Secondary school in Manchester
Didsbury High School
4 The Avenue, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2ET
Ofsted
Graded Outstanding at its last graded inspection, on 30 January 2024.
Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.
GCSE results 2024/25
Attainment 8 score
The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.
Grade 5+ in English & maths
Grade 4+ in English & maths
EBacc average point score
Entered the EBacc
On Attainment 8 this school is in the top quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.
Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the top 10%.
Progress 8 2023/24
Taking that range into account, pupils made more progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as well above average.
Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.
A levels 2024/25
- Average grade per entry
- B-
- Average points per entry
- 37.5
- A level students
- 29
England average 32.3
Pupils
- Pupils on roll
- 1220
- Places
- 1350
- How full
- 90% full — 1220 of 1350 places taken
- Girls / boys
- 596 / 624
- Overall absence
- 8%
- Persistently absent
- 24%
secondary schools average 8.6%
secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions
- Free school meals, last 6 years
- 40%
- English as an additional language
- 34%
- With an EHC plan
- 5%
- On SEN support
- 18%
England 25.7%
England 18.7%
England 3.5%
England 15%
The neighbourhood around the school
Census 2021 figures for Manchester 039E, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.
- Adults with a degree
- 84%
- Adults with no qualifications
- 3%
- Households owning their home
- 48%
- Households in social housing
- 1%
- Households with no car
- 16%
- Adults economically inactive
- 9%
England 33.8%
England 18.3%
England 62.7%
England 17%
England 21.9%
England 39.9%
School details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Ages
- Ages 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Religious character
- None
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No
- Boarding
- Day school
- Trust
- THE LAURUS TRUST
- Headteacher
- Headteacher: Katie Houghton
- Local authority
- Manchester
- Ward
- Didsbury West
- Constituency
- Manchester Withington
- URN
- 143729
The unique reference number used in all official school data.
Nearest secondary schools
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loreto High School ChorltonVoluntary aided school | Requires improvement 2024 | 46.6 | 0.5 mi |
| CHS SouthFree schools | Good 2023 | 48.3 | 0.6 mi |
| Chorlton High SchoolAcademy converter | No grade | 54 | 0.7 mi |
| Whalley Range 11-18 High SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2022 | 52.1 | 0.9 mi |
| Kassim Darwish Grammar School for BoysOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.1 mi |
| William Hulme's Grammar SchoolAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 51.9 | 1.1 mi |
| Withington Girls' SchoolOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.2 mi |
| Manchester Islamic Grammar School for GirlsOther independent school | No grade | — | 1.4 mi |
Schools with a similar intake
State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.
| School | Ofsted | Attainment 8 |
|---|---|---|
| The Priory Witham AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 37.9 |
| E-ACT the Oldham Academy NorthAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 48.2 |
| Sarum AcademyAcademy sponsor led | Good 2023 | 33.7 |
| Walsall Studio SchoolStudio schools | No grade | 26.9 |
| Netherhall SchoolCommunity school | No grade | 39.7 |
| St Matthew AcademyAcademy sponsor led | No grade | 47.2 |
| The Hathershaw CollegeAcademy converter | No grade | 39.3 |
| The Winstanley SchoolAcademy converter | Good 2023 | 29.9 |
Where these figures come from
- School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
- Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
- Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
- Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
- Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.
All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.