Mounts Bay Academy, Penzance

Ofsted's report card from its 24 March 2026 inspection grades Mounts Bay Academy on 6 areas: 4 expected standard and 2 needs attention. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "The school has taken effective action to address low attendance."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "This is an inclusive school."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "The school has undergone many changes in recent times, some of which have been challenging."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Pupils typically have positive relationships with staff and feel their wellbeing is supported."

Achievement - Needs attention. "A number of the school's published outcomes have been below national averages for some time."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "While pupils learn from a broad, ambitious and well-planned curriculum, the work they are given does not always enable to them to deepen or apply their learning effectively."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should ensure that the activities given to pupils are well matched to the aims of the curriculum so pupils achieve more highly and make better progress from their starting points"; "Leaders should ensure that formative assessment is consistently well embedded so that staff tailor teaching effectively"; "Leaders should take appropriate action to ensure that gaps in pupils' foundational knowledge are well understood and addressed in a systematic and effective way"; "Leaders should ensure that the rates of persistent absence of vulnerable pupils continue to reduce over time".

From the headteacher's welcome: "Welcome to Mounts Bay Academy where I was delighted and honoured to have been appointed Principal in March 2024. Our young people join us on a five year journey through various curriculum areas and programmes of study, but Mounts Bay Academy is so much more than this."

In 2026, pupils at Mounts Bay Academy averaged an Attainment 8 score of 44.1, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 44.7 in Cornwall and 47 across England.

39% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 42% in Cornwall and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 43.7.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.56: pupils made well below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 35.4, against 46.4 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 11 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 20 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Art and Design and History.

For September 2026 entry, 116 families put Mounts Bay Academy as their first choice and 315 named it as one of their preferences, for 119 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

Mounts Bay Academy is one of 41 schools run by Truro & Penwith Academy Trust, an academy trust.

153 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Mounts Bay Academy (as of April 2026): 71% would recommend the school, 71% say their child is happy there and 60% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (77%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (60%).

Of the 196 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 83% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 82% to a further education college, 5% to an apprenticeship and 6% into work.

3.6% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 164 pupils (17.8%) received SEN support and 22 (2.4%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia.

The nearest railway station is Penzance Rail Station, about 1.1 miles away in a straight line.

17 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Mounts Bay Academy (w-bound), 50 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 66 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, criminal damage and arson and anti-social behaviour. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Cornwall (14), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Mounts Bay Academy issued 465 suspensions, 47.7 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 7 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Mounts Bay Academy are Heamoor Community Primary School (0.3 miles); Madron Daniel CofE (VA) School (0.4 miles); Pensans Community Primary School (0.5 miles); and St Mary's Catholic School, Penzance (0.9 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.