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Our History & Values

Penair School is a fully inclusive mixed comprehensive school that serves pupils aged 11-16 from the Truro area and further afield. The core values of our school’s ethos are Pride, Belonging, Learning and Opportunity.  

Our School is named after Penair House, a mansion built in the late 18th Century by Rear -Admiral Robert Carthew Reynolds. The school was officially opened on 20 May 1980 by the Prince of Wales after taking two and half years to build.  

Much development has taken place over the past 40 years with there being significant improvements made to the site to help the school ‘move with the times’ (eg removal of the well-remembered swimming pool that was replaced with other buildings including the purpose-built English block which also had an additional ICT/Business Enterprise centre added to it). 

In the autumn of 2022 a new ‘state of the art’ 10 classroom block was built on an existing, unused area of the school site. Colonel Edward Bolitho, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall was our guest of honour for the official opening of our new Maths building. He was accompanied by Cadet Flight Sergeant Abbie Potter who is an ex-pupil of Penair School. Colonel Bolitho was joined by our Chair of Governors, Mrs Elizabeth Seale, along with representatives from Kier Construction, Mr Davidson and staff from Penair to mark the event.

Alongside 10 new classrooms we have a new toilet block, a space to administer first aid and a hygiene room for children and young people with disabilities. This space provides the necessary and practical means for assisted toileting, promoting independence, hygiene and dignity. We have also increased the dining room size to accommodate more pupils owing to the increased intake.

We take pride in being a caring and well-ordered community where everyone is encouraged to develop self-awareness and personal responsibility and play a full part in the life of the school. 

Our Code of Conduct is based on pupils being ready, respectful and safe while showing courtesy and consideration towards others. We make sure that pupils who work hard, help others and show responsibility in their behaviour are properly recognised through our rewards system. We listen carefully to the views of our pupils and through our form captains, house captains and members of the School Council,  pupils play an important role in representing the pupil voice and they contribute to the decision-making process. Our extensive programme of enrichment activities provide further opportunities for students’ personal development. 

Our extensive curriculum is broad and balanced, giving all students the opportunity to develop their potential as well as offering a vast array of extra-curricular programmes in which pupils are encouraged to take part. A wide range of learning and teaching strategies are also used to actively involve and engage students in the learning process.