Lift Firth Park, Sheffield
Lift Firth Park is a secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 16 in Sheffield, part of Lift Schools. It was rated Good at its last graded Ofsted inspection, in June 2015. Ofsted's ungraded inspection in June 2025 did not change this grade. Its 2026 GCSE results were the 32nd-highest of the 35 schools in Sheffield with published results, and 3,009th of 3,298 across England. It was 87% full in 2025.
- GCSE results
- Below England average
- Ofsted
- Good (2015)
- Demand
- Every first choice offered
- Attendance
- Below England average
- Progress (2024)
- Below average
Year 7 applications for September 2027 close in 5 days
Deadline Saturday 31 October 2026. Apply to Sheffield (the council where you live). Offers on 1 March.
Data last updated 26 Oct 2026
Lift Firth Park in detail
Lift Firth Park in its own words
The school runs a breakfast club and after-school care.
Wraparound care (school website)
Source: The school's own website
Results
In 2026, pupils at Lift Firth Park averaged an Attainment 8 score of 36.7, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 45.6 in Sheffield and 47 across England.
35% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 47% in Sheffield and 47% in England.
That is up from 32.7 in 2025.
Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.45: pupils made below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.
Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 30, against 44.1 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 14.1 points.
Pupils sat GCSEs in 21 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, History and Art and Design.
Getting a place at Lift Firth Park
For September 2026 entry, 137 families put Lift Firth Park as their first choice and 279 named it as one of their preferences, for 173 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.
Compared with nearby schools
The nearest other state secondary schools to Lift Firth Park are Hinde House 2-16 Academy (0.6 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.7); Fir Vale Academy (1.3 miles, Attainment 8 23.7); Mercia Northridge School (1.7 miles); and Chaucer School (1.7 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 33.6).
Lift Firth Park's 2026 results were higher than 2 of these 3 schools.
Hinde House 2-16 AcademyFir Vale AcademyMercia Northridge SchoolChaucer School
The trust
Lift Firth Park is one of 62 schools run by Lift Schools, an academy trust.
Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 40.7 in 2024/25.
What parents say
127 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Lift Firth Park (as of September 2025): 21% would recommend the school, 28% say their child is happy there and 16% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.
The strongest agreement was that their child does well at the school (42%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (16%).
Where pupils go next
Of the 220 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 83% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 36% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.
Who goes there
55.7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the average state school (25%), and 41.5% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.
The largest ethnic groups are White British (35%), Asian (25%) and Black (15%).
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Medowhall Rail Station, about 1.4 miles away in a straight line.
16 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Sicey Avenue/Gregg House Road (outside), 200 metres away.
The area around the school
Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Lift Firth Park stands in is among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.
Suspensions and exclusions
In 2024/25, Lift Firth Park issued 1627 suspensions, 139.8 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 7 permanent exclusions.
Primary schools nearby
The primary schools closest to Lift Firth Park are Hatfield Academy (under 0.1 miles), Hartley Brook Primary School (0.3 miles), St Patrick's Catholic Voluntary Academy (0.5 miles) and Beck Primary School (0.7 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.
Hatfield AcademyHartley Brook Primary SchoolSt Patrick's Catholic Voluntary AcademyBeck Primary School
Sources: DfE school performance data (averages: state mainstream schools); DfE school-level applications and offers; council admissions booklets; DfE appeals statistics; DfE multi-academy trust performance data; Ofsted Parent View; DfE destination measures; DfE school census and special educational needs statistics; NaPTAN (Department for Transport); English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG); data.police.uk street-level crime; DfE exclusions statistics
Location
Every family who put it first was offered a place for 2026 entry, so distance did not limit places that year.
Key Information
DfE GIASOfsted Rating
Ofsted · 1 year agoThis judgement is from June 2015, 11 years ago, longer than Ofsted's usual 4-year cycle: the school may have changed since.
Overall
Quality of Education
Behaviour & Attitudes
Personal Development
Leadership & Management
Ofsted Insights
From Ofsted's June 2025 inspection report.
