Lift North Ormesby

North Ormesby Primary Academy is a welcoming, calm and inclusive school where pupils are happy, feel safe and behave well. It serves a diverse community, including many pupils who join partway through their education and are learning English for the first time, and staff are skilled at helping new pupils and families settle in. This was the school's first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic and its first section 5 inspection since 2015; it is part of LIFT Schools multi-academy trust and has a new principal. Most areas of provision are strong. Reading is a clear priority, mathematics and history curriculums have been improved, and pupils with SEND are identified and supported well. Attendance is improving, safeguarding is effective, and personal development is a standout, with pupils developing an excellent understanding of British values, protected characteristics and different cultures. The innovative careers programme also helps pupils believe they can succeed. The main areas for improvement concern early reading and early years language. Some pupils read books that are not closely matched to their phonics knowledge, which slows their fluency, and phonics assessment is not consistently accurate enough to ensure books match pupils' current knowledge. In the early years, the oral language programme has not yet started in earnest and adult interactions are inconsistent, meaning some children have limited vocabulary and are less effective communicators. Leaders should also continue quality assuring the curriculum and supporting staff to implement recent changes, including in RE.

Strengths

• Welcoming, inclusive culture that helps new pupils and families feel at home.
• Pupils are happy, feel safe and behave with courtesy and respect.
• Reading is prioritised, with well-trained staff and a consistent phonics approach from Reception.
• Mathematics curriculum redesign has improved confidence and achievement in multiplication.
• History curriculum now gives clearer focus to chronology.
• Leaders monitor the curriculum closely and have introduced a clearer RE curriculum.
• Interventions and catch-up support are allocated well, helping new arrivals build English quickly.
• Pupils with SEND are identified swiftly and supported well, with teachers adapting lessons confidently.
• Attendance is improving and persistent absence has reduced through well-targeted work with families.
• Personal development is exceptional, including protected characteristics, British values, cultures and faiths.
• Innovative careers programme builds pupils' belief that they can succeed.
• Staff feel valued and supported by leaders, and safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils' reading books are not well matched to their phonics knowledge, limiting practice in decoding unfamiliar words.
• Phonics assessment is not consistently accurate enough to ensure reading books match pupils' current knowledge.
• The oral language improvement programme has not yet started in earnest.
• Early years practice is inconsistent: some adults model rich language well, while others miss opportunities for high-quality interactions.
• Some children have limited vocabulary and are less effective communicators.
• Leaders should continue quality assuring the curriculum and supporting staff to implement recent changes, including in RE.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Lift North Ormesby attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 22.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.8% of pupils at Lift North Ormesby were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Lift North Ormesby had 17.3 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 9.9% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 12.4% of pupils at Lift North Ormesby were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.0% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Lift North Ormesby received £8,440 and spent £8,341 for each of its 246 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £198,000 (£803 per pupil).

Across all 59 schools of Lift Schools, income was £8,746 and spending £8,644 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Middlesbrough · Middlesbrough local authority: places and applications

Lift North Ormesby is part of Lift Schools, which runs 62 schools. The nearest others:

• Lift Unity City Middlesbrough
• Lift Caldicotes Middlesbrough
• Lift Cottingley Leeds
• Lift Feversham Bradford
• Lift Kingswood Hull
• Lift Green Way Hull
• Lift Hall Road Hull
• Lift Newington Hull
• Lift Meadstead Barnsley
• Lift Shafton Barnsley

What is Lift North Ormesby's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lift North Ormesby is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Lift North Ormesby last inspected by Ofsted?

Lift North Ormesby was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Lift North Ormesby have?

Lift North Ormesby has 233 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lift North Ormesby cover?

Lift North Ormesby for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Lift North Ormesby's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 63% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Lift North Ormesby?

Lift North Ormesby is at James Street, North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, TS3 6LB.