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Reading School
Reading School
Address
Erleigh Road Reading, Berkshire, RG1 5LW United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°26′54″N 0°57′18″W / 51.44833°N 0.95500°W / 51.44833; -0.95500
Information
Type	Grammar academy Day and boarding school List of state boarding schools in England
Motto	Floreat Redingensis (Latin: May Reading flourish)
Religious affiliation(s)	previously Church of England
Established	1125; 899 years ago (1125) 1486 (refounding)
Founder	Henry VII
Department for Education URN	136449 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Headmaster	Chris Evans
Gender	Boys
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	1,104
Houses	County (burgundy)   East (pink/cerise)   Laud (light blue)   School (green)   West (yellow/gold)
Colour(s)	Navy Blue, Silver
Publication	Floreat Redingensis
Boarding houses	East Wing South House
Former pupils	Old Redingensians
CEO	A M Robson
Website	www.reading-school.co.uk

Reading School is a state grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England, although it closed for a few years in the 1860s. It is a state boarding school. There are no tuition fees for day pupils, and boarders only pay for food and lodging. Reading is one of the best state schools in the UK according to the GCSE and A-level tables and has consistently ranked in the top ten.

History

Reading School was founded as part of Reading Abbey. The date of the Abbey's charter, 29 March 1125, is taken as the foundation date, despite the closure of the school in the 1860s. This date makes it the 10th oldest school in England, although there are hints that there may have been a school running in Reading before this.

In 1486, the school was refounded as a "Free Grammar School" ("free" here meaning teaching the free, or liberal, arts, not that no fees were paid) by Henry VII on the urging of the then Abbot, John Thorne. From at least this time, the School was housed in the former Hospitium of St John. The main building of the hospitium still exists, but the refectory, which once housed the schoolroom, was demolished in 1785 and Reading Town Hall now stands on the site.

After the dissolution of Reading Abbey in 1539, the school fell under the control of the corporation of Reading, its status being confirmed by Letters Patent issued by Henry VIII in 1541. This was reconfirmed in the royal charter granted to the Corporation of Reading by Elizabeth I in 1560, which made the corporation liable for the salary of the headmaster and gave them the power of appointing him.

There were interruptions to schooling in 1665, when Parliament, forced out of London by the Great Plague, took over the schoolhouse. The English Civil War also interrupted, with the school being used as a garrison by royalist forces. The school prospered at the start of the nineteenth century; in 1830, when Richard Valpy retired from the post of headmaster, there were 120 pupils. By 1866 disagreements between the town and school and problems with the lease on the school buildings had led to falling numbers. The school closed in the 1860s.

Reading School Act 1867
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for the better Regulation of the Grammar School and John Kendricke's Loan Charity, Reading.
Citation	30 & 31 Vict. c. 5
Dates
Royal assent	12 August 1867
Text of statute as originally enacted

The school re-opened, however, with the Reading School Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 5) setting out its administration and funding. The foundation stone for new buildings in Erleigh Road, designed by Alfred Waterhouse (who also designed the Natural History Museum, London), was laid by the Prince of Wales Edward VII in 1870, and in 1871 the school moved in. In 1915 Kendrick Boys' School (founded in 1875 from the legacy of John Kendrick), which had a large endowment but poor facilities, was taken over by Reading, which was poorly funded but had excellent facilities – this caused considerable controversy at the time but was ultimately seen as successful.

The Education Act 1944 saw the abolition of fees (apart from boarding charges), with the cost of education now being met by the local authority. The 1960s saw the rise of comprehensive education in England and Wales, but Reading was exempted in 1973 (along with the girls' grammar school in Reading, Kendrick) after a petition of over 30,000 local people (a third of the voters of Reading) was handed to the government.

On 6 July 2007 Reading School was officially designated as the landing site for the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance when it needs to transport patients to the nearby Royal Berkshire Hospital. Previously, seriously injured or ill patients from the Reading area had to be flown either to Wexham Park Hospital near Slough, or to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford for treatment. The new arrangement means that the school field can now be used for emergency touchdowns. Patients are transported by land ambulance from the school to the hospital's accident and emergency department across the road. While this arrangement was only made official in 2007, the school field had been unofficially used on several occasions by the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance in previous years.

The school became an academy in 2012.

In 2020, the school was found to have discriminated against a visually-impaired child by not making adjustments to enable him to take the eleven-plus entrance examination.

