Penrice Academy
Charlestown Road, St Austell, PL25 3NR
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- CORNWALL EDUCATION LEARNING TRUST
- Principal
- Mr Richard Baker
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Cornwall Education Learning Trust
- Constituency
- St Austell and Newquay
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,440
- Pupils on roll
- 1,405
- URN
- 136573
- Local authority
- Cornwall
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 0172672163
About this school
Penrice Academy is a secondary academy in St Austell. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 1,405 pupils on roll.
Ofsted has inspected Penrice Academy, and its latest judgement is set out below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted did not give an overall grade. Between September 2024 and September 2025 inspections graded each area of a school's work without a single overall judgement, ahead of the move to report cards. How Ofsted report cards work
- Quality of education
- Outstanding
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Outstanding
- Personal development
- Outstanding
- Leadership and management
- Outstanding
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 273 | 269 | 272 |
| Attainment 8 score | 53.4 | 48.5 | 50.9 |
| Progress 8 score | +0.54 +0.38 to +0.71 | +0.32 +0.15 to +0.49 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 54% | 52.4% | 52.2% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 81% | 74.7% | 74.3% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 40% | 84.4% | 88.6% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.9 |
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 Penrice Academy has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Cornwall average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 53.4 | 41.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 48.5 | 41.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 50.9 | 41.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 7.2% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 6.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 6.9% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,428 |
| 2023/24 | 1,426 |
| 2024/25 | 1,422 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Penrice Academy compares
Penrice Academy ranked 2nd of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 78% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 27% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 50.9 | 6.9% | 21.6% | 1,405 | — |
| Poltair School | 47.4 | 9.6% | 33.3% | 882 | 0.9 miles |
| Brannel School | 41.6 | 10.1% | 30.4% | 888 | 5.4 miles |
| Fowey River Academy | 39.7 | 8.8% | 31.6% | 676 | 5.5 miles |
| The Roseland Academy | 48.3 | 8.7% | 21% | 665 | 7.6 miles |
| Bodmin College | 46 | 9.6% | 28.4% | 1,236 | 8.8 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.
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 21.59%
- English as an additional language
- 2.7%
- Overall absence
- 6.89%
- Persistent absence
- 17.77%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Poltair School0.9 miles
Secondary · St Austell
-
Brannel School5.4 miles
Secondary · St Austell
-
Fowey River Academy5.5 miles
Secondary · Fowey
-
The Roseland Academy7.6 miles
Secondary · Truro
-
Bodmin College8.8 miles
Secondary · Bodmin
Other schools in St Austell
- Brannel School Secondary
- Poltair School Secondary
- Bishop Bronescombe CofE School Primary
- Bugle School Primary
- Carclaze Community Primary School Primary
- Charlestown Primary School Primary
- Gorran School Primary
- Mevagissey Community Primary School Primary
- Mount Charles School Primary
- Nanpean Community Primary School Primary
- Roche Community Primary School Primary
- Sandy Hill Academy Primary
Common questions
- What ages does Penrice Academy teach?
- Penrice Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in St Austell.
- Who is the principal of Penrice Academy?
- The principal of Penrice Academy is Mr Richard Baker, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- Has Penrice Academy been inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Penrice Academy, 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 Penrice Academy?
- Penrice Academy has 1,405 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Penrice Academy full?
- Penrice Academy has capacity for 1,440 pupils and 1,405 on roll (98%), so it is close to full. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is Penrice Academy a faith school?
- No. Penrice Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Penrice Academy a selective school?
- No. Penrice Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Is Penrice Academy part of an academy trust?
- Penrice Academy is part of CORNWALL EDUCATION LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Penrice Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 53.4 in 2022/23 and 50.9 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Penrice Academy compare with other schools in Cornwall?
- Penrice Academy ranked 2nd of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 78% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 27% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Penrice Academy's absence rate?
- Penrice Academy's overall absence rate is 6.9% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Penrice Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Penrice Academy'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 1 July 2026.