. From 1970, the school field proved to be adequate. In May 1973, as an experiment, a single Sports afternoon was held, with some events decided earlier. Initially, an Art and Crafts competition featured in the system, but although Art continued successfully, the number of Crafts entries declined and was not persisted with. Table tennis was a very popular dinner hour sport, especially in the Senior school and later, informal house games were arranged. By 1971, chess became part of the competition, followed next year by basketball, another rapidly developing activity.

Each house adopted a charity-the six in 1970 were the Royal National Lifeboat institution, Dr. Barnados, R.S.P.C.A., National Children's Home, P.D.S.A. and Henshaw's Institute for the Blind. After this time, however, there was a strong call for support of charities at full school level and each year donations were made or collections arranged for selected charities. In November 1970, a collection for the Pakistan Relief Fund raised £69 and in Autumn 1971 the school contributed, through sponsorship, over £300 to the Variety Club of Great Britain Scheme, when Anthony Tyrell from the 5th year represented the school and walked the statutory laps at Maine Road football ground. Miss Irlam and Mr. Bedford regularly arranged community service work. One of the earliest efforts was the serving of dinners each Thursday by senior girls at Every Street Community Centre. Christmas parcels were prepared; helpers went to the Frank Taylor Centre for the handicapped and the Tom Dobbins Centre for the annual Christmas parties, and there was co-operation with other schools on many projects- cperation "Spring Clean"; home visiting; and shopping expeditions for the house-bound.