Moorside High School

Moorside High School is a larger-than-average secondary school within Consilium Academies Trust, with a specially resourced provision for 21 pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs and significant leadership changes since its previous inspection. Inspectors found the school meeting expected standards across achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development, with safeguarding standards met. Pupils are proud of their school, feel safe and benefit from positive relationships and calm lessons. The curriculum is well designed and generally taught well, and inclusion is a strength: pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils receive effective support. Leadership is stable, staff wellbeing is taken seriously, and KS4 attainment is improving, with GCSE results close to national averages overall, including in English and mathematics. There are still areas to address. Attendance needs sustained improvement, and persistent absence remains slightly above the national average. Teaching is not consistently strong in checking pupils' understanding and closing gaps, and published Progress 8 figures for all pupils and disadvantaged pupils have been below national average. The next steps focus on accelerating attendance improvements and ensuring consistently effective curriculum delivery.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met and there is an open, positive safeguarding culture.
• Pupils are proud of the school, feel safe and belong to a supportive community.
• Behaviour is calm and disruption is rare; bullying is dealt with quickly and effectively.
• The curriculum is appropriate, well designed and most teachers are subject specialists.
• Teachers generally use assessment to identify and close gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• Effective support for reading, writing and numeracy helps pupils access the curriculum.
• Inclusion processes are clear and support for pupils with SEND, including the resourced provision, is effective.
• Disadvantaged pupils receive additional resources and support that aid achievement and participation.
• Leaders have clear priorities and a shared vision, with effective trust and governance support.
• Staff workload and wellbeing are taken seriously, and staff are proud to work at the school.
• Personal development and careers education are well planned, with a broad enrichment offer.
• KS4 attainment is improving and GCSE results are close to national average overall, including English and maths.
• Attendance has improved for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND and is broadly in line with national average over time.
• Most pupils move on successfully to education, employment or training.

Areas for Improvement

• Attendance requires sustained and accelerated improvement so more pupils benefit from education.
• Persistent absence remains slightly above the national average.
• The curriculum is not yet taught consistently well across all subjects.
• Some teachers do not check pupils' understanding effectively enough to close knowledge gaps and build coherent subject knowledge.
• Published Progress 8 outcomes for all pupils and disadvantaged pupils have been below national average.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Moorside High School attended 90.8% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 27.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 8.6% of pupils at Moorside High School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 3 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Moorside High School had 19.0 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 11.3% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 18.1% of pupils at Moorside High School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 4.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

The school has resourced provision with 21 pupils.

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Moorside High School received £9,349 and spent £8,863 for each of its 1,148 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £748,000 (£651 per pupil).

Across all 7 schools of Consilium Academies, income was £9,167 and spending £9,138 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

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All schools in Manchester · Salford local authority: places and applications

Moorside High School is part of Consilium Academies, which runs 7 schools. The nearest others:

• Ellesmere Park High School Manchester
• Armthorpe Academy Doncaster
• Wyvern Academy Darlington
• Washington Academy Washington
• Thornhill Academy Sunderland
• Heworth Grange School Gateshead

What is Moorside High School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Moorside High School is Expected standard, from an inspection in July 2026.

When was Moorside High School last inspected by Ofsted?

Moorside High School was last inspected in July 2026.

How many pupils does Moorside High School have?

Moorside High School has 1,129 pupils on roll.

What age range does Moorside High School cover?

Moorside High School for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Moorside High School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 40.1, and 38% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Moorside High School?

Moorside High School is at 57 Deans Road, Swinton, Manchester, M27 0AP.