Penryn Primary Academy

About Penryn Primary Academy

Penryn Primary Academy is a state primary school in Cornwall that currently has 354 pupils on roll against a capacity of 525, meaning it is operating at roughly two-thirds full. That spare capacity is notable given the school’s intake profile: 34.2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well above the national average of around 23% and a clear signal that this is a school serving a community with above-average levels of disadvantage. Despite that, demand is strong. For the 2025/26 reception intake, the school received 59 applications for 42 places, with 39 of those coming as first preferences. That oversubscription ratio of 1.4 suggests families in the area are actively choosing Penryn over other local options. The school is mixed, non-denominational, and takes children from age two through to eleven, with nursery provision on site. Headteacher Chris Lee leads a school that has clearly rebuilt confidence since its last inspection.

Academically, Penryn Primary Academy performs solidly against local benchmarks. In the 2023/24 Key Stage 2 assessments, 64% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which is six percentage points above the Cornwall local authority average of 58%. That places the school 78th out of 235 primary schools in the county, comfortably in the top third. Looking at individual subjects, reading and maths both returned average scaled scores of 106, and 77% of pupils met the expected standard in reading, with 75% doing so in maths. Writing was slightly lower at 73%. At the higher standard, 14% of pupils achieved greater depth across all three subjects, while 41% hit the higher bar in maths and 39% in reading. The school’s most recent Ofsted inspection, in September 2021, rated it Good across all five categories, including behaviour and attitudes and personal development. That was a clear improvement from its previous Requires Improvement rating in 2017.

The school offers a broad range of facilities and activities that give a sense of its character. There is a sports hall, playing fields, an outdoor playground, music rooms, an ICT suite, art studios, a forest school area and even a chapel on site. Sports provision includes cricket, football, athletics, swimming, dance, gymnastics and tennis, and there are clubs for science, art, book club, coding and chess. For families with children who have additional needs, the SEND provision is unusually comprehensive: the school has a dedicated SEN unit and supports pupils with specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate and severe learning difficulties, social, emotional and mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, visual impairment and autistic spectrum disorder. Penryn is a good fit for families who want a well-resourced, inclusive primary that serves a diverse intake and has shown clear improvement under its current leadership, though the oversubscription means applying early is wise.

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