Reading School

Reading, RG1 5LW · Reading grammar school

Ofsted: Outstanding Boys
Test board
Consortium: N/A. Kendrick School and Reading School each run separate admissions tests using GL Assessment

Ofsted judgement breakdown (2023-11-21)

Overall effectiveness
Outstanding
Quality of education
Outstanding
Behaviour and attitudes
Outstanding
Personal development
Outstanding
Effectiveness of leadership and management
Outstanding
Safeguarding is effective?
Yes
Sixth form provision (where applicable)
Outstanding

Oversubscription criteria

  1. Looked after — Category 1: (Previously) Looked After Children, with a score up to 5 marks below the eligible score
  2. Pupil premium catchment — Category 2: Pupil or Service Premium children living within the catchment area, score up to 5 marks below eligible score
  3. Medical social catchment — Category 3: Children within the catchment area with a demonstrated significant social or welfare need (written professional evidence required)
  4. Sporting aptitude — Category 4: Up to 15 places for children (living in catchment, or registered for boarding) who pass the eligible score and exceed the Sporting Aptitude threshold, ranked by Sporting Aptitude Assessment score
  5. Catchment — Category 5: Children whose permanent home address is within the catchment area
  6. Out of catchment — Category 6: Children whose permanent home address is NOT within the catchment area

What the entrance test covers

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.

University destinations

Oxbridge
13%
Russell Group
83%
Top-third university
90%
Any degree
98%

Of the 166-student 2019/20 leaver cohort, sustaining a higher-education destination the following year. This is the last cohort the Department for Education published with an Oxbridge/Russell Group breakdown — these categories were discontinued as official accountability measures after this release, so a more recent figure does not exist.

House prices nearby

Median price, Redlands ward (Year ending Mar 2023)
£305,000

Median price for the school's electoral ward, year ending March 2023 — a neighbourhood-level indicator, not the school's actual admissions catchment (catchments are often smaller than a ward or span parts of several).

Feeder / linked schools

Data sourced from GIAS, Ofsted and official Reading admissions publications. Figures can change year to year — always confirm with the school before applying.

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