Admissions
Here you will find all the information you need to apply for a place at our school.
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Here you will find all the information you need to apply for a place at our school.
A very warm welcome from Lift Unity City to prospective new students and their families. We are delighted that you are considering applying for a place at our academy.
We know that choosing a secondary school is one of the most important decisions you will make for your children and family. At Lift Unity City, the relationship between staff and students is truly remarkable. Everyone has high expectations and we are incredibly ambitious. Our focus on young people as individuals ensures that the lessons they receive are personalised and allow them to actively engage in their own learning journey. As a High Performance Learning academy, this ethos spans our entire curriculum. It is our mission to provide our students with the tools they need to live a truly remarkable life.
Unity City is a Lift Schools secondary school with our community at its heart. We work very closely with our primary schools, our community and our post-16 providers to ensure we work together to provide the very best opportunities for our students and their families. We are incredibly happy that you have chosen to visit our website - we have created this area especially for you.
Lift Schools is the admissions authority for our school. Applications for places will be made in accordance with the local authority’s coordinated admission arrangements. These should be submitted using the Common Application Form and will be administered by the applicant’s home local authority.
The secondary school admission round for Year 7 places opens in September each year, with a statutory national closing date on 31 October. Late applications may affect a child’s chances of securing a place.
Applications can be made online via your local authority’s admissions website. Please note that some local authorities do not send letters to parents about making an application, so we recommend checking their website for full details.
Our Open Evening for prospective students and their families takes place in early October. We encourage everyone to attend, but if you are unable to do so, we may be able to offer alternative tour dates. Please contact us to arrange a visit.
National Offer Day, when school places are confirmed, falls in March. Any objections to the determined admission arrangements should be submitted to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA).
For further information on our admissions arrangements, please refer to the links below:
If you would like your child to attend our school:
1. Talk to your local authority’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) team. They will assess your child and provide you with an Educational Health Care Plan (ECHP); these have replaced ‘Statements’. The contact details for the SEN team will be on the education section of the council’s website.
2. Contact the school to arrange an informal visit; you do not have to bring your child at this point. We will be happy to answer your questions as we show you around.
3. If you like what you see, you can let your local authority know that you have been to look around and would like your child to be referred here. You will however then have to wait for your child’s Education Health and Care Plan which will tell you whether your local authority thinks a special school would provide the best education for your child. If this is so, they may agree to your child coming here and would then send us a referral letter and papers for us to consider.
4. If your child is Nursery age we can accept them before they have an EHC plan. The SEN team would write a short report outlining your child’s difficulties and ask for an Assessment place. If the local authority thinks that our school is the best place for your child, they would send us a referral letter and papers for us to consider.
5. We would then consider your child’s referral along with others we may have, in terms of age, educational needs and resource requirements matching them to the places we have available.
6. If on paper it looks as if we can meet your child’s needs, we will invite you and your child in for a visit to the school. This visit is important. It gives us an opportunity to meet your child and find out more about them. It also gives us an opportunity to see whether as a school we can provide the things your child needs.
7. If we have spaces and the resources we need, we will let the local authority know. If we don’t have spaces we will let them know too and ask if they would like us to put your child’s name on our waiting list until a space becomes available.
8. Your local authority will formally let you know if we have a space for your child.
You can apply for a secondary school Year 7 place online. (The website is open for applications between 9 September 2024 and 31 October 2024 – see timetable below)
Children start secondary school in the academic year in which they turn eleven years of age. The first class they will attend is called Year 7. The following classes are called Year 8 through to Year 11.
If your child or children were born between 1 September 2013 and 31 August 2014, they will start secondary school in September 2025.
Your child won't automatically be allocated a place; you have to apply. In September 2024, you'll be invited to submit your preferences for the secondary school you'd like your child to attend.
Our year 7 cohort for 2024/25 is now full. We recommend you opt for Unity City Academy as your first choice academy for the best chance of securing a place with us in year 7 2025/26 if you feel UCA is right for your child.
If you would like to apply for a place outside the normal admissions round, you will need to complete a mid-year application form through the Local Authority’s admissions website. Once submitted, the school will contact you to confirm the outcome and, where possible, arrange a tour of the school. Please note that waiting lists for mid-year admissions are ranked based on the oversubscription criteria.
If your application for a place is unsuccessful, you have the right to appeal the decision. Appeals should be submitted in writing within 20 school days of receiving the refusal notice. Appeals will be heard by an independent panel, and you will have the opportunity to present your case.
9 September 2024 - Letters sent to parents with application form and online details
31 October 2024 - Closing date for return of forms or online applications
November 2024 to February 2025 - Preferences considered
1 March 2025 - Emails and/or letters to parents confirming outcome of application
May/June 2025 - Appeals as required
For further information regarding the admissions process for Middlesbrough schools please refer here.
Lift Unity City
Ormesby Road
Middlesbrough
Cleveland, TS3 8RE
