Contents
Introduction
Located at Northumberland Avenue, Reading, England, Reading Girls’ School is a partially selective bilateral school. The school was founded in 1818 at Southampton streets and moved to RGS’s current campus in 1960, and named Southlands Secondary School for Girls. In 1952, the boys’ section had moved to Ashmead school, and in 1993 the school was renamed to Reading girls school with the reimposition of its selective exam.
In February 2016, Reading girls school was given an inadequate Ofsted rating and placed into special measures. After that, in September 2017 was converted into academy status and is now funded by the Baylis Court Trust.
Reading girls school has improved rapidly under the current leadership and the presence of new principal Jon Gargan. Reading girls school aims to provide intensive academic education for their girls, and the school is now performing in the top 1% of schools in the country (2019). Reading girls school offers gcse and btec as programmes of study for pupils.
General Information
- Address: Northumberland Avenue, Reading, Berkshire RG2 7PY, England
- Telephone number: 0118 986 1336
- School website: https://www.readinggirlsschool.co.uk/
- Email: admin@readinggirlsschool.net
- Gender of Entry: Girls
- Day/boarding type: Both
- Age Range: 11 to 18
- Exam board type/format: CEM 11 Plus
- Admissions policy: Selective
- Pupils: 653 (100% girls)
- Places in Year 7: 210 places in total, out of which up to 42 places are allocated based on ability.
- Principal: Jon Gargan
Admission Criteria as per Local Authority
Reading girls school follows the admission Procedure set by the local authority (Reading Borough Council); therefore, entry to the secondary school is a part of the co-ordinated scheme of Reading Borough Council. There are 210 places available for year 7, out of which 42 places reserved for selection based on the entrance test in reading girls school to maintain their high academic standards and be one of the best schools in England.
The reading girls school follows the given admission criteria when the number of applications is more than the seats available. The priority on entry is given to pupils who fit into the following criteria.
- Girls who are looked after (in public care) and the ones who were looked after before they were adopted.
- Up to 42 places are reserved for admission based on selection criteria and will be allotted to girls who will score the highest on the selection test.
- Girls with strong medical or social grounds.
- Girls with a sibling who are currently attending the school on the date of admission.
- Girls who live nearest to the school when measured in a straight line using Reading Borough Councils’ digital mapping software.
To know more about Reading girls school, we suggest you visit the Reading girls school website. Check its menu. Close inspection will reveal all the minute details related to the entry process for the school.
How to apply
If your child is currently educated in year 6, or born between 1 September and 31 August i.e, falls under the right age criteria and lives close to or within the borough of Reading, you can apply to the secondary section of Reading Girls’ school. Reading Borough Council administers the appeals of the majority of schools in Reading.
You can apply for the Reading schools online and offline to the appropriate Local Authority before the deadline. For the online application, you will receive the status detail of your school allocation via email. It will inform you whether your child has been offered a place in a reading girls school or not. Late applications received after the deadline will not be considered until all on-time applications have been processed.
Parents who wish their daughter to sit the entrance exam for one of the 42 selective places in reading girls’ school should also complete the registration form.
Exam format for best schools in the country
Reading girls school is not categorized as a grammar school, but it conducts a similar entrance test as an 11 plus admission test like grammar schools. This test includes verbal and non-verbal reasoning for a selective section of the school. This entrance exam for such schools is administered by the CEM exam board.
The entrance exam for Reading Girl school, which mirrors a grammar school admission test, is a computer-guided online test with an average duration of 60 minutes and consists of –
- Verbal Reasoning
- Non-verbal Reasoning
- Mathematics
How to prepare
Verbal reasoning
Verbal reasoning can be one of the trickiest sections to prepare, and that is why we recommend starting to practice as early as possible. Start with making a proper schedule cover all important areas like improving vocabulary, practising comprehension, enhancing memory, improving numeracy, mental arithmetic, etc.
Non-verbal reasoning
The non-verbal reasoning section does not require any prior knowledge and is generally taken to tests the aptitude of the child and the potential to think logically.
As non-verbal reasoning is not a part of the National curriculum this style of assessment is new to students to make them feel comfortable with the way these questions are framed it is important to encourage them to practise these questions as much as possible.
Your child should be able to apply maths skills (rotation, reflection, and symmetry), logical thinking and problem-solving skills, process pictorial and graphical information, be able to relate objects using spatial awareness, process graphic or pictorial information, etc.
Mathematics
The questions in this section are mostly based on the national curriculum syllabus, and that is why to score well in this, your child needs to be well-prepared so that she can creatively apply the logic learned in key stage 2 in the questions asked.
Sometimes students get nervous even if they are well knowledgeable about the concept this generally happens due to lack of practice. To avoid this scenario, ask your child to practise as many practice papers as she can so that she gets well acquainted with the pattern. This will help her gain confidence while attempting the paper and she will get maximum time to practice.
Here are some papers with answers which your child can practice. You can mark the answers and even compare them to find out the weak areas of your child.
Past Papers useful for admission in Reading school for girls
CEM does not publish past papers but practicing other past papers for different grammar schools is still recommended. It is a tried and tested method that has yielded results for many. Click on the links below to gain access to numerous past papers belonging to different schools.
11 plus Maths past papers pdf solved with detailed explanations
