Important update for prospective Reading School candidates
I'm writing regarding the recently announced changes to the Reading School entrance exams, which take effect starting from this September.
For parents who are not aware of the changes, they can be summarised as follows:
The existing Papers 1 and 2, which previously tested boys on English and Maths skills up to Year 5 level, will be replaced with papers which test boys on subjects across the National Curriculum.
According to the most recent information provided by Reading School, 'Subjects may include any of the following: Art & Design, Languages, Computing, Mathematics, Design & Technology, Music, English, Physical Education, Geography, Science and History'.
The new papers will still follow the existing format of one multiple choice paper, and one 'free response' paper (where boys write their own answers, rather than picking from multiple options). As the papers are still being marked by computer, we do not anticipate any major changes to the format, such as longer responses being required.
The existing Paper 3, which tests boys on Creative Writing, will become a 'Creativity' paper, and will continue to be used as a tiebreaker, only to be marked by the school if boys reach the required scores across Papers 1 and 2. Reading School have defined 'creativity' as 'the ability to think of new and imaginative ideas, or to solve problems in original and unique ways'. At the time of writing, Reading School have not provided any more detailed information, but have promised that a new familiarisation paper will be released in due course, to give boys plenty of time to prepare for what to expect in the exams.
Our approach, between now and the end of April, will be to continue to focus our tuition around the core KS1 Maths and English skills, which will still be of key importance under the new exam format. We also continue to encourage boys to engage in as much extra-curricular reading as possible - any parents looking for book recommendations can email us for a personalised reading list.
Once the new familiarisation paper is released, we will work with all of our tutors to build an appropriate amount of wider KS1 and creative thinking content into boys' tuition, and we will be providing our tutors with additional physical and digital content for this purpose.
Our mock exam format will also evolve over the coming months, in line with the announced changes, and we are currently working with an experienced team of school examiners to ensure that our papers continue to provide a fantastic and beneficial experience to all boys.
In addition, we have already scheduled a focus group session, which will take place shortly after this September's exams, where we will be asking boys who attended to provide us with feedback on their experience, to help us align our content even more closely for 2026.
Rest assured that we will continue to keep you up to date with the latest announcements regarding these changes.
Guide To Reading School Entry
