The Ultimate Guide To Reading School Entry
Founded in 1125, Reading School is a prestigious selective boys' grammar school with Academy status. It boasts exceptional academic results, with over 90% of Year 13 students achieving A* to B grades in A Levels and more than 85% of GCSE students securing the highest grades. With 150 students per year group, 80 boarders, and 360 students in the Sixth Form, Reading School offers a vibrant community. Named the Secondary School of the Year for the South East in the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2024, the school excels in music, sport, and drama. Rugby and cricket have particularly strong fixture lists, and other sports are played to a high standard.
The School
-
The Year 7 Open Day for September 2027 entry was held on Wednesday 25th March 2026.
-
Registration for the 2027 entrance test opened on Friday 27th March 2026 and closed at midnight on Sunday 17th May 2026.
-
Mock exam days for boys currently in Years 4 and 5 will be taking place on the following dates, following the brand new four paper exam format:
Sun 17 Jan 2027
Sun 18 Apr 2027
Sat 8 May 2027
Sat 12 Jun 2027
Sun 27 Jun 2027
Sun 22 Aug 2027
-
Sunday 12th July 2026
-
The entrance test was held at Reading School on the 15th July (SEN applicants) and 16th July (all in-catchment and boarding applicants) 2026. Out of catchment applicants will sit the same test on Friday 25th September 2026.
-
Results for 2027 entry will be available online in mid-October 2026.
-
Click here for the full Admissions Policies document provided by Reading School
Key Dates
The Entrance Exams
All of the information in this guide has been updated to reflect the new four paper exam format. We held a focus group in early October 2025, inviting 14 boys to provide us with their first hand feedback, having sat the new format exams in September 2025. A further focus group was held in August 2026, shortly after the first July entrance exam. Our specialist examination team, which includes examiners, alongside current and ex grammar school teachers, have created six brand new sets of mock papers, numbered 'RS1' to 'RS6'. All students sitting a mock exam with us will be sitting papers which match the new format (Adventure Paper, Beacon Paper, Compass Paper and Discovery Paper), with a focus on ‘thinking like an author’ and ‘thinking like a problem solver’.
Candidates were tested by the school on Wednesday 15th July 2026 and Thursday 16th July 2026. The exam dates for 2027 have not yet been announced.
There will be four separate tests on exam day. The Reading School entrance exams test boys across a range of subjects covered in the Key Stage 2 curriculum:
Maths
English
History
Science
PE
Geography
Languages
Art & Design
Music
Computing
Design & Technology
These exams are set by Future Stories (FSCE) and differ from the standard 11+ exam sat in other parts of the country. Unlike other entrance and 11+ exams, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning do not play a part in the Reading School entrance exams. There are generally only 150 places available in Year 7, so unfortunately doing well in the exams does not guarantee a place. After results are released in mid-October, other factors are taken into consideration, such as your distance from the school.
Exam themes: ‘Thinking like an author’ and ‘thinking like a problem solver’
Papers 1, 2 and 3:
These papers consist of multiple choice and free response questions, based on the syllabus up to the end of Year 5.
Adventure Paper
Beacon Paper
Compass Paper
Paper 4:
This is the Creativity Task. The Discovery Paper will only be assessed if students achieve an eligible score in Papers 1, 2 and 3. Reading School define creativity as: ‘the ability to think of new and imaginative ideas, or to solve problems in original and unique ways’. Read our explanation of what is meant by ‘Creativity’ and how it differs from Creative Writing.
Please click on the following links for the official familiarisation guide for children and the official familiarisation guide for parents, released by Reading School for the 2026 exams.
Catchment Areas
You can view the catchment area for Reading School below. To apply for and sit the entrance exams, students do not need to live in the catchment area, however the catchment area does strongly affect how available school places are allocated to students who are successful in the exams.
-
RG1, RG2, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7, RG8, RG10, RG12, RG18, RG19, RG30, RG31, RG40, RG41, RG42, RG45. RG9 1, RG9 2, RG9 3, RG9 4 & RG9 5 RG14 1, RG14 2, RG14 3, RG14 5, RG14 6 & RG14 7 RG20 4, RG20 5, RG20 6 & part of RG20 7 (east of A34) RG26 3, RG26 4 & part of RG26 5 (north of A339) RG27 0 parts of RG27 8 & RG27 9 (north of M3)
GU15 1, GU15 2, GU15 3 & GU15 4 GU17 0 & GU17 9 GU19 5 GU46 6 & GU46 7 GU47 0, GU47 8 & GU47 9
OX10 0, OX10 8, OX10 9 & part of OX10 6 (south of A4130) OX11 9
SL4 4 SL5 0, SL5 7, SL5 8 & SL5 9
Current Reading School Year 9 Student
“The maths and English tests were pretty much what I expected, but I did find the creative writing quite challenging.”
How we can help at Brainbox Learning Reading
Starting at just £34 per hour, the one-to-one, face-to-face tuition we offer is completely tailored towards the requirements of the Reading School entrance exam, and is guaranteed to stand your child in the best stead when exam time comes around. In all cases, our sessions provide the ideal mix between honing the necessary English, Maths, wider Year 5 National Curriculum and Creativity skills required to succeed, and providing enough exposure to our real world mock and past exam papers that taking the real exam will feel like second nature. Click here for more information, price lists or to book a free consultation.
Our mock exam days provide boys with:
the experience of sitting the new four-paper format entrance exam under timed conditions and managing their nerves, in an exam hall filled with unfamiliar faces from other schools
a realistic opportunity to track and measure their progress and level, and increase their confidence
fully individualised, detailed, question-by-question feedback reports, with question walkthroughs, teacher comments and links to further practice resources
We replicate as closely as possible the conditions boys will experience on the day of the real exam, from the moment they are dropped off, all the way through to pickup time. Our papers are carefully created from scratch by a team of expert 11+ teachers, with many years of experience teaching in schools, privately, and writing, marking and moderating real school exams. For each mock exam sat with us, parents will receive a fully comprehensive feedback report and presentation to look through with their child.
Reading School Mock Exam Days
