Lift Bexleyheath
Woolwich Road, Bexleyheath, DA6 7DA
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- LIFT SCHOOLS
- Principal
- Ms Rubeka Luthfa
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Lift Schools
- Constituency
- Bexleyheath and Crayford
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,900
- Pupils on roll
- 1,474
- URN
- 137138
- Local authority
- Bexley
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 02083035696
About this school
Lift Bexleyheath is a secondary academy in Bexleyheath. It teaches children aged 11 to 18 and has 1,474 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Lift Bexleyheath, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Seeing a school for yourself shows what no page can, so arrange a visit before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Post-16 provision
- Expected standard
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 201 | 204 | 179 |
| Attainment 8 score | 43.3 | 41.4 | 41.1 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.09 -0.30 to +0.13 | -0.42 -0.64 to -0.21 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 43% | 45.6% | 30.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 65% | 67.6% | 61.5% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 7% | 3.9% | 10.1% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How Lift Bexleyheath has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Bexley average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 43.3 | 44 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 41.4 | 44.8 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 41.1 | 42 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 8.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.3% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,328 |
| 2023/24 | 1,394 |
| 2024/25 | 1,487 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Lift Bexleyheath compares
Lift Bexleyheath ranked 12th of 16 secondary schools in Bexley for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 42% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 17% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 41.1 | 8% | 27.6% | 1,474 | — |
| St Catherine's Catholic School | 55.1 | 5% | 20.4% | 1,021 | 0.5 miles |
| St Columba's Catholic Boys' School | 51.4 | 5.3% | 23.1% | 805 | 0.6 miles |
| Townley Grammar School | 75 | 3.8% | 11.4% | 1,669 | 0.6 miles |
| Beths Grammar School | 71.6 | 2.6% | 12.6% | 1,701 | 0.8 miles |
| Leigh Academy Bexley | 35.4 | 10.2% | 47.2% | 873 | 1.4 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report28 April 2026
- 6 July 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 27.56%
- English as an additional language
- 41.5%
- Overall absence
- 7.96%
- Persistent absence
- 23.98%
Location
Nearby schools
-
St Catherine's Catholic School0.5 miles
Secondary · Bexleyheath
-
St Columba's Catholic Boys' School0.6 miles
Secondary · Bexleyheath
-
Townley Grammar School0.6 miles
Secondary · Bexleyheath
-
Beths Grammar School0.8 miles
Secondary · Bexley
-
Leigh Academy Bexley1.4 miles
Secondary · Erith
Other schools in Bexleyheath
- St Catherine's Catholic School Secondary
- St Columba's Catholic Boys' School Secondary
- Townley Grammar School Secondary
- Barrington Primary School Primary
- Brampton Primary Academy Primary
- Bursted Wood Primary School Primary
- Crook Log Primary School Primary
- Fairford Academy Barnehurst Primary
- Gravel Hill Primary School Primary
- Pelham Primary School Primary
- St Thomas More Catholic Primary School Primary
- Upland Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Lift Bexleyheath teach?
- Lift Bexleyheath teaches children aged 11 to 18. It is a secondary school in Bexleyheath.
- Who is the principal of Lift Bexleyheath?
- The principal of Lift Bexleyheath is Ms Rubeka Luthfa, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Lift Bexleyheath been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Lift Bexleyheath, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How many pupils are at Lift Bexleyheath?
- Lift Bexleyheath has 1,474 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 18.
- Is Lift Bexleyheath full?
- Lift Bexleyheath has capacity for 1,900 pupils and 1,474 on roll (78%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Lift Bexleyheath a faith school?
- No. Lift Bexleyheath has no designated religious character.
- Is Lift Bexleyheath a selective school?
- No. Lift Bexleyheath is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Lift Bexleyheath part of an academy trust?
- Lift Bexleyheath is part of LIFT SCHOOLS. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Lift Bexleyheath's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 43.3 in 2022/23 and 41.1 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Lift Bexleyheath compare with other schools in Bexley?
- Lift Bexleyheath ranked 12th of 16 secondary schools in Bexley for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 42% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 17% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Lift Bexleyheath's absence rate?
- Lift Bexleyheath's overall absence rate is 8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Lift Bexleyheath's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Lift Bexleyheath's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 15 July 2026.