Orchard House Specialist High School
Orchard House Specialist High School is a special free school in Manchester for boys and girls aged 11 to 19. It has 48 pupils and room for 150. About 65 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England.
6 Sawley Road, Miles Platting, Manchester, M40 8EZ0161 567 9040orchardhouse.schoolMrs Caroline Pauls headteacherAll details
Ofsted
Ofsted hasn't published an inspection for this school yet. That is normal for a school that opened in 2025: new schools usually get their first inspection within three years.
Getting a place
Open to all. There is no entrance test.
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: Autistic spectrum disorder (23), Severe learning difficulty (10), language and communications needs (6), Moderate learning difficulty (3), Specific learning difficulty (3), emotional and mental health (2).
Staff
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025.
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Park View Community Primary Academy | Academy | 410 m | 343 | Requires improvement 2024 | 40 | Compare |
| St Augustine's CofE Primary School | Church of England | 710 m | 188 | Not inspected | 66 | Compare |
| Collyhurst Nursery School | Local authority nursery school | 800 m | 102 | Not inspected | – | Compare |
| Saviour CofE Primary School | Church of England | 990 m | 119 | Report card 2026 | 4 | Compare |
| St Malachy's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | Academy | 0.6 miles | – | Good 2023 | – | Compare |
| St Patrick's RC Primary School, a Voluntary Academy | Academy | 0.6 miles | 184 | Good 2021 | – | Compare |
| Manchester Communication Academy | Academy | 0.6 miles | 1,240 | Good 2024 | 59 | Compare |
| Abbott Community Primary School | Council | 0.7 miles | 228 | Outstanding 2024 | 86 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is Orchard House Specialist High School a good school?
We don't have enough published data to score Orchard House Specialist High School yet.
How many pupils does Orchard House Specialist High School have?
48 pupils aged 11 to 19 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 150 places, so it is 32% full.
Does Orchard House Specialist High School have a sixth form?
Yes.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- 6 Sawley Road, Miles Platting, Manchester, M40 8EZ
- Telephone
- 0161 567 9040
- Website
- www.orchardhouse.school
- Headteacher
- Mrs Caroline Pauls
- Type of school
- Special free school (Free schools special, free schools)
- Phase
- Special school, ages 11-19, with sixth form
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Multi-academy trust
- Prospere Learning Trust (11 schools)
- Local authority
- Manchester
- Ward
- Miles Platting & Newton Heath
- Constituency
- Manchester Central
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 1 September 2025 (academy free school)
- URN
- 151726 · LAESTAB 3527004 · UKPRN 10098681
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.
- 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.