School site

The current school site consists of a main block (with two wings), a Science block, the Page building, the John Kendrick building, South House, Music School (formerly known as Junior School) and a chapel. The main school building, the chapel, South House and the building to the east of South House have all been designated as Grade II listed buildings by English Heritage.

The chapel is where the school's Christmas, Remembrance and Easter services take place, and every student attends once a week. The chapel has four groups of pews, facing towards the central aisle. Above the entrance is the organ, and at the far end is the altar and vestry.

Plans have been developed for improved sports and science facilities as part of the "1125 campaign". Work on improving science facilities began in 2015 and was completed in Spring 2017 as stated above. Work on the new sports facilities has begun, with a new fitness suite made on the location of the old squash courts next to chapel, and refurbishments on the gym and changing rooms completed. Work to refurbish the Physics block began in 2022, finishing with an official reopening in early 2023.

International sites

The school established a subsidiary in 2018 to participate in its cooperation with Lunhua Education and Lujiazui Corporation to establish international schools with "fusion" curricula called Suzhou Reading School in China. The first school, located on plot 2 in the town of Xushuguan in Suzhou New District, was planned to have a site area of 35,100 and construction area of 50,772 m. However, according to a report from Phoenix New Media, after completing construction in 2021, Reading School lost its license to operate there after failing its environmental assessment due to heavy soil pollution. The plot was reclassified as industrial land by the municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau in 2023.

Notable "Old Redingensians" (former students)

• Sir Thomas White, Founder of St John's College, Oxford
  Former Lord Mayor of London
• Henry Addington, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• William Laud, Chancellor of the University of Oxford
  Archbishop of Canterbury
• Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, Father of the Canadian Confederation
• Ross Brawn, Formula One Managing Director of Motorsports
• Damian Green, First Secretary of State
  Minister for the Cabinet Office

Deceased Old Redingensians (chronological order)

Living Old Redingensians (alphabetical order)

Notable headmasters

• 1588–1589: Thomas Braddock
• 1781–1830: Richard Valpy (1754–1836)
• 1871–1877: Thomas Henry Stokoe

Inspections and awards

An OFSTED report concluded that "examination results place the school in the top five per cent nationally", "Pupils' attitudes to learning are outstanding" and "The school goes to exceptional lengths to broaden and enrich the education of all pupils". The 2005 Key Stage 3 results were both the best in the country for value-added and for the average points score of each student.

In the 2004 school league tables for England (including fee-paying schools), it came eighth for GCSE-level results (average 602.5 points), 106th for A-level results (average 409.3 points) and 170th for value-added between ages 11 and 16 (score of 1037.7 compared with a baseline of 1000). It has recently become a DFES specialist school for the Humanities, specialising in English, Geography and Classics – the first school to specialise in Classics – despite entry being selected by Mathematics and verbal and non-verbal logic ability.

In 2005 the school was awarded the Sportsmark gold award for a four-year period. In the same year Reading was one of just 35 schools nationally to be made a Microsoft Partner School.

In 2007, the school was identified by the Sutton Trust as one of only 20 state schools among the 100 schools in the UK responsible for a third of admissions to Oxford and Cambridge Universities over the five preceding years. 16.0% of pupils went to Oxbridge and a 62.1% in total went to universities identified by the Sutton Trust as "top universities". In July 2011, the school was further identified by the Sutton Trust as the third highest state school, and among the top 30 schools in the country, for proportion of higher education applicants accepted at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. The report found that 16.7% of pupils were accepted to Oxbridge and 81.5% were accepted to the highly selective Sutton Trust 30 universities over the previous three years.

Reading School was given the "State School of the Year" award by The Sunday Times newspaper in 2010 and 2019, in recognition of the school's academic achievements and community orientated ethos.

Subjects taught

1. French, German, Spanish and Latin are compulsory in Year 7, while Mandarin can be chosen to replace a language except Latin. In Year 8 students must take 2 modern languages and Latin.

2. At least one ancient or modern language must be taken for the GCSEs.

3. Additional Maths is taken by the top four sets at the same time as their GCSEs. Further Maths is optional at A Level, with some students being able to take it in one block with Maths.

4. The top half of the year take an externally-assessed AS-level Philosophy exam at the end of Year 11. Those who score a B or higher can either opt-out of the subject, continue onto the A2 or redo the exam the following year. Those who didn't score a B or higher can redo the exam the following year.

