Reading School invites your views on the following proposed changes to Reading School’s admissions policies:

• Addition of Oversubscription Category 7: Prioritise children enrolled at a state-funded Primary School in Designated Postcode Areas;
• Moving the main entrance test date from September to the July before the Summer holidays;
• Addition of Oversubscription Category 5: Prioritise Eligible Twins/Multiple Births if one registrant is ranked in the top 150;

• Addition of Oversubscription Category 6: Prioritise Children of School Staff;

• Other minor changes (mainly for clarity, including removal of some small postcodes).

The consultation period will run from Wednesday, 28 November 2025 until Friday 09 January 2026. You are invited to express your views about the admission proposals during this 6 week period. Your views are welcomed and should be sent to either this short survey or via email to consultation@reading-school.co.uk before midnight on 9th January, including your name and relationship to the School.

Governors will make a final decision in February, with the outcome of the consultation published on the school website as soon as possible afterwards. Hard copies of the final report will be made available on request to all respondents of the consultation. Any approved changes will take effect for the September 2027 intake.

Why are we proposing these changes?

The recent awarding to Reading School of The Sutton Trust’s ‘Fair School Admissions Award’ at Gold level celebrates the determined and significant changes we have made to our approach to admissions. Through the changes outlined below, we have aimed to create social impact through being inclusive to all local primary students, regardless of socio-economic background:

• Granting maximum and unlimited priority to families eligible for the Pupil and Service Premiums (and those with Social or Welfare needs) 

• Redrawing our catchment area to prioritise postcodes in the most deprived local communities;
• Inviting children (both boys and girls) from under-represented local primary schools to receive mentoring from our senior students throughout the year;
• Collaborating with primary schools and the local authority to update and shift perceptions of selective education;
• Promoting a healthier narrative around entrance test preparation - FSCE - 10 Tips for our Year 7 Entrance Test
• Aligning our entrance test more closely with the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum – for example removing Non-Verbal Reasoning whilst incorporating content from KS2 Foundation subjects;
• Innovating and diversifying test content to reduce any advantage gained through tutoring for predictable test formats (Familiarisation Guide and for parents);

 

Relentless in our pursuit of social impact, we now want to go further. We invite your views on the following changes, which we believe to be fair and made on reasonable grounds and are accompanied by brief explanations for the purpose of transparency. All of these proposed changes ensure the retention of high academic standards.

  

1. Addition of Oversubscription Category 7: Prioritise children enrolled at a state-funded Primary School in Designated Postcode Areas

Academy schools such as Reading School are required by their funding agreements and by section 1A of the Academies Act 2010 to provide education for pupils who are “wholly or mainly drawn from the area in which they are situated.” This proposal aims to better meet this requirement so that Reading School can be Reading’s School for the most curious and creative boys. The proposal is easily understood, naming all state-funded primary schools within the named postcodes. For the purposes of the Admissions Code, this is technically a ‘feeder school’ arrangement, but in contrast to other schools, there will be no formal connection between the named primary schools and Reading School, it is simply a method by which to enhance the prospects of school entry for local children. The postcodes are chosen for Reading’s sphere of influence as a town on them, rather than arbitrary distance alone. This can be seen by a range of indicators, such as transport connections, the strength of our existing outreach relationships with some of these primary schools and the number of historic applications from them. Equally, where application numbers have historically been low, we name them in an attempt to remedy this pattern by changing prior stereotypes through more effective messaging and outreach, especially as they typically have no access to an alternative boys grammar school. Furthermore, by selecting 13 postcodes that encompass 134 different primary schools, we aim for this change to have negligible impact on the cohorts of other local secondary schools, as well as negligible risk to the named primary schools of any ‘feeder school’ rush for places, as it would counter-productive for this change to cause bright children to see their chances of admission to their local primary school diminish. The current under-subscription of multiple primary schools in these postcodes should further negate any such risk. We are unable to include independent schools as part of this particular oversubscription category, as it is prohibited by section 1.9 of the Admissions Code (“It is for admission authorities to formulate their admission arrangements, but they must not [...] name fee-paying independent schools as feeder schools”). Local students attending a fee-paying independent school are still able and welcome to apply through the other oversubscription categories, in particular categories 4 and 8.

2. Moving the main entrance test date from September to the July before the Summer holidays.

As a grammar school, we are required to select students by ability, which necessitates an entrance test. However, we believe that this should have as low an impact as possible on the wellbeing of the 10 year old primary school students. We want these children to spend their 6 week summer holiday playing, exploring, reading and running, not cramming for an entrance test. Equally, we want all children to have a fair chance of success, which is best enabled when they have all been studying in primary school during the Summer term, minimising the risk of any ‘summer learning loss’ (which is suggested to most impact children from disadvantaged backgrounds) and negating any benefits accrued only to those able to afford 6 weeks of intensive and stress-inducing tutoring.

3. Addition of Oversubscription Category 5: Prioritise Eligible Twins/Multiple Births if one registrant is ranked in the top 150.

We know that parents and children will make an admissions decision that is right for their personal circumstances, and are aware that some twins may indeed thrive separately. However, we believe that acknowledging the potential emotional and practical challenges of children from multiple births going to different schools, we may be able to remove from parents a layer of complexity and worry in the secondary school admissions process.

4. Addition of Oversubscription Category 6: Prioritise Children of School Staff

As with any state-funded school, we are vulnerable to and have been directly impacted by the challenges of teacher recruitment and retention, with England having a high teacher attrition rate compared to other OECD countries. Alongside our existing wellbeing, flexible working and financial efforts, this proposal will seek to ensure that school admission for a child is not a barrier to recruiting or retaining high quality teachers or associate staff.

Other minor proposed changes:

5. 1. Clarifying what might come under ‘exceptional circumstances’;
   2. Clarifying the process for identifying and investigating fraudulent applications;
   3. Simplifying the postcode areas included in the catchment area;
   4. Clarifying details of Subject Entry Requirements at Sixth Form;
   5. Adding details of ‘Suitability for Boarding’ process.

Sutton Trust research suggests that 80% of parents believe state schools should have a mix of pupils from different backgrounds, 76% of parents say school intakes should reflect their local community and 69% say high achieving schools should make more effort to take in pupils from less well-off backgrounds. We look forward to hearing your views.

We look forward to hearing your feedback via this short survey or via email to consultation@reading-school.co.uk before 9th January 2026.