Reading Girls' School

Reading Girls’ School has demonstrated a solid overall performance, receiving good ratings for the quality of education, personal development, and an outstanding assessment in behaviour and attitudes, as well as leadership and management. The school's first inspection reveals commendable improvements over recent years, highlighting a supportive environment in which pupils are eager to learn, respect one another, and take pride in their diverse community. Additionally, strong links with local businesses and a focus on career guidance have helped to foster pupils’ ambition for their futures.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate exceptional ambition and pride in their school.
• Strong leadership focused on continuous improvement and support.
• Outstanding behaviour and a supportive school community.
• Diverse learning opportunities, including real-life experiences.
• Specialist teachers providing dedicated support to pupils.

Areas for Improvement

• Curriculum implementation is not consistently embedded across all subjects.
• Disjointed planning for personal development curriculum.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Reading Girls' School attended 92.0% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 23.4% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 7.1% of pupils at Reading Girls' School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Reading Girls' School had 17.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 10.3% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 16.2% of pupils at Reading Girls' School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 1.8% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Reading Girls' School received £8,321 and spent £7,633 for each of its 905 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £3,348,000 (£3,699 per pupil).

Across all 6 schools of The Thames Learning Trust, income was £7,763 and spending £7,300 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Reading · Reading local authority: places and applications

Reading Girls' School is part of The Thames Learning Trust, which runs 6 schools. The nearest others:

• Battle Primary Academy Reading
• Ashford Hill Primary School Thatcham
• Highwood Copse Primary School Newbury
• Phoenix Infant Academy Slough
• Baylis Court School Slough

What is Reading Girls' School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Reading Girls' School is Good, from an inspection in January 2022.

When was Reading Girls' School last inspected by Ofsted?

Reading Girls' School was last inspected in January 2022.

How many pupils does Reading Girls' School have?

Reading Girls' School has 905 pupils on roll.

What age range does Reading Girls' School cover?

Reading Girls' School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Reading Girls' School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 52.2, and 58% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Reading Girls' School?

Reading Girls' School is at Northumberland Avenue, Reading, Berkshire, RG2 7PY.