Didsbury High reviews

[wehethey]

Hi all, looking for some insights on Didsbury High.

Eldest goes to secondary in 2.5y, (currently in y4) and an opportunity has come up to move into Didsbury High catchment. We are currently in Chorlton. I don't want to pursue the grammar route, child is bright but not goal orientated and I'm not a fan of the tutoring etc, however I've heard very good things about Didsbury High, Laurus trust etc. Currently Chorlton High would be the local state option. I know next to nothing about researching high schools, how to compare etc as she's our eldest and we haven't done it before so I'd be grateful for any insights/pointers.

Thank you!

Bump!

Ok I’m local - I was waiting to see if anyone would respond and if I could come up with a neutral/helpful response!

If your child is bright, compliant and can understand when to just crack on and get their head down then I think Laurus is a good fit. Some things to bear in mind - it hasn’t had an Ofsted yet so look out for that first one, and it is still under capacity rn so it will
potentially change quite a bit over the next couple of years. No GCSE results as yet, does have a 6th form.

CHS is a funny one - mixed experiences I would say. Is Whalley Range in the mix?

At the end of the day choosing a school is a gamble and pupils/parents can have a shit experience at an outstanding school and a good one at a Good school, or even RI. Didsbury probably isn’t going to fuck up your kids (more than any other school) but it (as in the trust) does have a vibe that not everyone gets on with. Really hard to say if it’s worth moving for that or not!

I guess CHS is more of a known entity as an established school - so you will get a bitter idea from others whose kids who have been through it if you can find them. They also have a new bit - CHS South - which I know nothing about!

Fairly local also and don't know how useful this will be as I don't have direct experience of either school. We didn't list Didsbury as a choice due to its reputation of being very strict, we didn't even visit as it was also a little far so that may not be fair. We did list Chorlton as it seemed more relaxed but with good results. Children attend neither of them and Chorlton was also at the bottom of our list mainly due to distance.

Thanks both. It’s is a gamble. Wanted to do this fairly anonymously as there’s a huge stigma of looking for ‘better’(?) than CHS. ‘It was good enough for my kids…’ etc. plus a lot of creative types in chorlton with creative kids who I imagine would thrive there, as I believe it has a creative bent?

Is DH up to y9 currently? So still 3y before they publish results?

Does anyone know how I can compare schools? There should be SATS results is that right?

And do we know when offsted will assess?

so many questions 😵‍💫

Not sure about CHS's catchment/demographic but only a small proportion of DH's catchment is actually Didsbury. It takes in lots of children from the Mersey Bank estate, for example. DH has a very high proportion of pupil premium and SEN children so doesn't reflect the demographic of Didsbury primary schools, so if you're after a school populated mainly with middle class Didsbury children you won't get it at Didsbury High.

www.find-school-performance-data.service.gov.uk/school/143729/didsbury-high-school/absence-and-pupil-population

@Cheechandwrong Thanks, I think I have looked at this link and as it shows, there’s no satay yet - I assume because it’s not yet had a publishable gcse cohort.

Not particularly looking for a ‘perfect’ demographic. That’s exactly why we don’t want to privately educate, I want my kids to know what real life is. I assume most secondary’s being bigger have a mixed demographic of pupils.

Spot on. Catchment is West Dids, Old Moat, Merseybank & Withington.
Not all 'naice Didsbury'

Also correct on high proportion of SEN in the first 2-3 years. I think that's evened out. I know loads at all local schools. CHS is big and holistic as is Parrswood. Both seem to cater for all kids. CHS South is new and is tending to pick up the overspill admissions wise. That said, it's smaller and mates are happy there.
Didsbury High has reputation for being Uber strict and a bit 'their way only'. They have electives programme but that's no better than the vast extra curricular programmes others offer.
I'd highly recommend visiting them all before to decide. Very much depends on what you want.

Didsbury High has year 10s now so no data until they sit exams. Grounds I think are very small. They did have Yr9 sit French GCSEs with mixed results. Lots did well but lots also only scraped a pass. Go visit

My friend works for the Laurus Trust, they have extremely high expectations for their teachers as I hear it from that side.

I'm in a different part of Manchester (Trafford) but with many friends that way, high schools seem similar ie Chorlton High, CHS, Didsbury High. Personally I'm not sure I'd go through the upheaval of moving for one comprehensive over another, when you have two decent options in Chorlton.

