Apply to Reading School, in plain English.
Reading School is a selective boys' grammar on Erleigh Road that sets its own four-paper entrance test — Adventure, Beacon, Compass and Discovery — and ranks boys by their combined age-standardised score. Around 450 boys compete each year for 150 places (138 day plus 12 boarding), but a high score alone is rarely enough: places run through a nested catchment, with priority for the local feeder primaries and the thirteen Priority Postcodes before the wider catchment area. Register directly with the school by 17 May 2026 — separately from, and months before, the October council application.
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 Reading School's own test directly with the school — by 17 May 2026.
Reading School sets its own entrance test: four papers — Adventure, Beacon, Compass and Discovery — in a single sitting, covering reading and writing, problem-solving, Key Stage 2 subjects and creative thinking. Raw marks are age-standardised. The online registration form opens 27 March 2026 and closes at midnight on Sunday 17 May 2026 — separate from, and months before, the Common Application Form. In-catchment boys are tested on 16 July 2026; out-of-catchment boys sit an online test on 25 September 2026. Miss the registration and there is no route to a 2027 place.
Where you live decides almost everything — the catchment is the real gate.
Reaching the eligible score only gets your son into the ranking. Places are then offered category by category, and the last category — Category 6 — is everyone whose home address is outside the catchment area. Those places are reached only if any remain after every in-catchment boy has been placed, which in practice almost never happens. Your son's address is fixed by his permanent home on the July 2026 test day, and must still be in the catchment on National Offer Day.
Feeder primaries and the thirteen Priority Postcodes come ahead of the wider catchment.
Inside the catchment there is a pecking order. After the priority and sporting-aptitude places, up to half the remaining places go to boys at a named feeder primary who also live in a Priority Postcode; then up to 80% to the Priority Postcodes themselves (RG1, RG2, RG4–RG10, RG30, RG31, RG40, RG41); and only then to the wider catchment area. Which primary your son attends and which postcode you live in can matter as much as his score.
Four steps — the first deadline is spring, not October.
Registering for the Reading School test (step 1) closes on 17 May 2026 — months before the CAF deadline that catches most families out. Registering for the test is not the same as naming Reading School on your council application; you must do both.
If more boys reach the standard than there are places, these 9 criteria decide.
Boys with an EHCP naming Reading School are admitted first, within the PAN. An eligible score is then set; boys who reach it are placed in the category order below, ranked by test score within each category. Where a category isn't filled, its places cascade to the next one down. A tie is broken first by the Discovery paper, then by straight-line distance to the school gate. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A boy in council care, or who was looked after before being adopted or placed under a special guardianship or child arrangements order (including from care outside England), comes first — provided he reaches the lower eligible score, 5 marks below the usual one. This applies wherever he lives.
What the document says: Looked-After, Previously Looked-After Children and Internationally Adopted Previously Looked After Children… The eligible score for these candidates is 5 marks below the usual eligible score.
In plain English: Boys who attract the Pupil Premium (free school meals now or in the last 6 years) or the Service Premium (a forces family) and live in the catchment area get an eligible score 5 marks lower than other applicants. Declare it on the registration form and supply evidence by 31 May 2026.
What the document says: Pupil Premium or Service Premium: who live in the catchment area and are entitled to the Pupil Premium or Service Premium grant. The eligible score for these candidates is 5 marks below the usual eligible score.
In plain English: Boys living in the catchment for whom a relevant professional — a doctor, social worker or other specialist — can demonstrate a significant social or welfare reason why they specifically need Reading School. The eligible score is again 5 marks lower. Priority is given only in exceptional, evidenced cases.
What the document says: Social or Welfare Need: who live in the catchment area and for whom it can be demonstrated that they have a significant social or welfare need to attend the School… supported by written evidence from a relevant professional.
In plain English: Boys living in the catchment whose parent has worked at Reading School for two or more years, or was recruited to a post with a recognised skill shortage. Unlike the three above, the usual eligible score applies here — there is no 5-mark reduction.
What the document says: Children of School Staff: Candidates with an eligible score who live in the catchment area and whose parent has been employed at the school for two or more years… or recruited to a post with a recognised skill shortage. The usual eligible score applies here.
In plain English: Up to 15 places go to boys who reach the eligible academic score and pass a two-stage Sporting Aptitude Assessment (proposed 12 July 2026), ranked by their sports-aptitude score. You opt in on the registration form. Out-of-catchment day applicants cannot take it.
What the document says: Category 2: Sporting Aptitude (up to 15 places across Day and Boarding). Candidates with an eligible score who live in the catchment area (or have registered for a Boarding place) and exceed the threshold in the Sporting Aptitude Assessment… ranked according to their standardised score in the sporting aptitude assessment.
In plain English: Up to half of the remaining places go to boys enrolled at one of Reading School's named feeder primaries — state primaries within a 4.6-mile radius of the Erleigh Road gate — who also live in a Priority Postcode, ranked by test score. Your son must be at the feeder school on the July test day and still there on National Offer Day. The named list and a map are on the school's Year 7 page; fee-paying schools are never feeders.
