Our Mission & Values

Lift Schools believes an excellent education is an entitlement for every child, and we do everything in our power to ensure that our schools are making that a reality for every pupil in our care. Our story began with Greensward Academy, a secondary school in Essex. In 2008, the Greensward Charitable Trust, which supported the school, set up Academies Enterprise Trust.

Over the next 15 years, Academies Enterprise Trust grew to include 57 primary, secondary and special schools, spread across England. In 2024, our trust changed its name to Lift Schools. In our new incarnation, we remain committed to providing every single one of our pupils with the best education possible.

Our Mission

• We will provide an excellent education to every child, in every classroom, every day.
• With excellent leadership and teaching in every school, we will help children go on to lead successful and happy lives.
• We will work with others beyond our network to create capacity in the sector to benefit more children and communities.

Our Values

Our values reflect what we believe is most important in our schools – and what we want our pupils and team members to achieve.

	Be unusually brave We're not afraid to make the right call – and we challenge wrongs, even when it's difficult to do so.
	Discover what's possible We create eureka moments for our pupils, helping them to discover new possibilities and opportunities.
	Push the limits We don’t settle for anything less than excellent – and we won’t allow our pupils to, either.
	Be big hearted We choose to treat each other with kindness, warmth and care. We believe that everybody matters equally.

Our Goals

We have set ourselves an ambitious set of goals, which we believe will transform the lives of every student in our schools:

• Our signature pledge that all our pupils will receive an excellent education.
• Disadvantaged pupils at our schools perform in line with non-disadvantaged pupils in England.
• Students with special educational needs or disabilities have their needs met equally in mainstream and special schools.
• Students at our schools are able to make better progress than they would at any other school.
• Every school in our trust is rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.
• Students attend school – and learn – every day.
• Our pupils are safe and well, and have strong relationships with their teachers.
• Our pupils progress to – and flourish at – their next destination.
• Our parents recommend their child’s school to other parents.
• Our teachers are dedicated, passionate and knowledgeable.