Future of new secondary school uncertain - trust

Plans for a new secondary school on Cornwall's north coast are in doubt after a review of government funding, an education trust has said.

The Truro and Penwith Academy Trust said the school in Perranporth was originally scheduled to open by September 2025, but earlier this year the date was pushed back to 2026.

Perranporth Academy is now under government review, alongside 44 other mainstream schools, according to the trust and Labour MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle Perran Moon.

Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, said: "We will look at whether they will meet a need for places in their local area and offer value for taxpayers’ money."

She added: "Under the last administration, substantial funds were allocated to the free schools programme, often resulting in surpluses in school capacity.

"The National Audit Office set out in 2017 that of the 113,500 new places in mainstream free schools due by 2021, an estimated 57,500 amounted to spare capacity in the new schools’ local area.

"Not only is this poor value for money, the oversupply of places can be detrimental to the other, more established schools in that area - who might lose pupils, as well as teachers, to their new competitor."

Dr Jennifer Blunden, the trust's chief executive, said the decision to review the investment into the school was "really disappointing".

"This uncertainty will jeopardise our new school's opening date in September 2026 at a time when Cornwall Council has already embarked on ambitious house building programmes in the area," she said.

The trust said the new secondary school, which had already been granted planning permission, would have a specialist special educational needs and disabilities (Send) unit and sports facility for more than 1,000 young people.

Dr Blunden added: "If the review decides not to invest in Cornwall, through the delivery of Perranporth Academy, the new government will signal that it is ignoring the needs of Cornwall's rural communities who have been poorly served in the past by a lack of infrastructure investment."

Moon said of the review: "On hearing that Perranporth Academy is one of the 44 school projects now under review, I immediately contacted the Department of Education to discuss the situation.

"Officials will be working with the local authority and the academy trust to complete their review over the autumn, and I will remain in regular dialogue with the Department of Education to ensure that this review is concluded as swiftly as possible."

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