The number of pupils enrolled at Truro School is at its highest since 1993.

At the beginning of the Autumn Term last week there were 820 pupils aged between 11 and 18. The proportion of girls since the school became fully co-educational 12 years ago has been increasing slightly but steadily and now stands at just over 40 per cent.

This is in line with national trends - independent schools are this term educating 500,000 for the first time. Pupil numbers are up nationally by 8,463 (1.7 per cent) in the past year, the seventth increase in succession.

Asked why he thought that more and more parents were prepared to pay fees for their children's education, headmaster Paul Smith said: "The fees are the price parents pay for generous staffing - that means smaller teaching groups - and for constantly updated facilities.

"Our own £1.6m pound theatre and classroom project last year is a good example of the kind of investment that parents can expect. I think they are also prepared to pay for the wide range of non-classroom activities we are still providing in spite of the pressures of exams.

"Demand for places at Truro continues to be very strong indeed. The number of families we are able to help financially with scholarships and assisted places is considerable but we are always looking out for ways to widen the doors to as much of the Cornwall community as possible."

Continuing success in the national schools league tables is also probably a major factor for parents. Truro School has this summer regained its place in the First Division of the Daily Telegraph's UK independent schools list.

l Truro School starts the new academic year with a new chairman of its board of governors. He is John Baxter, who recently retired as headmaster of Wells Cathedral School in Somerset, and lives at Trebetherick near Wadebridge.

He replaces John Heath, from Perranporth, who was chairman for 10 years and served the school as a governor for more than 25 years.