North Ridge High School
North Ridge High School is a council special school in Manchester for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 207 pupils, 7 more than it has places for. About 76 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was outstanding, back in 2024.
Alworth Road, Blackley, Manchester, M9 0RP0161 553 0200northridge.manchester.sch.ukMrs Shauna Johnson headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 27 March 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Outstanding overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Results
GCSE results, summer 2025
30 pupils sat their GCSEs. Here is how they did against every state secondary in England.
The government hasn't published this school's headline results. That usually means the year group was too small to publish without identifying children.
A level and sixth-form results, 2018
47 students finished sixth-form courses.
All sixth-form measures, year by year
| Measure | 2018 |
|---|---|
| Students | 47 |
| Average A level grade | NE |
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.
Specialist SEND provision. A special school for pupils with autism, hearing impairment, moderate learning difficulties, multi-sensory impairment, other needs, physical disability, social, emotional and mental health, speech, language and communication, specific learning difficulties, visual impairment.
To get a place in the unit or resourced provision, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school. Other schools in Manchester with autism provision.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: Severe learning difficulty (81), Autistic spectrum disorder (75), Profound and multiple learning difficulty (19), language and communications needs (13), Moderate learning difficulty (6), emotional and mental health (4).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 207 | 200 | 202 | 199 | 199 | 189 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 71% | 68% | 58% | 53% | 53% | 57% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 27% | 28% | 32% | 36% | 38% | 35% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 0% | 0% | 2% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 100% | 100% | 99% | 100% | 100% |
Attendance and behaviour
In 2024/25 pupils were in school 88.4% of the time. Across similar schools in England it was 94.8%.
Attendance year by year
| Measure | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | 2018/19 | England |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sessions missedOverall absence | 11.6% | 11.3% | 13.0% | 13.0% | 6.6% | 6.0% | 5.2% |
| Missed with permissionAuthorised absence | 6.3% | 6.2% | 6.1% | 5.3% | 4.3% | 3.1% | – |
| Missed without permissionUnauthorised absence | 5.3% | 5.1% | 6.9% | 7.7% | 2.2% | 2.9% | – |
| Pupils missing a lot of schoolPersistent absence | 32.6% | 32.4% | 36.4% | 36.2% | 20.3% | 13.9% | 12.8% |
| SuspensionsSuspension rate | 3.5 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.6 | – | – |
| Permanent exclusionsPermanent exclusions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 30 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Among pupils from low-income families it was 100%, compared with 100% for everyone else.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers | 2019/20 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 100% | 100% | 91% | 96% |
| Education | 100% | 100% | 91% | 96% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Work | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Not in education, work or training | 0% | 0% | 4% | 4% |
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 special 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our Lady's RC High School | Roman Catholic | 80 m | 1,046 | Report card 2025 | 84 | Compare |
| Meade Hill School | Academy | 170 m | 205 | Good 2024 | – | Compare |
| E-ACT Blackley Academy | Academy | 380 m | 441 | Good 2024 | 39 | Compare |
| St Clare's RC Primary School | Roman Catholic | 430 m | 442 | Good 2024 | 32 | Compare |
| Co-op Academy Manchester | Academy | 810 m | 1,554 | Good 2023 | 23 | Compare |
| Prospect House Specialist Support Primary School | Free school | 990 m | 160 | Outstanding 2023 | – | Compare |
| Crab Lane Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 412 | No overall grade 2024 | 36 | Compare |
| Rhodes Green CE Primary School | Academy | 0.8 miles | 166 | Requires improvement 2022 | 0 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is North Ridge High School a good school?
North Ridge High School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it outstanding at its last inspection in March 2024.
What is North Ridge High School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated North Ridge High School outstanding at its last full inspection on 27 March 2024.
How many pupils does North Ridge High School have?
207 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 200 places, so it is 104% full.
What is attendance like at North Ridge High School?
Pupils were in school 88.4% of the time in 2024/25. Similar schools in England managed 94.8%. 33% of pupils missed at least a tenth of the year.
Does North Ridge High School have specialist SEND provision?
Yes. It is a special school for autism, hearing impairment, moderate learning difficulties, multi-sensory impairment, other needs, physical disability, social, emotional and mental health, speech, language and communication, specific learning difficulties, visual impairment. To get a place there, a child normally needs an education, health and care plan (EHCP) that names the school.
Does North Ridge High School have a sixth form?
Yes. The average A level grade in 2018 was NE.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Alworth Road, Blackley, Manchester, M9 0RP
- Telephone
- 0161 553 0200
- Website
- www.northridge.manchester.sch.uk
- Headteacher
- Mrs Shauna Johnson
- Type of school
- Council special school (Community special school, special schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Manchester
- Ward
- Higher Blackley
- Constituency
- Blackley and Middleton South
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2006 (new provision)
- URN
- 132905 · LAESTAB 3527061 · UKPRN 10016561
Recent changes
- New KS4 results for 2024/25
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.
- GCSE results: DfE key stage 4 performance tables, 2024/25 final.
- Attendance: DfE pupil absence in schools in England, 2024/25 full year.
- 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.