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St Matthew's RC High School

Secondary · Manchester · M40 0EW

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Good

SchoolFacts estimate: Ofsted awarded no overall grade at this inspection

We show the lowest of the four areas Ofsted did judge, listed below. Why some schools have no overall grade →

Quality of education: GoodBehaviour & attitudes: GoodPersonal development: GoodLeadership & management: GoodSafeguarding effective: Yes

Inspected 15 October 2024

Read the Ofsted report ↗

At a glance

1,327 pupils · 98% of 1,350 capacity

School type
Academy sponsor led
Age range
11–16
Gender
Mixed
Religious character
Roman Catholic
Admissions
Non-selective
Free school meals
59.1% of pupils
English as additional language
27% of pupils
SEN support
14.7% of pupils
EHC plan
3.1% of pupils
Website
www.smrchs.com
URN
148389

Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026

0.76 first-choice applications per place

223 places offered · 170 first-choice applications · usually has places

First-choice applications per place, by entry year

22/23
23/24
24/25
25/26
26/27

Applications and offers on national offer day, DfE. A ratio above 1.00 means more families named this school first choice than there were places.

Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7

Every applicant was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance was not needed to decide places.

How safe is a place here? Check your postcode

One free check a month, no account needed. No cutoff distance applied in 2026, so there is no boundary for your address to be inside of. The check shows how far you live from the school and how many rounds running it has placed every applicant. Premium adds unlimited checks, the nearby schools that do ration places by distance and whether you are inside them, and the address check across every school at once.

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Cutoff distances as published by the local authority. Siblings and other priority groups are offered places first; cutoffs move year to year.

GCSE results (2024/2025)

278 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025

Attainment 8 score
37.8
England 46.1
Grade 4 or above in English & maths GCSEs
47.5%
England 64.8%
Grade 5 or above in English & maths GCSEs
25.9%
England 45.4%
EBacc average point score
3.1
England 4.1

Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.

Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025. “Suppressed” means the DfE withholds figures for very small cohorts.

Schools with a similar intake

Attainment 8, 2024/2025

This school37.8
Median of its 12 closest peers42.1
Manchester average46.8
England46.1

On attainment 8, this school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.

The twelve below are matched on intake alone, from every state school in England, so most are not local. They are the evidence behind the comparison above, not a shortlist. For schools you could realistically apply to, see nearby schools.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
Moreton SchoolWolverhampton · 62 miles awayGood39.3
Co-op Academy Stoke-On-TrentStoke-on-Trent · 32 miles awayGood42.7
North Liverpool AcademyLiverpool · 33 miles awayExpected standard45.6
Derby Cathedral SchoolDerby · 50 miles awayGood41.5
Lift Firth ParkSheffield · 31 miles awayRequires improvement32.7
Kenton SchoolNewcastle-upon-Tyne · 105 miles awayRequires improvement38.7
Ark Globe AcademyLondon · 165 miles awayStrong standard48.4
Wright Robinson CollegeManchester · 4 miles awayStrong standard49.1
City of London Academy (Southwark)London · 166 miles awayStrong standard52.9
Sheffield Park AcademySheffield · 33 miles awayGood35.1
CHS SouthManchester · 7 miles awayGood48.3
Dixons Broadgreen AcademyLiverpool · 31 miles awayRequires improvement34.4

The 12 state schools in England whose intake most closely matches this one: same phase and admissions type, and as near as the data allows on size, free school meals, English as an additional language, SEN and the child poverty of the surrounding area (IDACI 2025). Matching uses only characteristics a school does not choose. It is not a ranking, and a close match on intake does not make two schools interchangeable: sixth form, faith character, admissions rules and plain geography all matter and are not in the calculation. Results: DfE performance tables, 2024/2025. How the matching works.

Attendance (2025/26 autumn term)

Sessions missed (overall absence)
6.6%
England 6.5%
Pupils missing 10%+ of sessions (persistent absence)
18.6%
England 18.1%

Autumn-term absence, DfE pupil absence data. Lower is better.

Staffing

Pupils per qualified teacher
15
England 18.5

Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.

Teacher retention (2024/25)

90% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 6% moved to another state school · 4% left the state-funded sector

School Workforce Census, DfE. The ratio counts full-time-equivalent qualified teachers; retention follows teachers in post one November to the next. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Spending per pupil

This school£8,498
Typical secondary school£7,798

Total expenditure ÷ pupils, academy finance return (DfE Schools Financial Benchmarking, latest year). Higher spending is not a measure of quality. It often reflects greater pupil need or a smaller school. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Where pupils go after GCSEs

In sustained education, work or training
84%
Continuing in education
80%
Apprenticeship
2%
Employment
2%

Destinations measured the year after leaving, latest DfE destination measures release.

Inspection history since 2015

Ofsted management information. Ungraded and monitoring visits do not award a new grade. How the two inspection systems work.

The area around the school

Child poverty (IDACI)
2/10among the most deprived fifth of England
Overall deprivation (IMD)
2/10among the most deprived fifth of England

English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG), decile of the small area the school stands in: 1 is the most deprived tenth of England, 10 the least. IDACI counts only children in low-income families, which is the measure closest to the intake a school is likely to draw on.

Census 2021This areaEngland
Adults with a degree or higher22.3%33.9%
Adults with no qualifications28.4%18.1%
In managerial or professional work18.2%33.2%
Households deprived in two or more ways30.4%18.1%
Residents in very good health51.1%48.5%
Homes owned by the occupier45.6%62.3%
Social housing38.2%17.1%
Privately rented16%20.5%
Detached houses7.6%22.9%
Flats9.6%22.2%
Homes with four or more bedrooms6.7%21.1%
Households with no car or van31%23.5%

Census 2021 (ONS) for statistical area E01005250 (a lower layer super output area), the neighbourhood of roughly 1,557 adults that the school stands in. These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Children travel in from further away, and for selective, faith and some other schools usually much further. Open Government Licence v3.0.

What homes cost nearby

Median sale price
£218,000347 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to July 2026
Typical range
£180,000–£260,000the middle half of sales
England median
£300,000all sales over the same period
Detached (32)£295,000
Semi-detached (208)£225,000
Terraced (81)£185,500
Flat (26)£121,500

Homes around this school are cheaper than most school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.

Every residential sale registered with HM Land Registry within 1 km of the school (straight line) since January 2024, market sales of houses and flats only. A sale is dated by completion and registered weeks later, so the most recent months are incomplete. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Roads around the school

Child pedestrian casualties
4an urban school averages 2.0
Collisions at school-run times
5an urban school averages 5.8
All reported collisions
17an urban school averages 30.6
Of those, serious or fatal
7an urban school averages 6.1

Every collision reported to the police within 500 m of the school in 2021–2025, from the Department for Transport's road casualty statistics (STATS19). "Child pedestrians" counts casualties aged under 16 on foot; "school-run times" means weekdays 07:30–09:00 and 15:00–16:30 outside August. A high count usually says the school sits on or near a busy road, not that the school is unsafe: counts rise with traffic and with how built-up an area is, which is why the comparison is with other urban schools. Distances are straight-line from the school's recorded position. Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nearby schools