Whalley Range 11–18 High School, also known as Whalley Range High School is a girls' school in Whalley Range,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England.

History

The school was founded in 1891 and was bought by the Education Committee of the Corporation in 1908 when it provided place for 300 girls. A few years later it was extended by the purchase of Alder House and the number of places were increased to 370. Girls were then admitted at the age of six and the curriculum allowed for education up to the matriculation standard and modern languages were well catered for. It became a

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

in 1944 and a comprehensive in 1967. It was until 1939 at a site in Withington Road, adjacent to College Road. The present building was built in 1939 in the Neo-Georgian style (architects: City Architects) and it was extended in 1962 and 1997. Whalley Range 11-18 High School is a multi-cultural suburban girls' comprehensive school in south Manchester. The school gained specialist status as a Business and Enterprise College in September 2002, was re-designated in 2006 and achieved a second specialism as a Sports College from April 2007. It is also a Hub school for Business and Enterprise and provides support and training for schools across the north west. The school has nearly 1,700 students currently on roll, with 300 students in the 6th Form. There are 200 staff, both teaching and non-teaching. An Ofsted inspection in March 2007 identified some areas of good practice. The numbers of students achieving 5 or more A*-C passes at GCSE have risen from 16% to 64%. 'A' Level and GNVQ courses have been extended and exceed national averages in some subjects. The school has been described by the ''Daily Telegraph'' as "one of Britain's top state schools". The school converted to academy status on 1 September 2014 and forms part of a multi-academy trust with Levenshulme High School.

Range Media

The school was shortlisted for the 2013 Education Innovation awards for their pioneering use of media. This includes Range television, showcasing the best work from the school on YouTube.

Range Radio

The school has its own radio station, Range Radio, and was one of the first High Schools in the country to be allocated its own frequency by Ofcom, allowing listeners to tune into the broadcasts using their own standard radios. The station is now based online, offering content on demand for both students and the general public. Range Radio was opened by a former student of the school, Estelle Morris, at that time the Minister of State for Schools, on 6 July 1999, and is housed in a custom-built studio in one of the quadrangles. This allows staff, students and visitors to see into the studio from its surrounding glass corridors. The studio is equipped with industry-standard equipment.

Notable staff members

Jean Else

Jean Else became headteacher at Whalley Range in 1994 when the school had the worst

truancy Truancy is any intentional, unjustified, unauthorised, or illegal absence from compulsory education. It is a deliberate absence by a student's own free will (though sometimes adults or parents will allow and/or ignore it) and usually does not refe ...

rate in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

. During her headship, truancy dropped to below the national average, pupil numbers were almost doubled, and GCSE results improved from 16% to 34% of pupils getting the top grades.

School inspectors A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compul ...

called it ''"a very good school with many strengths and few weaknesses ... exceptionally well led and very efficiently managed and administered"''. In November 2004, Else and several other senior staff members were suspended from duty, pending an investigation by Manchester City Council after allegations were made by the Audit Commission following their own two-year investigation. Else pursued a lengthy battle to return to the school but was finally dismissed in August 2006, along with her sister, Maureen Rochford, Assistant Head, and Stewart Scott, Director of

Governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the gove ...

, following allegations of nepotism and questionable management.

Notable former pupils

Whalley Range High School for Girls

Afshan Azad Afshan Noor Azad-Kazi ( née Azad; born 12 February, 1988) is a British actress, model, and media personality. She is best known for playing the role of Padma Patil in the ''Harry Potter'' film series, beginning in 2005 with '' Harry Potter ...

- Actress, known for playing Padma Patil in the Harry Potter franchise *

Christine McCafferty Christine McCafferty (''née'' Livesley; born 14 October 1945) is a British Labour Party politician who was Member of Parliament (MP) for Calder Valley from 1997 to 2010 when she retired. Early life Born in Manchester, she attended Whalley R ...

- former MP for

Calder Valley Calder is a Scottish name and may refer to: People *Calder (surname) * Calder baronets, two baronetcies created for people with the surname Calder *Alexander Calder (1898-1976), the American sculptor known for his mobiles, son of Alexander Stirli ...

* Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, former Secretary of State for Education * A pair of twins who studied at Whalley Range went to join

ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

in 2014

References

External links

{{authority control Girls' schools in Greater Manchester Secondary schools in Manchester Educational institutions established in 1891 1891 establishments in England Academies in Manchester