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State secondary schools in Manchester

32 schools · North West · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Manchester has 32 state secondaries, 8 of them with sixth forms. 77.1% of families got their first choice last year, worse than most of England. Results run from 18.9% to 67.2% passing English and maths, a spread of 48 points, with a middle school at 45.9%, almost exactly England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 4 rated Outstanding, 17 Good, 3 Requires improvement. 8 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

32 schools in Manchester. Tap one, or see the full list.
19% 67% passed English & maths no figure

Manchester against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

41%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

4.1% below England

England 45%

44.8

Attainment 8 average score

1.3 below England

England 46.1

17%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

4.3% below England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Manchester

77.1%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

93.1%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

0%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

20%

Appeals upheld94 of 476 heard

These are figures for Manchester as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Manchester's 30 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 19% to 67%. That is a spread of 48 percentage points, about typical.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Manchester schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathshistorygeographyenglish literatureenglish languagecombined sciencereligious studiesphysicschemistrybiologyspanishartcomputer sciencefrenchphotographybusiness studiesfood technologydrama
  1. 1 Eden Girls' Leadership Academy, Manchester Manchester · 129 entries 91%
  2. 2 The King David High School Manchester · 112 entries 89%
  3. 3 Chorlton High School Manchester · 289 entries 84%
  4. 4 Whalley Range 11-18 High School Manchester · 259 entries 83%
  5. 5 Wright Robinson College Manchester · 348 entries 82%
  6. 6 The Barlow RC High School Manchester · 175 entries 82%
  7. 7 Levenshulme High School Manchester · 203 entries 82%
  8. 8 Eden Boys' Leadership Academy, Manchester Manchester · 131 entries 82%
  9. 9 William Hulme's Grammar School Manchester · 179 entries 81%
  10. 10 Manchester Enterprise Academy Central Manchester · 214 entries 80%
  11. 11 Parrs Wood High School Manchester · 289 entries 80%
  12. 12 Didsbury High School Manchester · 217 entries 80%
  13. 13 CHS South Manchester · 173 entries 79%
  14. 14 Loreto High School Chorlton Manchester · 144 entries 79%
  15. 15 Trinity CofE High School Manchester · 251 entries 78%
  16. 16 Our Lady's RC High School Manchester · 204 entries 77%
  17. 17 Burnage Academy for Boys Manchester · 164 entries 76%
  18. 18 Co-op Academy Manchester Manchester · 319 entries 76%
  19. 19 Dean Trust Ardwick Manchester · 261 entries 73%
  20. 20 St Peter's RC High School · 212 entries 72%
  21. 21 Manchester Academy Manchester · 227 entries 71%
  22. 22 Manchester Communication Academy Manchester · 260 entries 71%
  23. 23 Abraham Moss Community School Manchester · 256 entries 68%
  24. 24 Co-op Academy North Manchester Manchester · 234 entries 68%
  25. 25 The East Manchester Academy Manchester · 211 entries 63%
  26. 26 Saint Paul's Catholic High School Manchester · 146 entries 61%
  27. 27 Manchester Enterprise Academy Wythenshawe · 221 entries 57%
  28. 28 Cedar Mount Academy Gorton · 197 entries 54%
  29. 29 St Matthew's RC High School Manchester · 269 entries 53%
  30. 30 Dixons Brooklands Academy Manchester · 198 entries 49%
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Every school in Manchester

Schools in neighbouring authorities are not in this list, because admissions run per authority. See bordering areas.

10 of 32 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Manchester

6 of Manchester's 8 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Manchester

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Bury 14 schools · 39% passed English & mathsCheshire East 23 schools · 45% passed English & mathsOldham 14 schools · 37% passed English & mathsRochdale 13 schools · 35% passed English & mathsSalford 16 schools · 40% passed English & mathsStockport 14 schools · 49% passed English & mathsTameside 16 schools · 41% passed English & mathsTrafford 19 schools · 64% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.