Lift Beacon

Lift Beacon is a school performing strongly overall. Safeguarding standards are met, and inspectors found a calm, inclusive and ambitious culture where pupils feel safe, behave very well and are well supported. Attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing are all strong. Leaders have a highly accurate view of the school and are well supported by the Lift Schools multi-academy trust, with purposeful governance and high staff morale. The school's provision for pupils with SEND, including its 36-place specialist resource base for speech, language and communication and moderate learning difficulties, is a notable strength. The school serves a disadvantaged community, with free school meal eligibility and EHC plans well above national averages. Achievement, curriculum and teaching, and early years are at expected standard. Pupils achieve well from their starting points, especially in reading, writing and mathematics, and disadvantaged pupils often outperform similar pupils nationally. Early reading and phonics are taught consistently effectively. However, inspectors identified two main areas for development. First, staff should more consistently identify and address gaps in pupils' foundational knowledge and misconceptions, including in writing, so that pupils demonstrate greater accuracy, fluency and confidence. Second, learning in the wider curriculum needs to match the depth and impact seen in reading, writing and mathematics. In early years, the Nursery outdoor provision requires further development to match the quality of the indoor environment.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met with an open and positive culture.
• Calm and respectful behaviour supports learning extremely well.
• Attendance is a high priority with swift, effective support for families.
• Highly effective inclusion for pupils with SEND, including the specialist resource base.
• Pupils with SEND learn alongside peers and take part fully in school life.
• Strong leadership with a clear moral purpose and accurate understanding of performance.
• Purposeful governance and effective trust support hold leaders to account.
• High staff morale and strong investment in staff development and wellbeing.
• Strong personal development and pastoral care help pupils feel safe and confident.
• Pupils achieve well from their starting points, especially disadvantaged pupils.
• Early reading and phonics are taught consistently effectively.
• Pupils benefit from a wide range of wider opportunities, including sports, music and swimming.

Areas for Improvement

• Gaps in foundational knowledge and misconceptions are not consistently identified and addressed.
• Pupils' basic writing skills, such as handwriting and grammar, are not consistently accurate.
• Learning in wider curriculum subjects lacks the depth and confidence seen in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Nursery outdoor provision needs further development to match the quality of the indoor environment.
• Some differences remain across subjects in how effectively staff address gaps and misconceptions.

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 Beacon attended 94.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 16.6% 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, 0.6% of pupils at Lift Beacon 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 Beacon had 22.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 22.6% 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, 12.7% of pupils at Lift Beacon were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 14.2% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has a SEN unit with 36 pupils.

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 Beacon received £10,462 and spent £10,658 for each of its 308 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £247,000 (£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 Loughborough · Leicestershire local authority: places and applications

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

• Lift Anglesey Burton-On-Trent
• Lift Tamworth Tamworth
• Lift Rawlett Tamworth
• Lift Greenwood Birmingham
• Lift Lea Forest Birmingham
• Lift Montgomery Birmingham
• Lift Percy Shurmer Birmingham
• Lift Four Dwellings Primary Birmingham
• Lift Four Dwellings Secondary Birmingham
• Lift Firth Park Sheffield

What is Lift Beacon's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lift Beacon is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Lift Beacon last inspected by Ofsted?

Lift Beacon was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Lift Beacon have?

Lift Beacon has 379 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lift Beacon cover?

Lift Beacon for pupils aged 2 to 11.

What are Lift Beacon's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 81% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Lift Beacon?

Lift Beacon is at Woodthorpe Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 2NF.