Lift Unity City

About Lift Unity City

Lift Unity City is a mixed state secondary in Middlesbrough that serves a notably high-needs community. With 1,027 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,050, the school is effectively full, and demand is strong: for 203 places in the 2025/26 intake, there were 363 total applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 1.79. Of those, 219 families put it as their first preference, and 192 received first-preference offers. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals stands at 70.6%, which is far above the national average and signals a catchment with significant socioeconomic challenge. The school’s headteacher is Jill Gray, and it has no religious character. Despite the pressures that come with such a high FSM intake, the school has held a Good rating from Ofsted since its most recent graded inspection in May 2022, having improved from a Requires Improvement judgement in September 2018.

Academically, Lift Unity City’s outcomes reflect the difficulties its pupils face. Its Progress 8 score is -0.87, meaning that on average, students achieve nearly a grade less per subject than peers with similar starting points nationally. That places it 6th out of 7 schools in Middlesbrough and in the bottom 5% nationally. The local authority average Progress 8 is -0.45, so the school is well below its own LA benchmark. Attainment 8 sits at 31.8, and just 38.4% of pupils achieved a grade 4 or above in English and maths (the basics 94 measure). Only 2.3% achieved the EBacc at grade 4 or above, and the EBacc average point score is 2.53. The school’s strongest Progress 8 component is in the open bucket (-0.51), while English and maths are the weakest at -1.05 and -0.93 respectively. There is no sixth form, so pupils leave at 16.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including playing fields, science labs, a sports hall, gymnasium, library, ICT suite, and a sixth form centre. Sports provision is extensive, with options from badminton and basketball to swimming, martial arts, and hockey. Clubs include chess, debate, coding, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, orchestra, and film club. SEND support is comprehensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate to severe learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language issues, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder, plus a resourced provision. This school will suit families who want a genuinely inclusive, local secondary that is realistic about its challenges and has a clear record of improvement, but who are also aware that academic outcomes are significantly below both local and national averages.

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