Our consultation has now closed. Thank you for sharing your views on the proposed changes to Reading School’s admissions policies. 

We were delighted by the depth and breadth of interest, and both the School and the governors read every submission with care.

We were delighted to see overwhelming support for moving the entrance test to July. We can therefore confirm that it will take place on 16 July 2026 (with SEND candidates invited on 15 July). Our aim is to spare 10‑year‑olds a summer of test preparation, giving them the freedom to play and explore, while also reducing any disadvantage for those unable to spend their summer preparing.

We listened carefully to concerns about naming specific feeder schools, and our revised policy (approved by governors this week) better preserves our core aim: reflecting the diversity and talent of the local community without unintentionally excluding any local children. Under the new policy, 50% of available places (after EHCP, Disadvantaged and Sporting Aptitude places) will be reserved for pupils attending state primary schools within a 4.6‑mile radius of Reading School’s Erleigh Road gate. As a reminder, we are not permitted to include fee‑paying schools as feeders, and using a radius that covers Reading’s urban area meets the Admissions Code requirements for clarity, reasonableness and fairness.

The oversubscription criteria are therefore summarised as follows for September 2027 entry:

• Highest priority will be given to Looked After Children (and Previously Looked After Children), children eligible for Pupil or Service Premium, children with a significant Social or Welfare Need and children of School Staff (in that order).

• Second priority will continue to be given to those 15 children who achieve the eligible score in the entrance exam, and who are ranked most highly in our Sporting Aptitude test. These candidates demonstrate both academic ability and sporting aptitude, and have proven over the past 2 years that they broaden the diversity of aptitude and skills that successful applicants bring to the school.

• The next priority will reserve 50% of available places for children at state primary schools within a 4.6mile radius of Reading School’s Erleigh Road gate, emphasising the school’s desire to serve and represent its local community.

• Priority for 80% of the remaining places will then be given to children permanently living within RG1, RG2, RG30, RG31, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7, RG8, RG9, RG10, RG40 & RG41 postcode districts, ensuring that any local child with a long-standing relationship to the local area has the opportunity to attend Reading School, regardless of their primary school or home education.

• The final 20% of places not awarded at any higher level will be allocated to the highest achieving students anywhere in the catchment area which includes the above postcode districts as well as RG12, RG14, RG18, RG19, RG26, RG27, RG42, RG45, GU15, GU17, GU19, GU46, GU47, OX10, SL4, SL5.

This ensures that local boys from Woodley to Tilehurst, and Whitley to Caversham, are given priority access to Reading’s only boys’ grammar school.

All details of the named feeder schools and priority postcodes is available on the Year 7 Entry page.

Several queries were raised about the categories for twins or multiple births and for children of staff. Rest assured that all candidates must still achieve the eligible score, so academic ability remains central to the selection process. For reassurance, the school is required to follow its published policy, and rulings on the Admissions Code confirm that oversubscription criteria may create advantage or disadvantage, provided this is fair. Governors have therefore approved giving priority to eligible twins or multiple‑birth applicants within Categories 3 onwards, and to children of School staff within Category 1.

In the interests of transparency, the School plans to go beyond its current practice of publishing anonymised test data each year. This spring, we will also publish anonymised information on the postcodes and primary‑school backgrounds of registrants and applicants, along with the disadvantaged profile of these groups compared with the local community. We hope this provides important context about the existing unfairness and helps explain why Reading School has a moral duty to make bold changes to its admissions policy. We trust that all stakeholders agree that admissions must be fair.

We do not expect these changes to produce an immediate or dramatic shift in the composition of the September 2027 cohort. However, the new policy will allow us to work more effectively with under‑represented communities and schools across Reading and to reinforce the message that Reading School is a place for all of the town’s bright and curious boys.