Reading School

• The Reading School 11 Plus entrance exam consists of two papers, taken on the same day, each 50 to 60 minutes in duration and testing three areas – verbal, numerical and non-verbal reasoning.
• All questions on both papers are multiple choice and pupils indicate their answers on a separate answer sheet.

A Familiarisation booklet, produced by the CEM, contains information about the content of the Reading 11 Plus tests, some advice about taking the tests and a few sample questions.  The latest version will be published on the Reading School website as soon as it is available, but but no later than when registration opens.  You can see the most recent versions below:

• Reading School Entrance Test Familiarisation Booklet
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Word Choice
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Non Verbal Reasoning
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Maths
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Comprehension

• You need to register your child for the Reading School Admission Test by completing the online registration form on the school website.
• The purpose of registration is for your child to take the entrance test, not apply for a place at Reading School. Based on the results, you will still need to provide your child’s school preferences to your local authority on the Common Application Form (CAF).
• Online registration for the 2020 exam opened on Friday 1st May 2020 and closed at midnight on Wednesday 1st July 2020.  The registration dates for the 2021 exam have yet to be announced.
• Reading School use the same Admission Test as a number of other Grammar Schools, including Kendrick School, Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools, Ilford County High School, Woodford County High School and Chelmsford County High School.
• The test takes place on the same day and therefore your child can only sit the test at one school.

Registering for more than one school using the CEM 11+ test

• If your child wishes to apply for Reading School and one of the other schools, you will need to submit an application to both schools, indicating where your child is sitting the test.  This will ensure that the raw marks are shared with the other school(s).  Your child’s scores will only be shared with the schools they are registered with so it is important that you apply to all schools you wish your child to be considered for. For example, if your child wants to apply to Reading and a Slough grammar school:
  • You will need to complete the Reading School and Slough Consortium online application forms. 
  • If they are sitting the exam at Reading School, you will need to indicate on the Slough Consortium form that they are sitting the exam in Reading. 
  • If they are sitting the exam in Slough, you will need to indicate on the Reading School form that they are sitting the exam in Slough.  
• If your child is applying to more than one school that uses the same admissions test, it is very important that you use the same details for them when registering at each school.  If you fail to do this, it could severely delay their application and risk your child’s scores not being matched and shared.  Therefore, make sure you correctly record your child’s first name, surname, date of birth, address and primary school, on each application.

It is extremely challenging to secure entry to Reading School, with over 7 boys applying for every place and less than 42.9% of those achieving a qualifying score (108 or above) likely to gain admission.*

The qualifying score of Reading School pupils who sat the entrance exam in 2020 for entry in 2021 is 108 (excluding those on pupil premium, service premium, or a child in care or previously in care and residing in Reading School’s designated area).

Even if your son achieves and exceeds the qualifying score, he is not guaranteed a space. The exam is highly competitive, with places offered to the highest scoring candidates.  If the number of students that meet or exceed the the qualifying score is higher than the admission number for 2021 (150), the school’s oversubscription criteria is applied. In other words, places are allocated in order priority based on the criteria set by the school. Reading School’s criteria differs slightly between day places and boarding places, but in both cases, first priority is give to pupils in care or previously in care, followed by pupils whose permanent address is in Reading School’s designated area and who are in receipt of Pupil Premium or Service Premium.  Please see the school’s admission policy for further information.

In the 2020 exam, 350 students achieved Reading School’s qualifying score of 108 or above (compared with 338 in 2019), with only 150 places available, including 138 day places and 12 boarding places. The highest scoring candidate in the 2020 exam achieved a standardised score of 127.07 (compared with 128.5 in the 2019 exam).  Reading School does not publish the lowest qualifying score of a child that was admitted until a year after the exam. The lowest qualifying score of a child that was admitted in September 2020 was 112.33 for day places (compared to 112.43 in 2019) and 108.54 for boarding places (compared to 109.07 in 2019). This does not include candidates who qualified in categories 1 to 3 of the oversubscription criteria, such as those in care or in receipt of pupil premium.

For pupils in care or previously in care (categories 1 and 2), or pupils with a permanent address in Reading School’s designated area and in receipt of Pupil Premium or Service Premium (category 3), the qualifying score for September 2020 was 103.00.  This means that pupils that achieved the qualifying score of 103 or above will be offered a place at Reading School before categories 4 and 5 are applied.

* For September 2021 entry, 1,076 boys applied to Reading School, including 826 who sat the test at the school and 250 that sat the test at another venue and requested that their results were shared with Reading School.  That is more than 7 boys applying for each of the 150 spaces available.  Only 350 of the 1,076 boys that applied achieved the qualifying score of 108.  Therefore, as some pupils may be admitted from categories 1, 2 or 3 with a qualifying score of 103, we can assume that less than 42.9% (i.e. less than 150) of the 350 boys that achieved the qualifying score of 108 will secure a 2021 place at Reading School.

The results date for 2021 Reading School 11 Plus exam has not yet been announced.

2021 entry for Reading School

• Due to the extraordinary circumstances this year, you needed to submit your child’s secondary school application before you received their 11 Plus exam results.  If you wished your child to be considered for entry to Reading School, you were required to name the relevant school on the Common Application Form (CAF).
• You had until the end of Saturday 31st October 2020 to submit the Common Application Form to your Local Authority.
• School places for September 2020 will be confirmed on 1st March 2021.
• In whichever year you are applying, you can name up to 6 schools on your CAF.
• If you live outside Reading, you must apply through your own Local Authority – even if your child currently attends a Reading primary school.

2022 entry for Reading School

• Although it is too early to say, if the 2021 Reading School Entrance Test takes place in September, in line with normal years, you are most likely to receive the outcome of the test before the deadline for submitting the Common Application Form to your Local Authority.