Penrice Academy is a secondary

academy school An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. 80% ...

and former specialist

Language College Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the specialist schools programme (SSP) in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages. Schools that successf ...

St Austell Saint Austell (, ; ) is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. At the 2021 Census in the United Kingdom, census it had a population of 20,900. History St Austell was a village centred ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, England. The school has an enrollment of 1,428.

History

The school opened in 1960 as a

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

, Penrice Secondary Modern School, becoming a comprehensive in the 1970s. It gained academy status on 1 April 2011. Penrice Academy Logo

Curriculum

Languages taught include French, Spanish, German and Mandarin. It is also an International School, having received a Gold International School Award from the British Council for a third time in 2012. Other strengths are Creative and Digital Arts, English and Science. The academy sends record numbers of students onto A Level Science courses.

Admissions

The academy has a teacher training programme and has achieved

Teaching School The Teaching School as a concept came into being in 2000 when Central Queensland University (in Australia) developed and launched its innovative Bachelor of Learning Management Program (BLM). A core component was the Teaching School which was conc ...

status. Since 2020, the principal has been Lucy Gambier. Now in 2023, the new headmistress is named Tanya Coleman. The uniform is a black blazer, black V-neck jumper with a gold strip around the neck (optional), a gold and black striped tie and black trousers. The student leaders (prefects) wear the same uniform, but with a silver-black stripe tie, or a full-black tie with a logo for senior student leaders.

Academic performance

The academy achieves well above-average

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

results. In 2023, the school had a Progress 8 score of +0.57, with 80% of pupils earning 9-4 grades in GCSE English and Mathematics. Like most secondary schools in Cornwall, it does not have a sixth form and students go onto either

Truro College Truro and Penwith College is a further education college in Cornwall, England. History Truro College was founded in 1993 in Gloweth near Threemilestone, Truro, Cornwall, to replace the Truro Sixth Form College. Penwith College was founded in ...

Cornwall College Cornwall College may refer to: * The Cornwall College Group, in Cornwall and Devon, England * Cornwall College, Jamaica * Cornwall Collegiate and Vocational School, Cornwall, Ontario, Canada {{Disambiguation ...

Bodmin College Bodmin College is a coeducational secondary school, secondary Academy (English school), academy school that serves the community of Bodmin, Cornwall, England. The college converted to an academy on 1 January 2011. In 2023 Bodmin College becam ...

. The academy is currently graded "Outstanding" by Ofsted, being the top performing school in Cornwall and was one of the first schools to be designated a 'Teaching School' in England.

References

External links

*
EduBase
{{authority control Academies in Cornwall Secondary schools in Cornwall Educational institutions established in 1960 St Austell