Apply to Kendrick School, in plain English.
Kendrick is a selective girls' grammar in central Reading that sets its own admission test — two papers in one morning covering English, maths and reasoning — and ranks girls by their combined age-standardised score. It is one of the most oversubscribed grammars in the country, but with a twist that catches families out: places are reserved for a postcode-based designated area, and no girl living outside it has been offered a place since 2013. Register directly with the school by 1 July 2026 — separately from, and months before, the October CAF deadline.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
You register for Kendrick's own test directly with the school — by 1 July 2026.
Kendrick sets its own admission test on 18 September 2026: two papers of about an hour each covering English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Raw marks are age-standardised and your daughter is ranked on the combined score. Registration opens 1 May 2026 and closes midnight on Wednesday 1 July 2026 — separate from, and months before, the Common Application Form. Miss it and there is no route to a 2027 place.
Where you live decides almost everything — the designated area is the real gate.
Kendrick's places are reserved for a postcode-based designated area (Priority Area 1 and Priority Area 2). A high score is necessary but not sufficient: girls living outside the area sit at the very bottom of the ranking, and in practice no out-of-area girl has been offered a place since the designated area was introduced in 2013. Your daughter must be living at the qualifying address on 31 August 2026.
Priority Area 1 beats Priority Area 2 for the last quarter of places.
Within the area, the first 75% of places (96) go to any qualifying girl in Priority Area 1 or 2 by score. The final 25% (32) go to Priority Area 1 first, then Priority Area 2. Priority Area 1 is Reading and its immediate suburbs (RG1, RG2, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG30, RG31); Priority Area 2 is the wider ring out to Wokingham, Bracknell, Henley, Pangbourne and Yateley. Check exactly which area your postcode falls in.
Four steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
Registering for the Kendrick test (step 1) closes on 1 July 2026 — months before the CAF deadline that catches most families out. Registering for the test is not the same as naming Kendrick on your council application; you must do both.
If more girls reach the standard than there are places, these 6 criteria decide.
Girls with an EHCP naming Kendrick are admitted first, within the 128. A qualifying score is then set; girls who reach it are placed in the order below, ranked by test score within each level. Pupil Premium and Service Premium applicants in the area get a qualifying score 5 points lower. At every level, a tie is broken by straight-line distance to the school gate. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A girl in council care, or who was looked after before being adopted (including from state care outside England), comes first — provided she reaches the lower qualifying score (5 points below the main qualifying score). This applies wherever she lives.
What the document says: The applicant is a looked after child or previously looked after child. Such an applicant, provided she has achieved the lower qualifying score, will be offered a place even if she is not ranked in the top 128 places.
In plain English: Girls who attract Pupil Premium (free school meals in the last 6 years) or Service Premium (a forces family) and live in Priority Area 1 or 2 get a qualifying score 5 points lower than everyone else. Supply the evidence at registration. A girl in this group who clears the lower score is offered a place even if she isn't ranked in the top 128.
What the document says: The applicant is in receipt of Pupil Premium or Service Premium on 31st August 2026. The applicant's permanent home address must also be within Priority Area 1 or 2 of the designated area on 31st August 2026 and they should still be living there at the time of admission. A qualifying score of 5 points lower will be applied. Any such applicant who has achieved the lower qualifying score will be offered a place even if she is not ranked in the top 128.
In plain English: Up to 96 of the 128 places (75%) go to girls living anywhere in the designated area — Priority Area 1 or 2 — ranked purely on test score. This is the main route in. Your daughter must be living at the qualifying address on 31 August 2026 and still there when she starts.
What the document says: Offers will be made from the ranked list, according to the ranked order until up to 75% (96) of places have been offered, where the permanent home address of the applicant is within Priority Area 1 or 2 of the designated area and is the permanent home address of the parent(s)/carer(s) and the applicant on 31st August 2026.
In plain English: The remaining 25% of places (32) are offered first to girls in Priority Area 1 — Reading and its immediate suburbs — ranked by score. This is why Priority Area 1 has a real edge over Priority Area 2 at the margin.
What the document says: The remaining 25% (32) places will be offered in the following order: the permanent home address of the applicant is within Priority Area 1 of the designated area and this is the permanent home address of the parent(s)/carer(s) and the applicant on 31st August 2026.
In plain English: If any of the final 32 places are left after Priority Area 1 girls are placed, they go to girls in Priority Area 2 — the wider ring out to Wokingham, Bracknell, Henley, Pangbourne and Yateley — ranked by score.
What the document says: The permanent home address of the applicant is within Priority Area 2 of the designated area and this is the address of the parent(s)/carer(s) and the applicant on 31st August 2026 and they should still be living there at the time of admission.
In plain English: Girls living outside the designated area are considered last, and only if places remain after every in-area applicant. In practice that never happens: no out-of-area girl has been offered a place since the designated area began in 2013, however high her score. If you live outside the area, treat a place as extremely unlikely.
What the document says: Applicants whose permanent home address is NOT in the designated area of the school. Only if there are further places available will applicants who live outside the designated area be considered.
A real boundary — not just a tiebreaker.
Unlike most super-selective grammars, Kendrick's designated area is, in practice, a wall. It is defined by postcode: Priority Area 1 is Reading and its immediate suburbs (RG1, RG2, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG30, RG31), and Priority Area 2 is the wider ring — RG7, RG8, RG9, RG10, RG12, RG40, RG41, RG42, RG45, the Hartley Wintney part of RG27, Blackwater (GU17), Yateley and Sandhurst (GU46/GU47), and the Maidenhead sectors of SL6. Score still decides your daughter's rank within the area, but living outside it leaves her at the very back of the queue.
Distance only ever breaks a tie: where two girls have exactly the same overall test score, the place goes to the one living nearer the school gate, measured in a straight line using Reading Borough Council's mapping software. A girl living closer but outside the designated area is still ranked behind every in-area girl.
See the designated area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: in the race. Outside: realistically not.
Girl A lives in Earley (RG6) — inside the designated area — so her score puts her straight into the main pool for 96 places. Girl B lives in Oxford, outside the area: even with a higher score she falls into criterion 6 and is considered only if places remain after every in-area girl — which, since 2013, has never happened. Distance never rescues an out-of-area applicant.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
The school holds a waiting list of eligible girls. When a place comes free, it goes to the girl ranked highest under the same oversubscription criteria — not first-come-first-served. The list is used to offer places until 31 January 2028. A girl whose family moves into the designated area can be re-ranked on 8 September 2027 with documentary evidence of the move.
Contact Kendrick's Admissions Team after National Offer Day to be added.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place. Appeal information is provided with the refusal and on Reading Borough Council's website. Appeals are heard by an independent panel, and appealing does not affect your daughter's waiting-list position.
Joining Year 12 at Kendrick.
Kendrick has a large, academic sixth form. External applicants apply directly to the school — not through the council CAF — and need to clear a GCSE grade floor with subject-specific top-ups.
The grade floor.
Applicants normally need eight GCSEs at grade 5/B or above, two of which must be English Language and Maths. On top of that floor, A-level subjects need at least a grade 6/B in the relevant GCSE — rising to grade 7/A for Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. A BTEC Level 2 at Merit, Distinction or Distinction* is accepted as an alternative qualification.
Apply direct to the school.
Sixth-form applications go straight to Kendrick, with an autumn deadline the year before entry. High demand means a place is not guaranteed even where predicted grades meet the floor. See Kendrick's sixth-form admission page for the current form and deadline.