Didsbury High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from the school's aspirational approach to their education.

The school prioritises pupils' academic excellence and their personal development. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), experience an exceptional curriculum that enables them to learn and to achieve exceedingly well.

Pupils recognise that the school has high expectations of their conduct.

They understand the connection between positive behaviour and learning well. Pupils are extremely attentive to their teachers during lessons and behave sensibly around the school.

Pupils are incredibly proud of the diversity in their school.
<...br/>They enjoy sharing information about their backgrounds and their experiences with each other. For example, pupils organised a 'culture day' to learn about their different cultural heritages and to celebrate these. Pupils value that they see themselves reflected in the curriculum.

This sense of belonging helps pupils to feel happy in school.

Pupils take an active role within the school community. They embrace the extensive leadership opportunities that are on offer.

For example, pupils help to organise a wide variety of charity events. Pupils proudly stated that 'we are a real force for change'.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The trust works closely with the school to provide an education of the highest quality.

This is enhanced by a strong emphasis on staff's professional development. For instance, subject specialists across the trust engage with educational research about how to design and deliver an inspirational curriculum. Staff particularly value these opportunities, as well as the time that they are given in their subject teams to continue to develop their own expertise.

Staff are immensely happy to work here.

The school is determined that no limits are placed on what pupils can achieve. This ambition is evident in most pupils, including those with SEND, taking a modern foreign language GCSE at the end of Year 9.

The results that they achieve are remarkable. The school ensures that there are opportunities for pupils to continue their language learning in key stage 4. This means that pupils are well prepared for key stage 5, should they wish to take their studies further.

Staff have a strong shared understanding of their subject curriculum. They know precisely which essential information pupils should learn. Staff expertly design activities that help pupils to understand new content.

Frequent checks on what pupils know and understand enable staff to address any misconceptions as soon as they arise. This helps pupils to build rich and interconnected bodies of knowledge in each subject.

The school has robust processes to identify the additional needs that pupils may have.

Staff are adept at using the information that they receive about pupils' needs when they design learning activities. This helps pupils with SEND to learn the curriculum well alongside their peers.

The school wants all pupils to experience the joy of reading.

Most do. Reading is the bedrock of the curriculum. Skilled staff quickly identify pupils who struggle and provide highly effective support that helps them to develop into fluent and confident readers.

Students in the sixth form begin to access academic literature. This helps to prepare them well for higher education.

The school provides a comprehensive programme of personal development.

Meticulous thought has been given to designing the school's 'beliefs and values' programme to assist pupils in acquiring the knowledge that they need to be ready for life in modern society. The school's extensive careers programme ensures that pupils are well informed to make appropriate and ambitious choices regarding their next steps.

Pupils benefit from an extensive range of extra-curricular opportunities through the electives programme.

These include creative activities that enable pupils to develop new interests and talents, such as participating in school productions and learning to play steel drums. Other activities prioritise building pupils' skills and experiences so that they have the confidence to fulfil their own aspirations. For example, some older pupils learn the art of effective debating.

The atmosphere in the school is calm and orderly. The school expertly supports a very small number of pupils who struggle to regulate their own behaviour. Some of these pupils become mentors for their younger peers, helping them to learn the value of making better choices.

Students in the sixth form are particularly diligent and studious. They are very positive role models for younger pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.