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Schools in Manchester

208 schools in the Manchester local authority.

Schools

208

Open schools

Pupils

95,926

2025–26 census

Good or better

87%

143 of 164 graded

Academic Performance

4.5

out of 10 · 185 schools

Ofsted ratings

Outstanding
27 16%
Good
116 71%
Requires improvement
14 9%
Inadequate
7 4%
11 inspected since 2024, no overall grade15 superseded by a report card33 not judged4 in a category of concern4 safeguarding not effective
4.5
Academic Performance

Averaged over 185 of 208 schools that can be scored

Pupils

95,926

pupils on roll

Boys 51%49% Girls

Roll from 203 of 208 schools (95,926 pupils). Independent schools report roll and sex only.

Ethnicity

White
34%
Asian
27%
Black
18%
Mixed
10%
Chinese
1%
Any other group
9%
Unclassified
2%

Ethnicity from 183 of 208 schools (90,247 pupils). Independent schools report roll and sex only.

Pupil characteristics

Free school meals
49.3%

44,588 of 90,399 pupils · 184 of 208 schools

First language not English
44.6%

40,288 of 90,247 pupils · 183 of 208 schools

Young carers
2.1%

1,848 of 90,007 pupils · 181 of 208 schools

Schools by phase

Primary
138
Secondary
34
All-through
5
Special
17
Nursery
2
PRU
2
Not recorded
10

Top primary schools in Manchester

The 20 highest-scoring primary schools here on Academic Performance, which combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment.

Top secondary schools in Manchester

The 20 highest-scoring secondary schools here on Academic Performance, which combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment.

Browse all 208 schools in Manchester — filter by phase or Ofsted rating.

About schools in Manchester

How many schools are there in Manchester?
Manchester has 208 open schools — 138 primary, 34 secondary, 17 special, 2 nursery, teaching 95,926 pupils in total.
How many schools in Manchester are rated Good or Outstanding?
143 of the 164 schools holding an Ofsted grade — 87% — are rated Good or Outstanding, including 27 rated Outstanding. That share is measured against graded schools, not all 208: a school inspected since September 2024 has no overall grade at all.
What is the average Academic Performance in Manchester?
4.5 out of 10, averaged across the 185 schools here that can be scored, where 5 is the national average. Academic Performance combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment and is ranked against comparable schools, so it is neither figure on its own.
Why do some Manchester schools have no Ofsted rating?
44 schools in Manchester currently hold no overall grade. Ofsted stopped awarding single-word judgements in September 2024 and moved to a report card of separately graded areas, so schools inspected since then have no overall rating whatever the inspection found. Their profiles show the report card instead.
What does Manchester local authority do?
A local authority is the body responsible for state education in its area — the level most admissions and school-place decisions are made at. Manchester covers 208 schools and sits in the North West region. It does not run academies or independent schools directly, though it still coordinates admissions for most of them.
How many pupils in Manchester are eligible for free school meals?
49.3% — 44,588 of 90,399 pupils at the 184 schools that report it. Independent schools file a return with roll and sex only, so they are outside this figure rather than counted as zero.

Part of the North West region.