Lift St Helen's

St Helen's Primary Academy is performing well overall, achieving a good grade across all inspection domains. The school benefits from a supportive leadership team that has implemented an ambitious curriculum, emphasizing deep subject knowledge and language development. This commitment to education has fostered a positive learning environment where pupils feel proud and motivated to engage with their studies. However, some of the challenges faced by Year 6 pupils in 2023, particularly due to pandemic-related disruptions, highlight areas for improvement in addressing gaps in knowledge from prior years.

Strengths

• Highly inclusive environment that fosters pride among pupils.
• Ambitious curriculum implemented consistently across all subjects.
• Strong focus on reading and vocabulary development.
• Effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Positive relationships and collaborative learning encouraged in early years.

Areas for Improvement

• Some gaps in knowledge from previous years across subjects.
• Activities in early years do not always deepen learning sufficiently.

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 St Helen's attended 94.8% 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, 0.5% of pupils at Lift St Helen's 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 St Helen's had 20.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 20.0% 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, 15.8% of pupils at Lift St Helen's were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.2% 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 St Helen's received £6,900 and spent £7,568 for each of its 204 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £164,000 (£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 Barnsley · Barnsley local authority: places and applications

Lift St Helen's is part of Lift Schools, which runs 62 schools. The nearest others:

• Lift Meadstead Barnsley
• Lift Shafton Barnsley
• Lift Firth Park Sheffield
• Lift Cottingley Leeds
• Lift Feversham Bradford
• Lift Newington Hull
• Lift Hall Road Hull
• Lift Green Way Hull
• Lift Kingswood Hull
• Lift Anglesey Burton-On-Trent

What is Lift St Helen's's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lift St Helen's is Good, from an inspection in March 2024.

When was Lift St Helen's last inspected by Ofsted?

Lift St Helen's was last inspected in March 2024.

How many pupils does Lift St Helen's have?

Lift St Helen's has 183 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lift St Helen's cover?

Lift St Helen's for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Lift St Helen's's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 62% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Lift St Helen's?

Lift St Helen's is at St Helen's Way, Monk Bretton, Barnsley, S71 2PS.