Manchester Secondary PRU
Manchester Secondary PRU is a pupil referral unit in Chorlton for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has 205 pupils, 35 more than it has places for. About 83 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was requires improvement, back in 2024.
Mersey Valley Campus, Barlow Hall Road, Chorlton, M21 7JJ0161 696 7955mspru.manchester.sch.ukMr Colin Harvey-Rigby headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
Ofsted's last full inspection was on 4 June 2024, back when it gave schools one overall grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Requires improvement overall.
Earlier inspections (1)
| Date | Type | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 28 September 2022 | Ungraded | School remains Good (Concerns) - S5 Next |
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Manchester council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (197), Autistic spectrum disorder (4), language and communications needs (3), Moderate learning difficulty (1).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 205 | 221 | 223 | 143 | 114 | 154 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 83% | 80% | 83% | 83% | 81% | 77% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 22% | 25% | 19% | 19% | 16% | 18% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 86% | 90% | 94% | 85% | 87% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 15% | 10% | 6% | 15% | 13% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 64 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 43%, compared with 46% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 44% | 41% | 56% |
| Education | 41% | 36% | 50% |
| Apprenticeship | 2% | 3% | 3% |
| Work | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| Not in education, work or training | 36% | 38% | 33% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barlow Hall Primary School | Academy | 220 m | 231 | Not inspected | 57 | Compare |
| St Ambrose RC Primary School | Roman Catholic | 640 m | 162 | Good 2023 | 9 | Compare |
| Chorlton Park Primary | Academy | 910 m | 683 | Good 2024 | 47 | Compare |
| Loreto High School Chorlton | Roman Catholic | 970 m | 742 | Requires improvement 2024 | 24 | Compare |
| Lancasterian School | Council | 0.7 miles | 196 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Didsbury High School | Free school | 0.7 miles | 1,220 | Outstanding 2024 | 84 | Compare |
| The Birches School | Council | 0.8 miles | 168 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| Chorlton High School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 1,532 | Report card 2025 | 81 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Manchester Secondary PRU a good school?
Manchester Secondary PRU doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it requires improvement at its last inspection in June 2024.
What is Manchester Secondary PRU's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated Manchester Secondary PRU requires improvement at its last full inspection on 4 June 2024.
How many pupils does Manchester Secondary PRU have?
205 pupils aged 11 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 170 places, so it is 121% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Mersey Valley Campus, Barlow Hall Road, Chorlton, M21 7JJ
- Telephone
- 0161 696 7955
- Website
- www.mspru.manchester.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mr Colin Harvey-Rigby
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 11-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Manchester
- Ward
- Chorlton Park
- Constituency
- Manchester Withington
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 May 2011 (new provision)
- URN
- 136743 · LAESTAB 3521105 · UKPRN 10033645
- Formerly
- Manchester Key Stage 3 PRU, Manchester KS3 and 4 PRU
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.