5. In the sixth form, P.E. can optionally be taken as an examined A-Level. Those that do not do this must still take part in games weekly, though this is not examined or graded in any way, or must take part in Community Service during Games lessons. In Years 10 and 11, certain students are given the option of taking the GCSE as an additional subject. All students must complete Games lessons.

6. Not examined.

See also

• List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom
• List of the oldest schools in the world
• Reading Abbey Girls' School
• List of English and Welsh endowed schools (19th century)
• List of international schools in China

References

1. Clark, Alex; Gilbert, Dominic (13 August 2021). "The best secondary schools in the UK, according to GCSE results league table". The Telegraph.
2. "Parent Power 2022: Best UK schools guide and league table".
3. ^ Phillips, Daphne (1980). The Story of Reading. Countryside Books. p. 138. ISBN 0-905392-07-8. Reading Grammar School, which had fallen on bad times and had been closed in the 1860s, was revived and reopened in 1871 in an impressive new building in Erleigh Road, of which Alfred Waterhouse was the architect. The Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone in 1870
4. Michael Naxton (1986). The History of Reading School. Ringwood, Hampshire: Pardy Printers.
5. Phillips, Daphne (1980). The Story of Reading. Countryside Books. p. 42. ISBN 0-905392-07-8. the lofty refectory of the former abbey hospitium, the ground floor of which had been used since about 1486 as the schoolroom of Reading School
6. Phillips, Daphne (1980). The Story of Reading. Countryside Books. p. 88. ISBN 0-905392-07-8. In 1785-6 the old hall was taken down
7. Phillips, Daphne (1980). The Story of Reading. Countryside Books. p. 91. ISBN 0-905392-07-8. By the time he retired in 1830 he had increased the number of pupils at the school to 120
8. Reading School – "New Landing Site for Air Ambulance". The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
9. Norris, Frank (2012). "Academy conversion and predecessor schools". Ofsted. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
10. Adams, Richard (9 September 2020). "Grammar school discriminated against visually impaired child, tribunal finds". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
11. Main school building, Images of England reference no. 38922
12. Lecture Theatre at Reading School, Images of England reference no. 38923
13. South House, Images of England reference no. 38924
14. Building to the east of South House, Images of England reference no. 38925
15. Student
16. "Hello! Suzhou Reading School!" (Press release). Suzhou Lunhua Education Group. 22 December 2020.
17. Vale, Steve (October 2022). "Governors Annual Report to Parents 2021/22". Reading School.
18. "2018 Suzhou Reading School Startup". WT Partnership (Asia). 14 December 2018.
19. Chen, Wenli (8 November 2023). Wang, Tingting (ed.). "陆家嘴公司巨资购入"毒地" 实探 ：商住全面停工停售".
20. "200 invalid-request". www.reading-school.co.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
21. "Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth – History of government". history.blog.gov.uk. October 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
22. "Damian Green: May's loyal political friend and pro-EU advocate". The Guardian. 11 June 2017.
23. "Chancellor of the Exchequer | the Gazette".
24. "Print | British Museum".
25. "The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction". 1838.
26. "Grammar boys are simply the best". Reading Evening Post. 30 March 2006.
27. Andrew Linnell. The Headmaster's Letter. The Old Redingensian, May 2005, p2 (PDF). Archived 21 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
28. "University Admissions by Individual Schools" (PDF). Sutton Trust. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2009. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
29. "Degrees of Success – University Chances by Individual School" (PDF). Sutton Trust. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2011. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
30. "Schools of the Year – State Secondary School of the Year 2010". The Sunday Times. 2010. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013.

Further reading

• Michael Naxton. The History of Reading School. Ringwood, Hampshire: Pardy Printers, 1986.
• John Oakes and Martin Parsons. Reading School: The First 800 Years. Peterborough: DSM, 2005. ISBN 0-9547229-2-2.
• John Oakes and Martin Parsons. Old School Ties: Educating for Empire and War. Peterborough: DSM, 2001. ISBN 0-9536516-6-5. (The stories of Old Redingsians in World War I.)
• A History of Cricket at Reading School, 1987.

External links

• Reading School
• Reading School Parents' Association
• Old Redingensians
• School overview and profile from Schoolsfinder

• Grade II listed buildings in Reading
• Grammar schools in Reading, Berkshire
• Academies in Reading, Berkshire
• Educational institutions established in the 12th century
• 1125 establishments in England
• Boys' schools in Berkshire
• Boarding schools in Berkshire
• Alfred Waterhouse buildings
• Grade II listed educational buildings
• Schools with a royal charter