Lift Kingswood

Kingswood Academy is a large 11–16 mixed secondary academy in the Lift Schools trust that was inspected in December 2024. Inspectors found an exceptionally positive school where pupils are highly motivated, behave calmly and benefit from a wide range of enrichment and leadership opportunities. Pupils achieve highly at the end of key stage 4, and the school is seen as strongly improving pupils’ life chances. The quality of education is strong, with a carefully structured curriculum, effective assessment and feedback, and particularly effective support for pupils with SEND; reading is also a clear priority. Behaviour and personal development are exceptional, and safeguarding arrangements are effective. Leadership at all levels is ambitious and has driven significant improvement, with strong support from the trust and academy council. The main area for improvement is that, in some lessons, pupils are not given enough opportunities to connect their knowledge or apply what they have learned. As a result, some pupils do not develop as deep an understanding as they could. Leaders are already implementing strategies to address this, and the school should ensure these pedagogical approaches are used consistently. This was a graded inspection, and under current arrangements the school was not given an overall effectiveness grade. It remains a school with many notable strengths and one clear, already-identified area for further refinement.

Strengths

• Exceptional pupil experience with rich enrichment and character-building opportunities
• Pupils actively lead the school and influence change
• High expectations and very strong key stage 4 achievement
• Exceptionally calm behaviour and strong, trusting relationships
• Particularly effective SEND support, including the Horizons resource base
• Strong prioritisation of reading with swift, expert intervention
• Excellent personal development and moral and ethical understanding
• Relentless leadership driving transformational improvement
• Effective safeguarding arrangements
• Strong strategic support from trust and academy council, with positive staff workload

Areas for Improvement

• In some lessons, pupils lack sufficient opportunities to connect knowledge and apply learning, limiting depth of understanding.

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 Kingswood attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 13.8% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

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, 0.1% of pupils at Lift Kingswood were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 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 Kingswood had 16.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 17.1% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

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, 13.1% of pupils at Lift Kingswood were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

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 secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Lift Kingswood received £9,102 and spent £8,696 for each of its 1,537 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,234,000 (£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 Hull · Kingston upon Hull, City of local authority: places and applications

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

• Lift Green Way Hull
• Lift Hall Road Hull
• Lift Newington Hull
• Lift North Thoresby Grimsby
• Lift Utterby Louth
• Lift Shafton Barnsley
• Lift Meadstead Barnsley
• Lift St Helen's Barnsley
• Lift Cottingley Leeds
• Lift Firth Park Sheffield

What is Lift Kingswood's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lift Kingswood is Good, from an inspection in January 2025.

When was Lift Kingswood last inspected by Ofsted?

Lift Kingswood was last inspected in January 2025.

How many pupils does Lift Kingswood have?

Lift Kingswood has 1,592 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lift Kingswood cover?

Lift Kingswood for pupils aged 11 to 16.

What are Lift Kingswood's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 57.1, and 63% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Lift Kingswood?

Lift Kingswood is at Wawne Road, Bransholme, Hull, HU7 4WR.