What This School Does Well
The school provides strong support for pupils with special educational needs, helping them access the same curriculum as their peers through thoughtful adaptations. Reading is a priority, with pupils exposed to ambitious books and early readers quickly identified for support. The school is also focusing on pupil aspirations through work experience and career guidance, helping older pupils progress to positive next steps.
Key Strengths
- Support for pupils with SEND is well-informed and adaptations help them access learning effectively
- Reading programme exposes pupils to ambitious vocabulary and helps early readers develop fluency
- Recent changes to behaviour expectations are creating calmer lessons where pupils can focus on learning
- Career guidance and work experience help older pupils develop aspirations and progress to positive next steps
Areas for Improvement
- Pupils have not achieved well enough in external examinations and overall expectations have been too low
- Attendance remains too low for many pupils, particularly the most vulnerable, causing them to miss important learning
- Teaching activities are not consistently helping pupils recall, embed and apply their learning deeply
- Pupils lack sufficient understanding of protected characteristics and diversity, limiting their preparation for modern Britain
Safeguarding
Safeguarding arrangements are effective and the school has created an open, positive culture that puts pupils' interests first.
Extracurricular Activities
work experience, culture day
Firth Park Academy is a secondary comprehensive school that requires improvement across all key areas. The school has recently made changes to raise expectations, but these improvements are still in early stages and need further embedding.
At a Glance
55.7%
Free School Meals
No
Boarding
No
Nursery
No
Sixth Form
No
Special Measures
What Parents Think
127 responsesSource: Ofsted Parent View, responses as at September 2025 - % who strongly agree or agree
Secondary Performance (GCSE)
Academic year 2025/26GCSE Results
2025/26 academic year
Progress 8 has declined from -0.23 to -0.45 (2023 to 2024). Attainment 8 has declined from 38.8 to 36.7 (2023 to 2026). GCSE English & Maths 5+ has remained stable at around 35% (2023 to 2026).
Performance by Group
| Group | Progress 8 | Attainment 8 | Eng+Maths 5+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| All pupils | - | 36.7 | 35.3% |
| Disadvantaged(116) | - | 30.0 | 21.6% |
| Not known to be disadvantaged(105) | - | 44.1 | 50.5% |
| Boys(112) | - | 38.0 | 37.5% |
| Girls(109) | - | 35.4 | 33% |
Show more breakdowns (2)
| Known or believed to be other than English(101) | - | 40.9 | 42.6% |
| Non mobile(207) | - | 37.2 | 36.7% |
2025/26 academic year - DfE performance tables data
GCSE Subjects Offered
+ 1 more subjects
2025/26 academic year - entries by number of pupils
After GCSEs - Leaver Destinations
After GCSEs (Year 11) - 220 students
2023/24 data
Exclusions & Suspensions
7
Permanent exclusions
0.60%
Exclusion rate
1627
Suspensions
139.78%
Suspension rate
271 pupils received one or more suspensions out of 1,164 pupils
2024/25 academic year
How Does This School Compare?
Ranked against 5 nearby secondary schools
Keep up with Lift Firth Park
Term dates
Lift Firth Park is an academy, so it sets its own term dates: check the school's website. As a guide, see Sheffield's term dates for its community schools.
Getting There
Bus Stops
Free school transport
Check free transport to Lift Firth Park from your postcode →
You apply to the council where you live. Lift Firth Park is in Sheffield; for families living there:
- Sheffield's school travel policy: Home to School Travel and Transport Policy September 2023
Safety and surroundings
Road collisions within 500 m (2021 to 2025)
- Collisions
- 37
- Fatal
- 0
- Serious
- 14
- Children hurt
- 9
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 37 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 14 serious and 23 slight.
9 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 7 on foot and 2 in a vehicle or otherwise.
7 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included.
The typical figure for schools in Sheffield is 17 (the median across 193 schools, same distance and years).
Serious and slight counts use the Department for Transport's severity adjustment, which allows for changes in how police forces record injuries; they are estimates, rounded to whole numbers. Distances are in a straight line. Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19), Open Government Licence v3.0.
Commute and house prices
Your chances of a place at Lift Firth Park
Will you get a place at Lift Firth Park? Get the admissions report
Your home postcode, set against Lift Firth Park's admissions figures, in one report saved to your account.
