Mounts Bay Academy
Boscathnoe Lane, Heamoor, Penzance, TR18 3JT
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy converter
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- TRURO & PENWITH ACADEMY TRUST
- Principal
- Mr Simeon Royle
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Sponsor
- Truro and Penwith College
- Constituency
- St Ives
- Setting
- Urban: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,020
- Pupils on roll
- 922
- URN
- 136873
- Local authority
- Cornwall
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01736363240
About this school
Mounts Bay Academy is a secondary academy in Penzance. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 922 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. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person 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
- Needs attention
- Achievement
- Needs attention
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- 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 | 198 | 196 | 191 |
| Attainment 8 score | 45.1 | 41.7 | 43.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.40 -0.60 to -0.20 | -0.56 -0.76 to -0.36 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 44% | 33.2% | 37.7% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 65% | 53.6% | 66% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 39% | 32.1% | 41.4% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.8 |
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 Mounts Bay 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 | 45.1 | 41.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 41.7 | 41.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 43.7 | 41.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 10.3% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 10.4% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 9.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 1,066 |
| 2023/24 | 1,031 |
| 2024/25 | 975 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Mounts Bay Academy compares
Mounts Bay Academy ranked 18th of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 51% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 43.7 | 9.3% | 22.1% | 922 | — |
| Humphry Davy School | 41.5 | 10.6% | 38.7% | 740 | 0.7 miles |
| Cape Cornwall School | 38.4 | 10.2% | 33.8% | 302 | 5.8 miles |
| St Ives School | 45 | 8.8% | 23.4% | 580 | 6.1 miles |
| Hayle Academy | 42.4 | 8.1% | 30.6% | 623 | 7.5 miles |
| Heamoor Community Primary School | — | 6.2% | 31.3% | 201 | 0.3 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 report24 March 2026
- 1 December 2021
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 22.05%
- English as an additional language
- 2.2%
- Overall absence
- 9.25%
- Persistent absence
- 29.93%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Humphry Davy School0.7 miles
Secondary · Penzance
-
Cape Cornwall School5.8 miles
Secondary · Penzance
-
St Ives School6.1 miles
Secondary · St Ives
-
Hayle Academy7.5 miles
Secondary · Hayle
-
Heamoor Community Primary School0.3 miles
Primary · Penzance
Other schools in Penzance
- Cape Cornwall School Secondary
- Humphry Davy School Secondary
- Alverton Primary School Primary
- Germoe Community Primary School Primary
- Gulval School Primary
- Heamoor Community Primary School Primary
- Ludgvan School Primary
- Madron Daniel Church of England School Primary
- Madron Daniel CofE (VA) School Primary
- Mousehole School Primary
- Nancledra School Primary
- Newlyn School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Mounts Bay Academy teach?
- Mounts Bay Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Penzance.
- Who is the principal of Mounts Bay Academy?
- The principal of Mounts Bay Academy is Mr Simeon Royle, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Mounts Bay Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Mounts Bay 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 Mounts Bay Academy?
- Mounts Bay Academy has 922 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Mounts Bay Academy full?
- Mounts Bay Academy has capacity for 1,020 pupils and 922 on roll (90%), 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 Mounts Bay Academy a faith school?
- No. Mounts Bay Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Mounts Bay Academy a selective school?
- No. Mounts Bay Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Mounts Bay Academy?
- Mounts Bay Academy is part of TRURO & PENWITH ACADEMY TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- How have Mounts Bay Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 45.1 in 2022/23 and 43.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Mounts Bay Academy rank locally?
- Mounts Bay Academy ranked 18th of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 51% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 10% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Mounts Bay Academy's absence rate?
- Mounts Bay Academy's overall absence rate is 9.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Mounts Bay Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Mounts Bay 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.