Unless there is a bigger pull like much better house etc. High school is 5 years and so many go onto Manchester colleges after that. Is it worth a move?

@yoshiblue I agree totally. As I said I personally know several families at all of the state schools in the area. (My DC are both members of a plethora of sports clubs etc in the area). There are differences but I'd say overall none are much better than rest. Chorlton has amazing arts but other others have good facilities & do musicals / shows. Parrswood has best sports facilities but no climbing wall which DidsHigh has etc
PW & CH are bigger.,Barlow is the smallest and has specialist units but PW has excellent deaf & dyslexia support etc.. PW has a sixth form and DH are opening one... but most want to head to colleges after gcse etc etc

If you said it's going to cost £X to move you have to work out if worth it to live within 0.8 mile of DH. Or save money and pay for a tutor later if needed

I have done supply in CHS and found the behaviour really bad in some of the classes. However there was also a very nice vibe in other classes. The trust gossip is that behaviour at Didsbury is challenging however I’m not sure what that will actually look like in practice as the behaviour standards are very high to start with (@yoshiblue I am being discreet but yes from a teacher
pov there is a lot I could get into… but that doesn’t super affect the pupils and parents I don’t think)

it seems like behaviour is deteriorating everywhere at the minute though if my cross section of teachers in Greater Manchester means anything so I’m inclined to agree with @belowfrozen that looking to support your child individually whatever school they go to is probably the best way to think about it.

Word on the teen street (unsubstantiated) is that there are plenty of fights at DH lol. The catchment is very mixed and I'm not sure they do as much 'drop in' extra curricular as other schools, to keep kids busy at lunch times etc
Just my own observations.
They do the elective programme but a lot of DC we know do the bare minimum they can get away with. Most seem to just take Weds afternoons off and hang out.
I think all state schools have problem classes / sets & well behaved ones.
Most schools are pretty strict now and monitor kids heavily. All give out detentions for lateness / rudeness / messing about / forgetting items / lack of homework.
One friend told me they just ignore a lot of the behaviour points at DH as they are too petty (her personal view - others love it).

I'm be heard about the fights at DH and they are mentioned at DH's governors' meetings as being an issue.

I've also heard that kids are constantly in trouble for minor offences - they're apparently not allowed to talk in the corridors which sounds very OTT and not the sort of environment to get kids ready for the really world?!

Gosh just looked & the gov minutes make interesting reading. Some comments about finding new schools for ECHP children and high numbers.
Going to look at my DC school for comparison.
Shame you don't get to see all the information that the gov get to see what behind the comments.

Are governors minutes available on the website?

I heard from the only parent I know with a child there about this approach - apparently it’s all evidence based, as boys start to talk less (self conscious) in class so do less well in languages so a Laurus trust approach is to circumnavigate that by sitting exams early. I guess if poor results they can resit. His daughter did very well, but I’m sure it may not suit all esp if not natural linguists.

Yes minutes are on l school web sites. They have to be.
Agree re reasons behind GCSE languages early as I've spoken to teachers about it. They do a lot of the language in Yr9. Extra lessons etc
I'm not of a strong view either way.
Useful to get one banked I guess

omg I’m so interested in the fights! I’ve been hearing general rumblings about Didsbury but I don’t know anyone who actually works there - only other trust places. SEN wise - the number of EHCPs in a school means next to nothing abou what the actual SEND needs if the cohort are. I think all the trust school have higher than national average send proportions but to me all that says is that parents who have gone to the trouble of getting EHCPs are more like to choose trust schools.

The fights I hear about via my DC who have mates there. Some in school and some outside but in uniforms. There are high numbers of ECHP at DH but I do know of people who fought for one so they could request DH as it's 'smaller'. But the gov minutes suggest that they want to move some to other schools. I know P-LAC kids who have opted for there too based on 'naice' early reputation as they get priority regardless of distance. I also know parents who weren't welcomed with SEN DC. Personally I think it's a very evolving situation.

For balance I should add that I know plenty of normal nice families who are happy enough with DH. Most live very close so it was the obvious choice for them on those grounds. It's also welcoming to non binary / trans DC and those deciding that's what they are in Yr7.

@wehethey have you thought about asking locally for feedback on CHS / CGS-S? Maybe draw up a list of things that are most important to you?