What the report includes for Lift Firth Park:
- The straight-line distance from your home to Lift Firth Park.
- We hold no last distance offered figures from Sheffield, so the report covers demand, alternatives and dates.
- Applications, first choices and offers at Lift Firth Park for 2014 to 2026 entry.
- How many families in Sheffield got their first choice, and how often appeals there succeed.
- The nearest state schools to your home, with Ofsted rating, demand and last distance offered where published.
- Key dates for September 2027 entry and how to apply.
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Capacity & Demand
School Occupancy
87%
Available places
1,157 pupils
1,325 places
168 spare places in 2025
2025, DfE school capacity data
Area Demand Pressure - Sheffield
Based on MHCLG Live Table 122 (2024-25, last 5 years) for Sheffield
Across Sheffield council
Places available
6,421
Applications
6,416
Got 1st preference
88.7%
Got preferred school
96.6%
All secondary applications across Sheffield council (2026/27), not just this school.
This school: Every first choice offered
Inspection History(4)
Ungraded inspection: The school remains Good, but Ofsted raised concerns; its next inspection will be a full graded one.
SEND & SEN Provision
SEN Overview
180
SEN Support
39
EHC Plans
19.6%
of Total Pupils
2026 academic year
Provision & Specialist Facilities
Pupils by Need Type
Pupil Demographics
Ethnicity
2026 academic year
Key Indicators
1,115
Total Pupils
582
Boys
533
Girls
2026 academic year
Workforce
75
Teachers
14.9:1
Pupil-teacher ratio
£42,836
Mean salary
2026 data
School Funding
£8,310
Per pupil
£10626k
Total funding
£688k
Pupil premium
2025-26 financial year allocations
Pupil Absence2024/25
13.5%
Overall absence
36.6%
Persistent absence
1,253
Enrolments
Absence trend
Source: DfE pupil absence statistics. Persistent absence = pupils missing 10%+ sessions.
Feeder Primary Schools
Primary schools that likely feed into this school, based on proximity
Lift Firth Park
Showing 10 of 15 linked schools
Questions parents ask about Lift Firth Park
What are GCSE results like at Lift Firth Park?
In the 2026 results, pupils at Lift Firth Park achieved an Attainment 8 score of 36.7. 35% passed GCSE English and maths at grade 5 or above.
What is Lift Firth Park's Ofsted rating?
Lift Firth Park's most recent Ofsted inspection, in June 2025, was ungraded, so it gave no overall grade. At its last graded inspection, in June 2015, it was rated Good.
What is the catchment area for Lift Firth Park?
No fixed boundary. When Lift Firth Park is oversubscribed, Sheffield allocates places by its published criteria, usually ending with home-to-school distance.
Is it hard to get a place at Lift Firth Park?
Lift Firth Park was not full in 2025: it ran at 87% of its 1325 places.
How big are the classes at Lift Firth Park?
Classes at Lift Firth Park average 22.4 pupils (2025/26).
How many pupils go to Lift Firth Park?
Lift Firth Park has around 1115 pupils on roll. 56% are eligible for free school meals.
What is attendance like at Lift Firth Park?
13.5% of sessions were missed at Lift Firth Park in 2024/25. 36.6% of pupils were persistently absent (missing 10% or more of sessions).
How do I apply to Lift Firth Park?
Apply through Sheffield's coordinated admissions process, naming Lift Firth Park on your application. Applications for Year 7 places starting in September 2027 close on Saturday 31 October 2026, and offers are made on Monday 1 March 2027.
How many road collisions happen near Lift Firth Park?
Within 500 m of the school's mapped location, police recorded 37 road collisions in which someone was injured in 2021 to 2025: none fatal, 14 serious and 23 slight. 9 children aged 0 to 15 were hurt: 7 on foot and 2 in a vehicle or otherwise. 7 of the collisions happened on a weekday between 08:00 and 09:30 or 14:45 and 16:30, holidays included. The typical figure for schools in Sheffield is 17 (the median across 193 schools, same distance and years).
Where is Lift Firth Park?
Lift Firth Park is at Fircroft Avenue, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S5 0SD.
Source: Department for Transport, Road Safety Data (STATS19)