SF School Facts UK

Girls secondary school in Manchester

Whalley Range 11-18 High School

Wilbraham Road, Whalley Range, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M16 8GW

Ofsted Good · 2022 Sixth form Girls Full
School website 01618619727

Ofsted

Goodas at 28 April 2022

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 28 April 2022.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 4 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

52.1 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

47% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

70% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.9 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

67% England 40.8%

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

0.79confidence interval 0.61 to 0.97

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
C
Average points per entry
29

England average 32.3

A level students
77

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1712
Places
1650
How full
Full — 1712 pupils against 1650 places
Overall absence
7%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
19%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
56%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
79%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
2%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
16%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
94%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
92%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
2%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
39%
No sustained destination
3%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
266

After sixth form

Went to university
66%

England 50%

In education, work or training
78%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
3%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
131

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

11% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
75%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
102

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Manchester 030D, 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
46%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
21%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
54%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
10%

England 17%

Households with no car
20%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
43%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy converter
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Girls
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
GREATER MANCHESTER EDUCATION TRUST
Headteacher
Academy Headteacher: Michael Lea
Local authority
Manchester
Ward
Whalley Range
Constituency
Manchester Rusholme
URN
141264

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
William Hulme's Grammar SchoolAcademy sponsor led No grade 51.9 0.2 mi
Kassim Darwish Grammar School for BoysOther independent school No grade 0.3 mi
St Bede's CollegeOther independent school No grade 0.6 mi
CHS SouthFree schools Good 2023 48.3 0.6 mi
Chorlton High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 54 0.8 mi
Loreto High School ChorltonVoluntary aided school Requires improvement 2024 46.6 0.9 mi
Withington Girls' SchoolOther independent school No grade 0.9 mi
Didsbury High SchoolFree schools Outstanding 2024 57.1 0.9 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.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
The Albion AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 47.4
The Royal Harbour AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2020 28.9
North Huddersfield Trust SchoolFoundation school Good 2022 35.7
Astrea Academy SheffieldFree schools Good 2022 45.4
Skegness AcademyAcademy sponsor led Requires improvement 2023 30.7
Harris Academy BatterseaAcademy sponsor led Outstanding 2023 49.8
City of London Academy, Highgate HillFree schools Good 2024 40.3
The Salesian Academy of St John BoscoAcademy sponsor led No grade 32.2

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.