Turner Free School is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in the Cheriton area of

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. The school is located at the former site of Pent Valley Technology College.

History

Pent Valley

The school was originally opened in 1938 as Harcourt Secondary School for girls. In 1972 Harcourt Secondary School for Girls, Harcourt Primary School and Morehall Secondary School for Boys merged to form Pent Valley Secondary Modern School. The school attracted pupils from Folkestone,

Hawkinge Hawkinge ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. The original village of Hawkinge is actually just less than a mile (c. 1.3 km) due east of the present village centre; the village of Hawkinge wa ...

and

Hythe Hythe, from Anglo-Saxon ''hȳð'', may refer to a landing-place, port or haven, either as an element in a toponym, such as Rotherhithe in London, or to: Places Australia * Hythe, Tasmania Canada *Hythe, Alberta, a village in Canada England * T ...

(Some students even travelled over ten miles to get to the school). The school was granted

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were 59 ...

status in 2003 and was renamed Pent Valley Technology College. A new sports hall was opened by

Colin Jackson Colin Ray Jackson, (born 18 February 1967) is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete who specialised in the 110 metres hurdles. During a career in which he represented Great Britain and Wales, he won an Olympic silver medal, became wor ...

in 2005. In 2011 plans were announced to demolish the school in order to regenerate the original building. All plans were postponed because of a government spending review. In December 2015

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...

launched a consultation on the closing the school due to declining pupil numbers. The school was closed down in July 2017.

Turner Free School

Kent County Council sold the old school site to the Turner Schools Multi-Academy Trust, who announced that they would ultimately open a new secondary free school on the site with additional new buildings. Turner Free School opened to year 7 pupils in September 2018, and permission was granted for the new build in October 2019. The new build was completed in May 2021.

The school today

Turner Free School is a non-selective free school sponsored by Turner Schools. The school offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, and plans to open a

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

provision in 2023.

Notable former pupils

Pent Valley

Lloyd Blackman Lloyd Jason Blackman (born 24 September 1983) is an English retired semi-professional footballer who is assistant manager of Tonbridge Angels. As a player, he played as a forward in the Football League for Brentford and after his release in 2 ...

- Footballer *

Jeremy Goss Jeremy Goss (born 11 May 1965) is a football coach and former professional player who played as a midfielder. He is most noted for playing for Norwich City from 1984 to 1996, which saw several seasons in the Premier League as well as featuring ...

- Former

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

footballer *

Sam Pepper Samuel Pepper (born 26 March 1989) is an English internet personality. He created his YouTube channel in 2010, accumulating over 2 million subscribers and 55 million video views . He joined TikTok in 2020 and has amassed more than 4 millio ...

- Former housemate in Big Brother 2010 * Péter Szilágyi - Hungarian politician

References

External links

Turner Free School official website
{{Folkestone Secondary schools in Kent Folkestone Free schools in England