Lift Meadstead

Meadstead Primary Academy is a safe and welcoming school at the heart of its community, where pupils enjoy attending and relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Leaders have high expectations for behaviour and achievement, pupils engage well in lessons and at social times, and the broad, ambitious curriculum helps pupils develop the knowledge and skills they need for secondary school. Reading and phonics are particular strengths, pupils with SEND are well supported, including through the specialist resourced provision, and children in the early years get a positive start. The school has improved rapidly since its previous inspection under a new principal, with committed leadership, effective governance and robust support from the Lift Schools multi-academy trust. Staff feel valued and benefit from high-quality training, while pupils’ personal development is enriched through the ‘50 Meadstead Memories Passport’, responsibilities and assemblies. Safeguarding is effective. The main areas for further improvement are that some lesson activities do not consistently help pupils connect new learning with what they already know, and some early years activities lack a clear purpose or are not closely matched to children’s age and stage of development.

Strengths

• Strong, caring relationships between staff and pupils
• Pupils behave well and engage positively in lessons and social times
• Broad and ambitious curriculum with strong subject knowledge
• Effective phonics and reading support that helps pupils keep up
• Well-supported pupils with SEND, including specialist resourced provision
• Positive early years start with clear routines and good preparation for Year 1
• Effective support for attendance and behaviour, including for pupils who struggle
• Strong personal development covering safety, British values and enriching experiences
• Rapid improvement driven by committed leaders and robust trust support
• Positive staff culture with high-quality training and networking opportunities
• Effective safeguarding arrangements

Areas for Improvement

• Some lesson activities do not consistently help pupils connect new learning with prior knowledge
• Occasionally pupils do not achieve the depth of understanding they could because activities are not well matched to intended learning
• Some early years activities lack a clear purpose and are not well matched to children’s age and stage of development
• Early years staff need further training to maximise children’s learning within each activity

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 Meadstead attended 94.5% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.6% 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, 1.4% of pupils at Lift Meadstead 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 Meadstead had 20.8 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 18.2% 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, 24.2% of pupils at Lift Meadstead were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 7.9% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

The school has resourced provision with 11 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 Meadstead received £8,761 and spent £9,063 for each of its 203 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £163,000 (£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 Meadstead is part of Lift Schools, which runs 62 schools. The nearest others:

• Lift St Helen's 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 Meadstead's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Lift Meadstead is Good, from an inspection in June 2025.

When was Lift Meadstead last inspected by Ofsted?

Lift Meadstead was last inspected in June 2025.

How many pupils does Lift Meadstead have?

Lift Meadstead has 215 pupils on roll.

What age range does Lift Meadstead cover?

Lift Meadstead for pupils aged 3 to 11.

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

In 2025, 68% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Lift Meadstead?

Lift Meadstead is at Meadstead Drive, Royston, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S71 4JS.