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Schools in Cornwall

294 schools in the Cornwall local authority.

Schools

294

Open schools

Pupils

73,481

2025–26 census

Good or better

89%

211 of 237 graded

Academic Performance

4.4

out of 10 · 276 schools

Ofsted ratings

Outstanding
10 4%
Good
201 85%
Requires improvement
20 8%
Inadequate
6 3%
36 inspected since 2024, no overall grade27 superseded by a report card21 not judged9 in a category of concern3 safeguarding not effective
4.4
Academic Performance

Averaged over 276 of 294 schools that can be scored

Pupils

73,481

pupils on roll

Boys 51%49% Girls

Ethnicity

White
93%
Asian
1%
Black
1%
Mixed
3%
Chinese
<1%
Any other group
<1%
Unclassified
1%

Ethnicity from 280 of 294 schools (71,237 pupils). Independent schools report roll and sex only.

Pupil characteristics

Free school meals
23.5%

16,739 of 71,237 pupils · 280 of 294 schools

First language not English
3.8%

2,717 of 71,237 pupils · 280 of 294 schools

Young carers
1.3%

922 of 71,094 pupils · 278 of 294 schools

Schools by phase

Primary
237
Secondary
32
All-through
4
Special
7
Nursery
2
PRU
6
Not recorded
6

Top primary schools in Cornwall

The 20 highest-scoring primary schools here on Academic Performance, which combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment.

Top secondary schools in Cornwall

The 20 highest-scoring secondary schools here on Academic Performance, which combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment.

Browse all 294 schools in Cornwall — filter by phase or Ofsted rating.

About schools in Cornwall

How many schools are there in Cornwall?
Cornwall has 294 open schools — 237 primary, 32 secondary, 7 special, 2 nursery, teaching 73,481 pupils in total.
How many schools in Cornwall are rated Good or Outstanding?
211 of the 237 schools holding an Ofsted grade — 89% — are rated Good or Outstanding, including 10 rated Outstanding. That share is measured against graded schools, not all 294: a school inspected since September 2024 has no overall grade at all.
What is the average Academic Performance in Cornwall?
4.4 out of 10, averaged across the 276 schools here that can be scored, where 5 is the national average. Academic Performance combines the Ofsted judgement with DfE attainment and is ranked against comparable schools, so it is neither figure on its own.
Why do some Cornwall schools have no Ofsted rating?
57 schools in Cornwall currently hold no overall grade. Ofsted stopped awarding single-word judgements in September 2024 and moved to a report card of separately graded areas, so schools inspected since then have no overall rating whatever the inspection found. Their profiles show the report card instead.
What does Cornwall local authority do?
A local authority is the body responsible for state education in its area — the level most admissions and school-place decisions are made at. Cornwall covers 294 schools and sits in the South West region. It does not run academies or independent schools directly, though it still coordinates admissions for most of them.
How many pupils in Cornwall are eligible for free school meals?
23.5% — 16,739 of 71,237 pupils at the 280 schools that report it. Independent schools file a return with roll and sex only, so they are outside this figure rather than counted as zero.

Part of the South West region.