What the document says: Category 3: Reading Feeder Schools (up to 50% of remaining places). Candidates with an eligible score who are enrolled at one of the named feeder primary schools by date of the July 2026 entrance test day and continue to be so at National Offer Day 2027, and whose main home address is in the category 4 Priority Postcode area. Feeder schools are state funded primary schools located within a 4.6mile radius of Reading School's Erleigh Road entrance gate.
In plain English: Up to 80% of the places still left go to boys whose home is in one of the thirteen Priority Postcodes — RG1, RG2, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7, RG8, RG9, RG10, RG30, RG31, RG40, RG41 — ranked by score. A multiple-birth boy whose twin or triplet is ranked in the top 138 is placed first within this group; everyone else, including home-schooled boys, follows by score.
What the document says: Category 4: Reading Priority Postcodes (up to 80% of remaining places). Candidates with an eligible score and whose main home address… is within the following postcodes: RG1, RG2, RG30, RG31, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7, RG8, RG9, RG10, RG40, RG41 … ranked according to their standardised test score.
In plain English: Any places still left go to boys whose home is in the wider catchment area — the 29 postcode districts in Appendix 2, which adds the outer ring (Newbury, Thatcham, Tadley, Bracknell, Crowthorne, Camberley, Bagshot, Windsor, Ascot, Wallingford and more) to the Priority Postcodes — ranked by score, multiple-birth siblings first.
What the document says: Category 5: Catchment Area (remaining places). Candidates with an eligible score whose main home address is within the catchment area… RG1, RG2, RG30, RG31, RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7, RG8, RG9, RG10, RG40, RG41 plus RG12, RG14, RG18, RG19, RG26, RG27, RG42, RG45, GU15, GU17, GU19, GU46, GU47, OX10, SL4, SL5.
In plain English: Boys who reach the eligible score but fit none of the categories above — including everyone whose home is outside the catchment area — are placed last, ranked by score, and only if places remain. Out-of-catchment boys also have only their creativity paper marked unless places are still open after 1 March 2027. Treat an out-of-catchment place as very unlikely.
What the document says: Category 6: All Other Eligible Candidates. Candidates with an eligible score who do not meet any of the above categories, including those whose address is NOT in the catchment area… ranked according to their standardised score.
A real boundary — not just a tiebreaker.
Reading School's catchment is defined by postcode, and in practice it is a wall: out-of-catchment boys sit in Category 6 and are reached only if places remain. The catchment area (Appendix 2) is 29 postcode districts — RG1, RG2, RG4–RG10, RG12, RG14, RG18, RG19, RG26, RG27, RG30, RG31, RG40–RG42, RG45, GU15, GU17, GU19, GU46, GU47, OX10, SL4 and SL5 — stretching from Reading out to Newbury, Tadley, Bracknell, Camberley, Windsor, Ascot and Wallingford. Inside it, the thirteen Priority Postcodes (RG1, RG2, RG4–RG10, RG30, RG31, RG40, RG41) and the named feeder primaries are placed ahead of the wider ring. Score decides your son's rank within each category, but living outside the area leaves him at the very back.
Distance only ever breaks a tie: where two boys have the same overall score and the same Discovery-paper score, the place goes to the one living nearer the Erleigh Road gate, measured in a straight line using Reading Borough Council's mapping software. A boy living closer but outside the catchment is still ranked behind every in-catchment boy.
See the catchment area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: in the race. Outside: realistically not.
Boy A lives in Earley (RG6) — a Priority Postcode inside the catchment — so his score puts him straight into the running for the feeder, Priority-Postcode and catchment places. Boy B lives in Oxford, outside the catchment: even with a higher score he falls into Category 6 and is considered only if places remain after every in-catchment boy. Distance never rescues an out-of-catchment applicant.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
An eligible boy who isn't offered a place is automatically added to a waiting list. When a place comes free, it goes to the boy ranked highest under the same oversubscription categories — not first-come-first-served. The list is re-ranked on 1 April 2027, held by the council until 31 August 2027, and then by the school until 31 January 2028.
A move into the catchment is taken into account when the list is re-ranked, with documentary evidence.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place. Appeal information is published on the Reading School website after 1 March, and appeals must state their grounds. They are heard by an independent panel whose decision binds both school and family, and appealing does not affect your son's waiting-list position.
Joining Year 12 at Reading School.
Reading School has a large, academic sixth form of around 180 in Year 12 and welcomes external boys for both day and boarding places. External applicants apply directly to the school — not through the council CAF — and need to clear a GCSE points floor with subject-specific top-ups.
The grade floor.
Applicants normally need at least 56 points across their best 8 GCSEs (each grade scored on its number, with vocational equivalents counted), including at least a grade 5 in Maths and English Language. Boys who are Pupil Premium, Service Premium or Looked After need 54 points on the same basis. Individual A-level subjects carry their own GCSE grade requirements on top of the floor.
Apply direct to the school.
Sixth-form applications go straight to Reading School, with an autumn deadline the year before entry. High demand means a place is not guaranteed even where predicted grades clear the floor. See Reading School's Year 12 entry page for the current form, subject requirements and deadline.