At Lift Schools, we believe every child deserves an excellent education - whatever their background or starting point in life. Turning this vision into reality requires exceptional people who share an unwavering belief in every child's potential.
Through Lift490, our trust-wide initiative, we are raising academic standards and closing the achievement gap to ensure every student builds a happy and successful future.
What does Lift490 mean?
Lift490 is our promise to achieve four key educational benchmarks across our trust by 2028:
Achieving 90% across all four of these critical milestones at scale has never been done by an academy trust or large group of schools before.
We were delighted when Lift Trinity in London became our first all-490 school, successfully reaching 90% across all key benchmarks.
"When we talk about 490, we’re not talking about a number - we’re talking about a promise."
Lift Schools CEO Becks Boomer-Clark.
Achieving the best for our children
Our Lift490 commitment is supported by ten overarching educational goals. Together, these goals will take us one step closer to our 490 ambition.
These goals include:
Eliminating the effects of disadvantage
We want disadvantaged pupils at Lift Schools to achieve the same results as any other student – their results should be in line with the national average for all pupils.
Championing educational equality
Students with special educational needs and disabilities should have all their needs met, whether they’re in a mainstream or a special school.
Building strong relationships
We want our pupils to be in school every day, learning, and to feel safe and nurtured while they’re there. Much of this comes down to the importance of relationships between pupils, teachers and parents.
"490 is a galvanising force that unites our network to achieve something never before realised at scale."
Ian Taylor, Associate Director of Lift490.
To support student success, we continuously monitor school culture and climate to drive attendance and engagement through our 6Es survey. A key focus for the trust is transforming the key stage 3 years - ensuring secondary pupils in years 7 to 9 are actively engaged, enjoy learning, and achieve strong academic outcomes.
Read KS3 Cliff Edge report
We also recognise the importance of devoting time, resources and expertise to crucial areas of the curriculum.
