SF School Facts UK

Secondary school in Truro, Cornwall

Richard Lander School

Higher Besore Road, Truro, Cornwall, TR3 6LT

Ofsted Good · 2023 Full
School website 01872273750

Ofsted

Goodas at 4 October 2023

Remained Good at its last ungraded inspection, on 4 October 2023.

Ofsted stopped awarding single-word overall grades in September 2024. This grade is 2 years old and will not be updated — the school keeps it until its next inspection, which will not produce a replacement grade.

Read the Ofsted report

GCSE results 2024/25

Attainment 8 score

51 England 47

The average grade across eight GCSEs, doubling English and maths. 50 is roughly a grade 5 average.

Grade 5+ in English & maths

55% England 46.2%

Grade 4+ in English & maths

72% England 66.2%

EBacc average point score

4.4 England 4.2

Entered the EBacc

36% England 40.8%

On Attainment 8 this school is in the upper half of state-funded secondaries in England.

Compared with the fifth of schools whose intake is second least disadvantaged, which is where this one sits, it is in the better-performing half.

Progress 8 2023/24

0.07confidence interval -0.10 to 0.23

Taking that range into account, progress was not statistically different from the national average. DfE bands this as average.

Progress 8 measures how far pupils moved between the end of primary and their GCSEs, which makes it far fairer than raw attainment. It is shown for 2023/24 because it could not be calculated for 2024/25: that year group would have sat their key stage 2 tests in summer 2020, when the tests were cancelled, so there is no starting point to measure from. Every school in England is affected, not just this one.

Pupils

Pupils on roll
1561
Places
1523
How full
Full — 1561 pupils against 1523 places
Girls / boys
722 / 839
Overall absence
8%

secondary schools average 8.6%

Persistently absent
23%

secondary schools average 23.9% — pupils missing 10% or more of sessions

Free school meals, last 6 years
18%

England 25.7%

English as an additional language
3%

England 18.7%

With an EHC plan
4%

England 3.5%

On SEN support
16%

England 15%

What pupils do next

After GCSEs

In education, work or training
93%

England 91.4%

Stayed in education
84%

England 85.4%

Started an apprenticeship
4%

England 3.5%

Stayed at this school's sixth form
1%
No sustained destination
6%

England 5.8%

Pupils in the cohort
302

A destination counts only if it lasted at least six months, which is why these figures lag the exam results by a year. Small cohorts move these percentages a long way — check the cohort size before reading much into a gap.

The neighbourhood around the school

Census 2021 figures for Cornwall 043B, the statistical neighbourhood the school sits in — roughly 1,500 residents. It describes the area, not the pupils, who may travel in from further away.

Adults with a degree
29%

England 33.8%

Adults with no qualifications
14%

England 18.3%

Households owning their home
78%

England 62.7%

Households in social housing
2%

England 17%

Households with no car
11%

England 21.9%

Adults economically inactive
39%

England 39.9%

School details

Type
Community school
Phase
Secondary
Ages
Ages 11–16
Gender
Mixed
Admissions
Non-selective
Religious character
None
Sixth form
No
Nursery
No
Boarding
Day school
Headteacher
Headteacher: Stephen Mulcahy
Local authority
Cornwall
Ward
Threemilestone & Chacewater
Constituency
Truro and Falmouth
URN
112055

The unique reference number used in all official school data.

Nearest secondary schools

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8Distance
Truro High SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.1 mi
Truro SchoolOther independent school No grade 2.7 mi
Penair SchoolAcademy converter Good 2023 49.1 3.2 mi
Polwhele House SchoolOther independent school No grade 3.4 mi
Redruth SchoolFoundation school No grade 45.7 6.2 mi
Penryn CollegeAcademy converter Good 2022 49.2 6.5 mi
Falmouth SchoolAcademy converter No grade 48.3 7 mi
Pool AcademyAcademy converter No grade 41.8 7.7 mi

Schools with a similar intake

State-funded secondary schools nationally whose share of disadvantaged pupils is closest to this school's. This is the fairest like-for-like comparison the published data supports.

SchoolOfstedAttainment 8
The Stonehenge SchoolCommunity school Good 2022 37.4
Welland Park AcademyAcademy converter No grade 53.2
Westfield AcademyAcademy converter Good 2023 44.5
Hungerhill SchoolAcademy converter No grade 49.2
Atam AcademyFree schools Good 2024 57.2
Ron Dearing UTCUniversity technical college No grade 49
Our Lady's Catholic High SchoolVoluntary aided school Good 2022 50
Parkside Community CollegeAcademy converter Outstanding 2023 63.5

Where these figures come from

  • School details, address and pupil numbers — Get Information About Schools, the DfE register, as at 14 August 2026.
  • Exam results — DfE performance tables, 2024/25, and 2023/24 for Progress 8.
  • Free school meals, EAL and SEN — school census, 2024/25.
  • Ofsted — Ofsted management information, latest inspections as at 30 June 2026.
  • Neighbourhood figures — ONS Census 2021, lower layer super output area.

All published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. If something here looks wrong, the school's own website is the authority on admissions and open days.