Reading Grammar Schools: Kendrick and Reading School Entry

Reading's two state grammar schools sit inside a local authority where most secondary places are allocated by catchment and distance, so families whose children may sit an entrance test face a parallel process alongside the ordinary common application form. Kendrick School, a girls' grammar in the centre of the town, and Reading School, its boys' counterpart, each set and mark their own entrance test, publish their own catchment or priority-area rules, and act as their own admission authority, so a family applying to both must register separately with each school as well as listing preferences with Reading Borough Council.

Each school publishes its own admissions pages, and Reading Borough Council publishes the coordinated scheme that sits around both, setting out how the common application form, national offer day and appeals process work for every Reading secondary school including the two grammars.

Reading's two grammar schools

Two schools account for all selective state grammar places within Reading. Kendrick School, on London Road in the centre of Reading, is a girls' grammar school taking pupils from Year 7 through to the sixth form. Reading School, its sister foundation and fellow local authority grammar, is a boys' school offering day places and a small number of weekly boarding places. Both operate as their own admission authorities, setting their own entrance tests and oversubscription criteria outside the council's general secondary scheme.

• Kendrick School, Reading: girls' grammar school, London Road, Reading.
• Reading School, Reading: boys' grammar school, day places and a small number of weekly boarding places.

The Kendrick School entrance test

Kendrick's own admissions test is set and marked by GL Assessment, an external testing body. Candidates sit two papers, each lasting around an hour, covering a combination of verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics; the school runs sessions in the morning and afternoon, though families cannot choose which slot their child is allocated. There is no creative writing component, and the school does not share results or a common test with any other grammar school.

• Provider: GL Assessment.
• Format: two multiple-choice papers, each around an hour.
• Content: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics.
• No creative writing element.

The Reading School entrance test

Reading School's test is set by FSCE Ltd, an examining body associated with the school itself, and content changes from year to year, so the school is explicit that its published familiarisation guides are not a definitive syllabus. The test draws on subjects across the key stage 2 curriculum, does not include verbal or non-verbal reasoning, and adds an element assessing creativity alongside academic content. Because no commercial practice papers exist for the FSCE test, the school's own familiarisation guides for parents and for children are the only authorised preparation material it publishes.

• Provider: FSCE Ltd, an examining body associated with the school.
• Content drawn from across the key stage 2 curriculum, plus a section assessing creativity.
• No verbal or non-verbal reasoning.
• No commercial practice papers exist; the school's own familiarisation guides are the only authorised preparation material.

Registration and the admissions timetable

Entry to either school runs on two separate tracks that both need completing. Families register directly with the relevant school for its entrance test, and separately name school preferences, in order, on the common application form submitted to their home local authority by the national deadline of 31 October in Year 6; the two steps are independent, and completing only one leaves an application incomplete. National offer day, when the home authority confirms which school has been allocated, falls on 1 March.

Kendrick's registration window typically opens in May and closes at the start of July, during the summer term of Year 5, with the test itself sat in September at the start of Year 6 and results issued through the school's online applicant portal ahead of the October CAF deadline.

Reading School's registration opens in the spring term of Year 5, around Easter, and closes in mid-May. Most candidates, including day and boarding applicants, sit the test in July, at the end of Year 5, with a later September sitting held for day applicants living outside the school's catchment area; results are issued in October, ahead of the CAF deadline.

• Register directly with the school for its entrance test (Kendrick: May to early July, Year 5; Reading School: around Easter to mid-May, Year 5).
• Sit the test (Kendrick: September, start of Year 6; Reading School: mainly July, end of Year 5, with a September sitting for out-of-catchment day applicants).
• Submit the common application form to the home local authority by 31 October in Year 6.
• Receive the national offer on 1 March.

Catchment and priority areas

Kendrick defines a designated area split into Priority Area 1 and Priority Area 2 by postcode, covering parts of Reading and neighbouring authorities including West Berkshire, Wokingham and South Oxfordshire. The school states that no candidate living outside the designated area, whatever score they achieve, has been offered a place since the area was introduced.

Reading School applies a fixed order of priority once oversubscribed, working down through defined groups before reaching candidates outside its catchment area.

• Kendrick: within the designated area, candidates are ranked by test score, with Priority Area 1 placed above Priority Area 2 regardless of score.
• Reading School order of priority when oversubscribed: looked-after children, then those with pupil premium, service premium, or a recognised social or welfare need, or who are staff children, then reserved sporting-aptitude places (up to 10% of the intake), then named Reading feeder primary schools, then designated priority postcodes, then the wider catchment area, then all other eligible candidates.

How places are allocated and appeals

Both schools rank all eligible candidates, those within the relevant catchment, postcode or priority category, by their entrance test score, and offer places from the top down until each year's places are filled. Candidates who qualify but miss out on a place are placed on a waiting list, ordered by the same catchment and score rules and not by the date of application.

Where a place is not offered, parents can appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. Appeals for both schools are lodged with Reading Borough Council, which administers the panel process on the schools' behalf, with a deadline that typically falls around four weeks after the March offer day. The panel checks whether the school's published admission arrangements were applied correctly.

• Places offered top-down by test score within each catchment or priority category.
• Unsuccessful but eligible candidates go on a waiting list ranked the same way.
• Appeals go to an Independent Appeal Panel administered by Reading Borough Council.
• Appeal deadlines typically fall around four weeks after the March offer day.

Preparing for entry

Because the two schools test differently, preparation looks different for each. Kendrick's GL Assessment format rewards familiarity with verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types alongside English and mathematics, so practice tends to focus on timed, multiple-choice papers in that style. Reading School's FSCE test draws on the breadth of the key stage 2 curriculum and includes a section assessing creativity, and since the school publishes no commercial practice papers, preparation usually centres on its own familiarisation guides together with broad subject revision and practice expressing ideas under timed conditions.

Meeting each school's registration window matters as much as academic preparation, since neither school's test can usually be booked outside its stated dates.

• Kendrick: GL Assessment-style practice in verbal and non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics.
• Reading School: broad key stage 2 subject revision plus practice expressing ideas creatively under timed conditions, using the school's familiarisation guides.
• Registering within each school's stated window matters as much as subject preparation.

Preparing for the Reading Grammar Schools 11+ with Taylor Tuition

The Reading Grammar Schools 11+ rewards steady preparation over a year or so, with the last term given to timed practice and interview confidence. Having prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools, with placements including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, our tutors match the programme to the school's assessment format and to where the child is starting from.

Because the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools, and more than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status, families get a tutor who understands what the assessors are looking for. Every tutor who works with children holds an enhanced DBS check.

Families in Berkshire and further afield work with us online, and in person in central London. Fees start from £50 per 50-minute session and depend on tutor level and subject, with no registration fee and a free initial consultation to talk through your child's current level and the timeline to the 11+. Families receive progress reports after sessions and have a dedicated point of contact, and we reply to enquiries within one working day with tutor recommendations.

Read more about our 11+ entrance exam tutors, or send an enquiry and we will come back with tutor recommendations.