Fowey River Academy
Windmill, Fowey, PL23 1HE
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Academy sponsor led
- Ages
- 11 to 16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Trust
- TRURO & PENWITH ACADEMY TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr Ben Eddy
- Admissions policy
- Non-selective
- Religious ethos
- None
- Sponsor
- Truro and Penwith College
- Constituency
- St Austell and Newquay
- Setting
- Smaller rural: Further from a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,000
- Pupils on roll
- 676
- URN
- 140836
- Local authority
- Cornwall
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01726833484
About this school
Fowey River Academy is a secondary academy in Fowey. It teaches children aged 11 to 16 and has 676 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 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
- Good
- Behaviour and attitudes
- Good
- Personal development
- Good
- Leadership and management
- Good
- Safeguarding
- Effective
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 96 | 102 | 129 |
| Attainment 8 score | 39.6 | 39.8 | 39.7 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.65 -0.94 to -0.36 | -0.22 -0.50 to +0.06 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 33% | 30.4% | 32.6% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 53% | 55.9% | 51.9% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 36% | 22.5% | 16.3% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.4 |
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 Fowey River 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 | 39.6 | 41.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 39.8 | 41.5 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 39.7 | 41.7 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.6% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.1% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.8% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 583 |
| 2023/24 | 632 |
| 2024/25 | 661 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How Fowey River Academy compares
Fowey River Academy ranked 29th of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 37% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 39.7 | 8.8% | 31.6% | 676 | — |
| Penrice Academy | 50.9 | 6.9% | 21.6% | 1,405 | 5.5 miles |
| Poltair School | 47.4 | 9.6% | 33.3% | 882 | 6.3 miles |
| Looe Community Academy | 39 | 13.4% | 27.7% | 513 | 8.8 miles |
| Bodmin College | 46 | 9.6% | 28.4% | 1,236 | 9.1 miles |
| Liskeard School and Community College | 42.8 | 9.5% | 26.4% | 1,115 | 11.6 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)
- 31.62%
- English as an additional language
- 2.3%
- Overall absence
- 8.8%
- Persistent absence
- 27.7%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Penrice Academy5.5 miles
Secondary · St Austell
-
Poltair School6.3 miles
Secondary · St Austell
-
Looe Community Academy8.8 miles
Secondary · Looe
-
Bodmin College9.1 miles
Secondary · Bodmin
-
Liskeard School and Community College11.6 miles
Secondary · Liskeard
Other schools in Fowey
- Fowey Primary School Primary
Common questions
- What year groups does Fowey River Academy teach?
- Fowey River Academy teaches children aged 11 to 16. It is a secondary school in Fowey.
- Who is the headteacher of Fowey River Academy?
- The headteacher of Fowey River Academy is Mr Ben Eddy, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was Fowey River Academy last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected Fowey River 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 Fowey River Academy?
- Fowey River Academy has 676 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 16.
- Is Fowey River Academy full?
- Fowey River Academy has capacity for 1,000 pupils and 676 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 Fowey River Academy a faith school?
- No. Fowey River Academy has no designated religious character.
- Is Fowey River Academy a selective school?
- No. Fowey River Academy is recorded as non-selective in the schools register.
- Who runs Fowey River Academy?
- Fowey River 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 Fowey River Academy's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 39.6 in 2022/23 and 39.7 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does Fowey River Academy rank locally?
- Fowey River Academy ranked 29th of 31 secondary schools in Cornwall for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 37% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 12% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is Fowey River Academy's absence rate?
- Fowey River Academy's overall absence rate is 8.8% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are Fowey River Academy's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, Fowey River 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.