SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Witham, Essex

Lift New Rickstones

Conrad Road, Witham, Essex, CM8 2SD

Ofsted Good · 2023 Sixth form Full
School website 01376515756

Ofsted

Goodas at 9 November 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 9 November 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

40.6 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

35% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

62% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

3.6 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

23% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the bottom quarter of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second most disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the lower half.

Progress 8 2023/24

-0.43confidence interval -0.64 to -0.21

Taking that range into account, pupils made less progress than similar pupils nationally. DfE bands this as below average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

A levels 2024/25

Average grade per entry
C-
Average points per entry
26.8

England average 32.3

A level students
19

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1221
Places
1100
How full
Full — 1221 pupils against 1100 places
Girls / boys
572 / 649
Overall absence
9%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
23%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
31%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
4%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
16%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
88%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
77%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
6%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
25%
No sustained destination
9%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
169

After sixth form

Went to university
26%

England 50%

In education, work or training
84%

England 84.3%

Started an apprenticeship
8%

England 6.5%

Students in the cohort
50

Going on to university 2021/22 leavers

Went to a top third university

6% England 20.9%

The third of higher education providers whose entrants hold the highest average entry qualifications. It is the closest thing in the public data to "did they get into a competitive university", and it separates schools far more sharply than the headline progression rate does.

Went on to a degree
31%

England 65.3%

Students in the cohort
16

These follow an earlier group of leavers than the figures above, and count anyone reaching higher education within two years rather than the term after leaving, so they are not directly comparable with them.

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year, and why the university figures track leavers from 2021/22. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Braintree 015A, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
27%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
17%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
75%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
15%

England 17%

Households with no car
10%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
31%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Academy sponsor led
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–18
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
Yes
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Trust
LIFT SCHOOLS
Headteacher
Head of Academy: Karen Jones
Local authority
Essex
Ward
Silver End & Cressing
Constituency
Witham
URN
135651

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Lift MaltingsAcademy sponsor led No grade 39.9 1.5 mi
Alec Hunter AcademyAcademy sponsor led Good 2022 45.7 4.5 mi
Honywood SchoolAcademy converter Good 2022 46.3 4.7 mi
Thurstable SchoolAcademy converter No grade 41.9 4.8 mi
Notley High School and Braintree Sixth FormAcademy converter No grade 44.9 4.9 mi
Tabor AcademyAcademy converter Requires improvement 2023 38.5 6.2 mi
Plume SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 42.9 6.4 mi
New Hall SchoolOther independent school No grade 6.5 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
New Mills SchoolCommunity school No grade 44.5
Frederick Gough SchoolCommunity school Good 2023 42.2
Campion SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 44.5
Clacton County High SchoolAcademy converter No grade 38.6
Loxford SchoolAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 54.4
English Martyrs Catholic School and Sixth Form CollegeAcademy converter No grade 41.2
Kirk Balk AcademyAcademy sponsor led No grade 46
Highfields SchoolAcademy converter No grade 51.7

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.