Cedar Mount Academy, Gorton

Ofsted's report card from its 27 January 2026 inspection grades Cedar Mount Academy on 6 areas: 3 expected standard and 3 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders' close analysis of attendance patterns has led to sharply focused initiatives, such as ‘FOMO Fridays', which have encouraged more pupils to attend regularly."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "In recent years, the trust rightly identified that the quality of the curriculum and teaching and pupils' achievement were not improving quickly enough."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders place great emphasis on ensuring that pupils benefit from opportunities and experiences that broaden their understanding of the world beyond their local area."

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils make uneven progress through the curriculum."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "Teaching is not consistently effective across the school."

Inclusion - Needs attention. "Leaders have not yet ensured that all pupils with additional needs receive consistently effective support."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that improvements in teaching are embedded and applied consistently across the school, so that pupils learn and achieve well in every subject"; "Leaders should ensure that staff use assessment information effectively so that teaching is informed by what pupils already know and can do, and build their knowledge securely over time"; "Leaders should continue to strengthen staff expertise and ensure that they have useful information about pupils' needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that barriers to learning are reduced consistently well".

From the headteacher's welcome: "It is both a privilege and a joy to welcome you to Cedar Mount Academy. Ours is a school at the heart of the Gorton community, where diversity is embraced, individuality is celebrated and ambition is nurtured. At Cedar Mount Academy we live by our vision: the best for everyone, the best from everyone ."

In 2026, pupils at Cedar Mount Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 40.5, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 47.3 in Manchester and 47 across England.

35% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 47% in Manchester and 47% in England.

That is up from 37.2 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.71: pupils made well below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 37.6, against 47.1 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 9.5 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Spanish and History.

For September 2026 entry, 47 families put Cedar Mount Academy as their first choice and 212 named it as one of their preferences, for 99 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Cedar Mount Academy are St Peter's RC High School (0.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 50.7); Co-op Academy Belle Vue (1 mile, Outstanding, Attainment 8 52.9); Manchester Enterprise Academy Central (1.2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 47.3); and Levenshulme High School (1.2 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 51.2).

Each of them had higher 2026 results than Cedar Mount Academy.

Cedar Mount Academy is one of 11 schools run by Bright Futures Educational Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 51.2 in 2024/25.

15 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Cedar Mount Academy (as of April 2026): 60% would recommend the school, 67% say their child is happy there and 38% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that pupils behave well (67%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (38%).

Of the 163 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 78% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 47% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

63.7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 71% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are Asian (32%), Black (19%) and other ethnic groups (13%).

The nearest railway station is Ryder Brow Rail Station, about 660 metres away (roughly a 8-minute walk).

11 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Gorton Education Village (outside), 70 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Cedar Mount Academy stands in is among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, Cedar Mount Academy issued 65 suspensions, 7.9 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 3 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Cedar Mount Academy are Rushbrook Primary Academy (0.2 miles), Gorton Primary School (0.3 miles), Sacred Heart RC Primary School (0.5 miles) and Old Hall Drive Academy (0.5 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.