Turner Free School is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in the Cheriton area of

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. The school is located at the former site of Pent Valley Technology College.

History

Pent Valley

The school was originally opened in 1938 as Harcourt Secondary School for girls. In 1972 Harcourt Secondary School for Girls, Harcourt Primary School and Morehall Secondary School for Boys merged to form Pent Valley Secondary Modern School. The school attracted pupils from Folkestone,

Hawkinge Hawkinge ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe (District), Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. The original village of Hawkinge is actually just less than a mile (c. 1.3 km) due east of the present village ...

and

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a hamlet in Canada England *The ...

(Some students even travelled over ten miles to get to the school). The school was granted

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were 598 ...

status in 2003 and was renamed Pent Valley Technology College. A new sports hall was opened by

Colin Jackson Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a British former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became w ...

in 2005. In 2011 plans were announced to demolish the school in order to regenerate the original building. All plans were postponed because of a government spending review. In December 2015

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Kent in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Unitary authorities of England, unitary auth ...

launched a consultation on the closing the school due to declining pupil numbers. The school was closed down in July 2017.

Turner Free School

Kent County Council sold the old school site to the Turner Schools Multi-Academy Trust, who announced that they would ultimately open a new secondary free school on the site with additional new buildings. Turner Free School opened to year 7 pupils in September 2018, and permission was granted for the new build in October 2019. The new build was completed in May 2021.

The school today

Turner Free School is a non-selective free school sponsored by Turner Schools. The school offers

GCSEs 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 ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, and plans to open a

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

provision in 2023.

Notable former pupils

Pent Valley

* Lloyd Blackman - Footballer *

Jeremy Goss Jeremy Goss (born 11 May 1965) is a football coach and former professional player who played as a midfielder. He is most noted for playing for Norwich City from 1984 to 1996, which saw several seasons in the Premier League as well as featuring i ...

- Former

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

footballer *

Sam Pepper Samuel Nicholas Pepper (born 26 March 1989) is an English internet personality and reality TV contestant. Pepper appeared as a contestant on the 11th season of '' Big Brother'' in 2010. Later that same year, he started a YouTube channel, whe ...

- Former housemate in Big Brother 2010 * Péter Szilágyi - Hungarian politician

References

External links

Turner Free School official website
{{Folkestone Secondary schools in Kent Folkestone Free schools in England