Truro schools

[meerkate]

Hello All! DH has applied for a job in Cornwall, and I am horribly torn (though of course I do realise that he may not get it ) because how settled and happy we are on most fronts in our current location. The lure of the sea is very strong, though We have two kids, aged 10 and nearly 8, and I'd love some advice on the School Sitch near or in Truro. I've been on-line of course, but it's so hard to tell from the internet alone! Anyone able to give me any advice? We'd consider a good state school or coughing up if we had to. We'd be likely to be living in or within easy reach of Truro. Thanks girls

[Divawithattitude]

The wonderful thing about Cornwall is that nowhere is very far away - and apart from a couple of weeks in the high summer travel is very good!

So are you looking for year 7 for next year for your 10 year old?

Many of the secordary schools do not have 6th forms, many local children go to Truro College for 6th form which has an excellent repuation and also does the IB.

Most children are bussed into school from the villages around about (I found that odd having come from London where most of them walked to school), so a village school for your younger child would be a good option and there are lots of them!

Any thoughts on where you want to live?
We found that we had to revise our plans on where we lived to find a school with a place.

[meerkate]

hi diva - thanks so much i'm totally familiar with the bus-into-school thing as that's our set-up at the moment! looking for years 6 and 4 for next year. i lived in truro years ago for 6 months and still have friends in st agnes and perranporth, in fact we were down in november and remembered all over again how much we love it

however, i am slightly worried about 1/ the distance from everywhere else (though god knows we're far enough from civilisation at the moment! and i LIKE that, in many ways!) and 2/spending my life driving everywhere - that's what i do at the moment as we are very rural right now, and 30 mins from the nearest town where everything happens. so i had wondered about living in truro itself... to do that walking/cycling thing one misses as an ex-urbanite, as you say! but i know there is a big chance we'd get seduced into something closer to the sea, which is the main draw as far as making this move is concerned!

Very good to know that Truro's 6th form has such a good rep i googled private schools and could only find one and it had quite a heavy methodist influence i saw, don't know v much about methodism so not nec a 'bad' thing but did make me pause for thought slightly (i am a buddhist married to a raging atheist!)

totally agree that the school will be THE key to where we end up living (IF DH gets the job, etc)!

are you glad you made the move, diva??

[CheshireCat]

We did that a year ago.. kids all settled and happy. A lot less time sat in traffic.. We live just outside Truro, school run takes 4 mins by car, compared to an hour in Kent. St Marys is lovely.. Archbishop Benson good.. but yes I do think you have to be church going, my husband is an atheist too... not our thing but.. Truro School (private) is very good, the best if you are to compare results...the other one you mention is Truro High School for Girls... Truro probably the best area, as near things to do when the children get older.. and transport, trains etc..

[meerkate]

brilliant. thanks cheshirecat. i also think being near truro makes sense. i already spend my life in the car - so i do think that as the kids get older it's sensible to stay near-ish the hub of activities! i've had a long chat with my old uni mate who lives in st agnes last night, and feel much more positive generally. we've moved around a lot, and i feel guilty at the prospect of the kids being uprooted yet again, but this time would (have to!) be the last time until they left school at the very least - and hopefully we'd have no urge to leave cornwall anyway, once there
i don't know if you happen to know anything about the hospices in cornwall - bit of a diversion there, i know!! - i started a job at our local one here a few months ago and would be gutted to leave it. still i can make some phone calls nearer the time IF DH gets the job. which is a big IF!
thanks again i am so glad the move has worked out for you.

[Snowfire]

Hi Meerkate,
There is a new childrens hospice opening soon near St Austell, they've just started recruiting so might be worth having a look. For adults there is Mount Edgcumbe in St Austell or St Julias in Hayle, both seem like lovely places and not too far to commute from Truro.
Which side of Truro are you looking at? There are some lovely state primaries on the west side: Bosvigo & Kea are close to town and have good reputations, Devoran and Cusgarne are a little further out but are both great schools (in different ways) have a look at their websites to get to get a feel for them. There is also Polwhele House if you're thinking of going the private route which goes to yr8 and is well thought of.
Secondary wise the better state schools are on the east side, there's Penair and the Roseland, both have outstanding ofsted status and get good results (for comprehensives). As mentioned before the main independents are Truro High School for girls which is small but a lovely friendly school and Truro school which went co-ed in the 90's but is still mostly boys. I don't think you need to worry too much about the religous side of things, children believe what they want to and tbh and I don't think any of these schools have a heavy religous bias.
Hope this helps!

