Pool Academy
Church Road, Pool, Redruth, TR15 3PZ
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- ATHENA LEARNING TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Nick Ward
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Launceston College
- Constituency
- Camborne and Redruth
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,050
- Pupils on roll
- 714
- URN
- 136614
- Local authority
- Cornwall
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01209712220
About this school
Pool Academy is a secondary academy in Redruth. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 714 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school 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
- Needs attention
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Needs attention
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 110 | 103 | 103 |
| Attainment 8 score | 37.9 | 36.7 | 41.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.81 -1.09 to -0.54 | -0.59 -0.88 to -0.31 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 27% | 30.1% | 37.9% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 50% | 54.4% | 61.2% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 11% | 6.8% | 7.8% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
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 Pool 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 | 37.9 | 41.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 36.7 | 41.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 41.8 | 41.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 11.8% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 12% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.2% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 562 |
| 2023/24 | 632 |
| 2024/25 | 681 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Pool Academy compares
Pool Academy ranked 25th of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 45% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 41.8 | 8.2% | 29.5% | 714 | — |
| Redruth School | 45.7 | 8.9% | 27.2% | 1,433 | 1.5 miles |
| Camborne Science and International Academy | 49.7 | 7.5% | 26.5% | 1,751 | 2.1 miles |
| Hayle Academy | 42.4 | 8.1% | 30.6% | 623 | 6.9 miles |
| Richard Lander School | 51 | 8.2% | 18.2% | 1,561 | 7.7 miles |
| Penryn College | 49.2 | 10.5% | 19.5% | 1,140 | 8.1 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 report3 March 2026
- 26 September 2023
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 29.52%
- English as an additional language
- 8.7%
- Overall absence
- 8.19%
- Persistent absence
- 26.96%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Redruth School1.5 miles
Secondary · Redruth
-
Camborne Science and International Academy2.1 miles
Secondary · Camborne
-
Hayle Academy6.9 miles
Secondary · Hayle
-
Richard Lander School7.7 miles
Secondary · Truro
-
Penryn College8.1 miles
Secondary · Penryn
Other schools in Redruth
- Redruth School Secondary
- Illogan School Primary
- Lanner Primary School Primary
- Pencoys Primary School Primary
- Pennoweth Primary School Primary
- Portreath Community Primary School Primary
- St Day and Carharrack Community School Primary
- Treleigh Community Primary School Primary
- Treloweth Community Primary School Primary
- Trewirgie Infants' School Primary
- Trewirgie Junior School Primary
- Cardrew Court School Special schools
Common questions
- What year groups does Pool Academy teach?
- Pool Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Redruth.
- Who is the headteacher of Pool Academy?
- The headteacher of Pool Academy is Mr Nick Ward, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Pool Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Pool 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 big is Pool Academy?
- Pool Academy has 714 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Pool Academy full?
- Pool Academy has capacity for 1,050 pupils and 714 on roll (68%), 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 Pool Academy a faith school?
- No. Pool Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Pool Academy a selective school?
- No. Pool Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Pool Academy?
- Pool Academy is part of ATHENA LEARNING TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Pool Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 37.9 in 2022/23 and 41.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Pool Academy rank locally?
- Pool Academy ranked 25th of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 45% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 16% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Pool Academy's absence rate?
- Pool Academy's overall absence rate is 8.2% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Pool Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Pool 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.