Wright Robinson College is an 11-16 coeducational secondary school situated in Abbey Hey, Gorton, Manchester, England. The college is situated in extensive grounds alongside Gorton reservoir and surrounding greenbelt.^[1]

The college is named after Wright Robinson, a long-serving Manchester city councillor.^[2]

The college caters to pupils of all socio-economic and religious backgrounds and was previously a specialist college of Sport and the Arts. Wright Robinson College has around 1,800 pupils on roll. The school converted to academy status in November 2019 and is now sponsored by the Flagship Learning Trust.

The college is named after Wright Robinson, a long-serving Manchester city councillor.

The college was graded Outstanding in all areas by Ofsted in both 2016 and 2021.^[3]

In 2024 Wright Robinson was named as one of The Times 'Best Places to Work'.^[4]

New building

In September 2007, the college moved out of the old building and into the new £23m+ building on the adjoining fields. The school was built under the PFI scheme and is the most expensive school or college ever built in Europe. At a total of £53m, the school and grounds are home to some of the finest sporting and educational facilities in the world with some of the sporting facilities including; a 25-metre swimming pool, multiple sports halls, fitness suite, dance studio, weights room and numerous tennis and football pitches.^[5]

Sport

The college holds the afPE Quality Mark, a prestigious award which evidences the strength and quality of Physical Education, School Sport and Physical Activity (PESSPA) at Wright Robinson. In 2024, Wright Robinson College was one of only three Greater Manchester Schools to be awarded the Platinum School Games Mark.^[6]

Wright Robinson College has been involved with the 2002 Commonwealth Games weightlifting events.

In conjunction with the Manchester Institute of Sport and Physical Activity (MISPA) at the Manchester Metropolitan University and the Youth Sports Trust, Wright Robinson has taken part in a ten-year research project. The project was designed to support the school's strategic aim of raising academic standards and increasing whole school participation in Physical Education and Sport. In ten years over 10,000 children and 1,000,000 hours of PE have been assessed. The evidence shows that participation in physical activity enables young people to significantly improve their physical competence, confidence and self-esteem. More active pupils were also found to generally achieve higher academic attainment with 62% of physically active pupils achieving five or more A*-C GCSE grades including mathematics and English compared to 38% of the least active pupils.

The college offers a comprehensive student leadership programme providing opportunities for leadership both within the classroom environment and in more formal leadership roles.

Official opening

In September 2008, the college was officially opened by the First Lord of the Treasury and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Mr Gordon Brown. The Prime Minister was accompanied by his wife Sarah whilst in the city of Manchester for the Annual Labour Party Conference at the Manchester Central (Conference Centre). ^[7]

Awards

SSAT Transforming Practice Principled Assessment 2024^[8]

Times Best Workplace 2024^[9]

Education Business Awards Outstanding Progress 2024^[10]

SSAT Educational Outcomes Award 2023 ^[11]

Manchester Healthy Schools 'The Big Health Challenge' Award ^[12]

SEND Inclusion Award (SENDIA)^[13]

Wellbeing Award for Schools (WAS)^[14]

• Nicky Butt - footballer^[15]
• Jon Butterworth - professor of Particle Physics at University College London^[16]
• Teden Mengi - footballer^[17]
• Mohammed Sangare Footballer^[18]
• Daniel Adshead Footballer^[19]