Best secondary schools in Berkshire
Berkshire offers a generous array of good comps, faith schools, grammars and even a few state boarding schools. Unlike with counties such as Kent or Buckinghamshire, Berkshire’s six grammars (more if you include occasional incursions into Bucks) do not dominate admissions and strip out talent from its comprehensive brethren.
That said, Reading and Kendrick grammar schools do tower over state options in the centre of the county. At the eastern side of the county are the four schools comprising the Slough Grammar School Consortia: Langley Grammar School, Herschel Grammar School, Upton Court Grammar School, and St Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School. The results of the Slough Consortium entrance exam are used as a common basis for admission decisions among the participating grammar schools. Do bear in mind that tutoring is very much the norm for admission to all of these selective schools. Make sure to read our article on grammar schools if you decide to have a go.
The multiplicity of six LAs creates a bit of confusion and requires some finesse (in short, list whatever schools you choose, but make the application to the authority in which you live). But boundaries are porous and there is quite a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. Sixth form colleges are not a big part of the educational ecosystem in Berkshire unlike neighbouring Hampshire. Look carefully at your preferred school’s admissions policy and make sure to read our article about secondary school admissions.
Secondary schools in Newbury
St Bartholomew’s School – known locally as St Barts – is a large, modern school with an admirable academic and Oxbridge record. Despite the name, religion isn’t a factor in admissions. Catchment is tight; applicants can live less than a mile away and still not get in. Other Newbury secondary options are currently navigating a rocky patch, so the pressure for places at St Barts is intense. Do aim to live within a mile if you want to be sure of a place. For a more rural setting, The Downs in Compton has a good bus service to the north side of Newbury. It’s a highly coveted school with excellent exam results. In the middle of nowhere, but worth a bit of bother to get to.
Secondary schools in Reading
Grammar schools in Reading
All-boys Reading School is the holy grail for many families within reach. And by ‘reach’ we mean just about anywhere within a couple of hours’ drive because Reading School, as a state boarding school, has two boarding houses that extend the intake humongously. Even for day places, the catchment extends to postcodes from Henley to Newbury and Wallingford to Hook/Camberley – the criteria is for children to be no more than one train or bus journey away. Academic record – 18 boys to Oxbridge in 2024 – means competition for admission is fierce. It also has the redbrick gravitas, playing fields and traditions that elevate it above most other grammars.
Kendrick School for girls may not inspire quite the same hushed awe as its boys’ counterpart, but with 1,000 applicants for 128 year 7 places, and a wide catchment area, you will still have a devil of a time getting a place here. Outstanding results across the board, and the school also tops the value added league tables. As we say in our write up, the school attributes its dazzling results to girls being ‘bright, enthusiastic and curious, with a love of learning,’ coupled with ‘teachers’ unwavering commitment and lack of complacency when it comes to new ideas in teaching.’
Tutoring is de rigueur for the 11-plus grammar school entry assessments. Read what we have to say about tutoring in Berkshire.
Secondary schools
Reading’s grammar schools have put a dent in local comprehensive options, so Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre is something of a miracle. It produces impressive exam results, particularly when you consider that the grammars have creamed off many of the local brainy children. Southwest of Reading, in the West Berkshire LA, is the highly rated Willink School. UTC Reading is a quirky upstart strong on maths and tech, and caters only to ages 14 to 18.
Secondary schools in Wokingham and villages east of Reading
Superb range of comprehensives in this neck of the Berkshire woods. Maiden Erlegh School, in Lower Earley, east of Reading, is a mega-oversubscribed, highly academic school – applicants should live well under a mile away. The Holt School is an outstanding girls-only Wokingham option where GCSEs and A levels are consistently above the local average. Forest School in Winnersh has traditionally been the boys’ counterpart but went co-ed in at the start of the 2024-25 academic year and improvements are expected. In the south of Wokingham there is Bohunt Wokingham, a newish school (opened in 2016) with good results, though no sixth form.
Secondary schools in Crowthorne and Sandhurst
Results at Edgbarrow School point to the school’s quality. It backs onto the lovely Wildmoor Heath Nature Reserve (which incorporates its football pitch). Dog walkers are the most frequently spotted wildlife, though deer and red kites are here too.