[meerkate]

'children believe what they want to' yes indeed - i have a violently atheist independent-minded daughter to prove it despite her in large part C of E schooling i still remember her look of horror as she was presented with a bible upon leaving her last school about a year ago - i was sitting in the audience just willing her to manage to look neutral, at least, if not actually pleased anyway, thanks so much for all of that snowfire. that's so helpful. i'm getting a much clearer picture of the scene already.
thanks too for the hospice info - i feel instinctive , immediate fear at the prospect of working in a kids' hospice, but perhaps it's a matter of working through that...so hard to imagine working with THAT degree of suffering, though, isn't it... it's good to know that one is being set up, anyway, we don't have one in our area (hence my lack of exposure to date) it's in the neighbouring county. okay - off to google a few schools now thanks again!

[meerkate]

ps snowfire - no idea about areas yet - i last lived there in the mid-90s so it was ages ago and i was a young thing without the worries of blimmin' SCHOOLS to slow me down

[Divawithattitude]

We spent absolutely ages coming here for weekends looking at houses and then googling the local schools before getting too excited.

We finished up living in a place we probably would not have chosen as our first choice but with a really good school for DS who then went on to take the 11+ and on to the grammar school in Plymouth.

I am very happy to be here now, but DS will never be able to come back here to work and the older two children also live up country, living in London or the SE would be wonderful but not practical for us.

[Misskernow]

Hi.

I just stumbled across this thread while helping a friend who's looking at moving down to Cornwall. We just left a few months ago because of hubby's job, but we really miss many of aspects of our life down there. In case it's useful to anyone, here are my views on Truro and schools etc.

Our two went to Archbishop Bensons primary and Penair secondary - both lovely schools and, some would argue, the best in town. We're not practising Christians, but that wasn't an issue at Archbishop Benson which is a CE school. They have a lovely caring ethos there and people from all sorts of persuasions and ethnic backgrounds, so if it's important to you that your kids mix with all sorts of other people in a loving environment, I really recommend that school. Penair is similar, very hard working staff, great results even though the kids weren't flogged to death with lots of homework.

Perranporth beach is the nearest, although our favourite was always Holywell - beautiful sand dunes and a fab feeling of getting away from everything, although only a 15 min drive.

If you're looking at places to live, I've got one word of warning for anyone considering Cornwall: MOULD! Most house interiors are covered in the stuff, it's a damp place, so I really recommend looking at newer build houses - our last house was the 3rd one for us in Cornwall, it was 2 years old and boy what a difference. It was properly built and ventilated and we never experienced mould. Ah, the relief! Unlike our last much older house, where I pulled out some handbags from several months storage in a cupboard and they were coated in furry bright yellow yuckiness. I just cried.

Truro is probably the most cosmopolitan place you'll find in Cornwall, fairly bustling town centre, lots of great delis, culture's not massive in Cornwall - but we did see Derek Jacobi with the RSC at Hall for Cornwall in Truro last year, so it's not the cultural desert some might think!

Where to live in Truro? Biggest issue here is parking - some of the nicest houses near the centre are a nightmare for parking, so watch out for that. We looked at one place on St Georges Road 3 years ago, lovely townhouse, right in the centre of things, ticked all of the boxes for us... until we were told we'd have to wait for a parking permit and the waiting list was currently 65 years. Yes, really!

If it was me, I'd be looking somewhere around the new development on the east of town at the top of Tregolls Road that we noticed they've started work on when we visited last weekend. It's going to be Cornwall's first Waitrose and a park and ride and it's within 5 mins of the A30 - so it's a good part of town to live on for easy access. It's a bit of a nondescript area at the mo, but I think it's going to become the hip end of the town once the Waitrose has been built (along with a Cornish local food hall, all with nice Duchy architecture etc. Yummy!) Round that part of town is also the catchment area for ABB and Penair.

Hope that's useful!

(we) Miss Kernow!

[Chicinwellies]

How funny - just stumbled across this too whilst searching junior schools in Truro. Does anyone else have any top recommendations schools wise, I have two girls super active sporty and into 'everything' at the moment so extra clubs, etc are also important to us. x