Didsbury High School
Secondary · Free schools · Mixed · Manchester
4 The Avenue, Manchester, M20 2ET
82
headline score
Ranking (England)
—
No ranked results
Ofsted
Outstanding
Graded 30/01/2024
Application demand
51%
1st preference success · Oversubscribed
Attendance
91.8%
23.7% persistently absent
At a glance
Pupils on roll
1,220
Capacity used
Has space90%
1,350 places
GCSE rank (England)
—
KS2 rank (England)
—
Application demand
Secondary entry · official council applications and offers
51%
1st preference success rate
197 of 390 families who put it first got an offer
206
Places offered
1275
Total applications
6.2
Applications per place
| Preference (Sept 2025 entry) | Applications | Offers | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st preference | 390 | 197 | ● 51% |
| 2nd preference | 324 | 5 | ● 2% |
| 3rd preference | 306 | 2 | ● 1% |
| Later preferences (4th–6th) | 255 | 2 | ● 1% |
| Total | 1275 | 206 | 16% |
1st preference success by year
Manchester lets families list 6 preferences. 113 applications came from outside the council area (4 offered). Source: Department for Education, school-level applications and offers. Offers are made on each school's admissions criteria (e.g. siblings, distance, faith), so check the school's policy.
Details
- Type
- Free schools
- Phase
- Secondary
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sixth form
- Yes
- Nursery
- No Nursery Classes
- Boarding
- No boarders
- Headteacher
- Katie Houghton
- Address
- 4 The Avenue, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2ET
- Phone
- 01615075600
- Local authority
- Manchester
- Ward / constituency
- Didsbury West · Manchester Withington
- Area
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- URN
- 143729
Pupils
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free school meals | 42% | — | — |
| English as additional language | 30% | — | — |
| SEN support | 17% | — | — |
Local deprivation (IDACI quintile 4 of 5)
1 = least deprived area, 5 = most deprived. Context only.
Academy trust: THE LAURUS TRUST
1,220 pupils · 1,350 places. Intake figures describe the school's community — they aren't good or bad.
Ofsted inspections
- 24
30 January 2024
Full graded inspection
Outstanding overall effectivenessSixth form Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Quality of education Outstanding Safeguarding effective Yes Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding
Attendance
2024/2025 school year · 1,107 pupils
Attendance
91.8%
Share of sessions attended · England 91.1%
Overall absence
8.2%
Sessions missed, any reason · England 8.9%
Persistent absence
23.7%
Pupils missing 10%+ of school · England 26.7%
Severe absence
3.0%
Pupils missing 50%+ of school · England 2.3%
Unauthorised absence
2.6%
Absences the school didn't approve
Persistent absence by year
Source: Department for Education, pupil absence by school (pupils aged 5–15). Lower absence is better. England figures are approximate 2023/24 averages.
GCSE results
| Measure | School | LA | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 score | 57.3 | — | — |
| Progress 8 score | 0.67 | — | 0.00 |
| Grade 5+ in English & maths | 60% | — | — |
| Grade 4+ in English & maths | 80% | — | — |
| EBacc average point score | 5.59 | — | — |
Progress 8 band
GCSE results over time
Attainment 8 by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Attainment 8 | 57.1 | 46 |
| Grade 5+ English & maths | 60.6% | 46% |
| Grade 4+ English & maths | 79.8% | 65% |
| Entering EBacc | 87.2% | 40% |
| EBacc average point score | 5.55 | 4.1 |
| Pupils in cohort | 218 | — |
How different pupils progress (GCSE, 2023/2024)
Progress 8 by group. 0 is the national average; above 0 means pupils do better than similar children elsewhere.
A-level results over time
Average points per entry by year (2020 and 2021 exams were cancelled)
| Result | School | England (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Average points per entry | 37.47 | 35 |
| Average grade | B- | — |
| AAB or better (2 facilitating) | 17.2% | 17% |
| A-level students | 29 | — |
Results by subject
Official DfE exam results for summer 2025. Green, amber and red compare against typical results in England; subjects with fewer than 5 entries aren't rated.
GCSE
Grade 4 is a standard pass, 5 a strong pass, 7 equals the old A.
| Subject | Entries | Grade 7+ | Grade 5+ | Grade 4+ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 218 | 36% | 62% | 85% | |
| English Language | 218 | 35% | 70% | 80% | |
| English Literature | 217 | 37% | 70% | 80% | |
| Geography | 130 | 38% | 68% | 79% | |
| Combined Science | 116 | 10% | 44% | 64% | |
| Spanish | 108 | 45% | 79% | 87% | |
| French | 105 | 42% | 76% | 85% | |
| Biology | 99 | 44% | 88% | 95% | |
| Physics | 98 | 51% | 85% | 92% | |
| Chemistry | 98 | 52% | 89% | 97% | |
| History | 74 | 64% | 84% | 85% | |
| Art and Design | 54 | 43% | 83% | 93% |
A level
| Subject | Entries | A* | A*–A | A*–B | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics | 17 | 6% | 41% | 71% | |
| Chemistry | 15 | 0% | 20% | 40% | |
| Biology | 14 | 0% | 29% | 43% | |
| Physics | 13 | 8% | 23% | 46% | |
| Psychology | 11 | 0% | 27% | 100% | |
| Computer Science | 6 | 17% | 33% | 83% | |
| Economics | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Mathematics (Further) | 4 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Geography | 3 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| History | 2 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| Spanish | 2 | 0% | 0% | 0% | |
| English Language | 2 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Oxbridge
Cambridge offers by year
Ranked #160 of 1,018 UK schools with Cambridge offers2
UCAS apply centre 20952: Didsbury High School
| Cambridge admissions1 | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Applications | 6 |
| Offers | ≤5 |
| Success rate | — |
| Accepted offers | 0 |
1 Source: University of Cambridge, applications, offers and acceptances by UCAS apply centre. To protect privacy small counts are hidden: "<3" means 0–2 (up to 2023); "≤5" means 1–5 (from 2024). Success rate is only shown when exact numbers are published (England average is about 20%).
2 Schools ranked by number of offers; this doesn't account for school size. Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures, so they aren't shown.
House prices near the school
Typical sold prices (Land Registry) within 1 km, last 12 months.
Loading prices…
Key application dates
National deadlines in England. Apply through Manchester council, not the school.
| Entry | Deadline | Offer day |
|---|---|---|
| Year 7 (secondary) | 31 October | 1 March (or next working day) |
Admissions policy: Non-selective. Check the school's own admissions rules on its website.
Source: Get Information About Schools and the DfE school and college performance tables (2023-2024); Oxbridge figures from the University of Cambridge's admissions by UCAS apply centre (Oxford doesn't publish per-school figures). Read the method.