For hardcore churchgoers, Bracknell’s esteemed Ranelagh School may seem a longish hike north, but it is easy to get to by train, has consistently excellent results and is highly rated by Ofsted. Beware: your application will require a supplement from your ‘parish priest or church leader’ attesting to regular worship.
Just across the county border, Yateley School in Hampshire offers another convenient comprehensive option with exam results above the national average.
Secondary schools in Ascot, Windsor and Slough
Grammar Schools in Ascot, Windsor and Slough
The four grammar schools that make up the Slough Consortium are well oversubscribed and very popular, with entrance often viewed as a golden ticket particularly among the area’s many first and second generation immigrant families. The schools take the top 30 per cent or so of ability range, rather than being super-selective, so the results of a few of the county’s high-achieving comprehensives (like St Bart’s in Newbury) sometimes eclipse those of these four selective grammars.
We call Upton Court Grammar School ‘an increasingly selective, highly aspirational school, with a strong academic focus’. Langley Grammar, we say, ‘is a serious-minded school, where students are hungry to learn and highly focused’. Herschel Grammar and St Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School are similarly high-achieving, though the latter’s RC foundation lends a slightly different tang. Only one entrance exam is taken for all and the results are used as a common basis for admission decisions among the four consortium grammar schools. Read more about grammar schools.
Secondary schools
Highly regarded Charters School in Sunningdale has a tight catchment area that takes in Ascot, but not Bracknell, Windsor or Wokingham, so you can expect to pay a premium for living in catchment. We were impressed by its proactive approach to assisting sixth form Oxbridge, medicine, dentistry and veterinary applicants which seems to be paying dividends. Windsor Boys is one of the increasingly rare breed of boys-only state secondaries left in Berkshire and worth a look.
Families living south of Ascot and Windsor may also find our guide to state secondary schools in Surrey useful.
Secondary schools in Maidenhead and nearby villages
Newlands Girls’ School in Maidenhead is a high-achieving school with strong maths and sciences. Not an obvious choice for creative types or dreamers, and we hear mixed reports about its SEN provision. Furze Platt Senior’s results are less sparkly, but it is a useful school, both for local families looking for a good all-round education and as a consolation prize for those who try, but fail, for a place at a Bucks grammar. The school uses the Furze Platt Leisure Centre during lessons and for clubs before and after school.
The required distance between Holyport College and your home address in order to secure a place seems to shrink each year. You will almost certainly need to live well within the designated admissions area – or consider boarding! A serious school – it has a long-established partnership with Eton College – Holyport offers a traditional, EBacc-centred, academic curriculum. Our reviewer wrote, ‘School is brutally honest about who it can’t take – basically, anyone who can’t cope with the compulsory 5pm finish, Saturdays, the rigorous academic curriculum and full extracurricular programme.’ There can’t be many other schools – state or private – where every child learns to play Eton fives.
State secondary schools for children with special educational needs in Berkshire
Some mainstream secondary schools in Berkshire have designated places for additional needs within the school’s resource base. These allow for integration with mainstream classes, where suitable. Special secondary education may also be in a through-school (see primary section for details).
Trinity School, Newbury, is a state secondary school with two resource bases, one for autism and one for specific learning difficulties, which integrate with the mainstream classes. Its ACE Resource supports 30 children, years 9-11, with two specialist dyslexia teachers and multisensory teaching methods. The autism resource base supports children through GCSEs, as well as providing emotional and sensory specialist support.
Catholic secondary school, Blessed Hugh Faringdon, has a resource provision for 30 children with autism and Maiden Erlegh School, a popular mainstream state school in a residential area near the university, offers 25 places for autistic young people and those with emotional and mental health needs.
Post 16 provision for children with additional needs at BCA includes specialist tutors in learning support to guide children through a range of technical and practical courses, from beekeeping to engineering. Based at a variety of sites in Berkshire, the college can also offer some online learning and 14-16 year college provision.
Learn more about the SEND local offer at the six LAs – Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, and Wokingham.