Schools in Reading

Primary schools: Reading publishes explicit 'Primary Schools Designated Areas (Catchments)' — not all schools have one, but catchment is the named mechanism where it exists. (source)

Secondary schools: Catchment area is one of the stated oversubscription factors for secondary admissions too; LA publishes a catchment lookup tool (my.reading.gov.uk). (source)

Most schools use the local authority's default scheme rather than a school-specific catchment map — see each school's page for its own designated/catchment area where one is published.

Reading School (boys) and Kendrick School (girls) each set their OWN, DIFFERENT entrance test — there is no single shared 'Reading test'. Kendrick School uses GL Assessment: two one-hour multiple-choice papers with a short break, covering four subjects — English (reading comprehension, spelling, punctuation, grammar; KS2 up to start of Year 6), Maths (number, measurement, geometry, statistics; KS2 up to start of Year 6), Verbal Reasoning, and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Reading School has used a different format since September 2025 (for 2026 entry onwards), set by FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise, a subsidiary of Reading School): four papers — Adventure Paper (multiple-choice, drawing on KS2 subjects including English, maths, science, geography, history), Beacon Paper (short written-response questions across a similar subject range), Compass Paper (a second multiple-choice paper with a different subject focus), and Discovery Paper (a creative task assessing original thinking and problem-solving — only marked if the child reaches an eligible score on Papers 1-3). Covers KS2 subjects up to the end of the Year 5 programme of study, including Art & Design, Languages, Computing, Design & Technology, Music, PE, Geography, Science and History, alongside English and Maths.

Both Reading School (boys) and Kendrick School (girls) accept applications from families living outside Reading borough. There is no separate out-of-area registration process — your child simply sits the school's own entrance test (organised by each school directly) and you apply via your home LA's Common Application Form. Reading School test registration: contact Reading School directly or register via their website. The test is the FSCE (Foundation for Educational Science and Computing Engineering) consortium test, not the standard GL Assessment. Criteria impact: Reading School uses a score-then-distance system. Out-of-area families living further from the school are at a distance disadvantage when scores are similar. Historically, all places have gone to children living within roughly 2 km. Reading School's Category 3 criterion (up to 50% of remaining places for children at named feeder state primaries within 4.6 miles) also favours local children.