Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre

Term dates

Academies can set their own term dates. Many follow Reading council's dates, shown below as a guide, but check with the school, especially for INSET days.

• Term
• Holiday
• INSET day
• Exeat

See Reading's full dates

Admissions

Places for Year 7 are applied for through your home council, not the school.

Apply for a secondary school place on GOV.UK

How places are given: there's no entrance test. When there are more applicants than places, places usually go by criteria such as siblings, distance or catchment area. Check the council's or school's admissions policy for the exact rules.

For the sixth form, apply to the school directly.

How many families applied: Year 7

For September 2026, 191 families put this school as their first choice, and 243 places were offered. 183 of the families who put it first got a place (96%).

Offers made on national offer day, from the Department for Education. Waiting lists and appeals can change things later. The hardest schools to get into.

Before and after school

This club is registered with Ofsted at the school's postcode, so usually run on the school site:

• Stagecoach Reading Caversham. Ofsted report

Ask the club or the school about times, prices and places. More clubs nearby.

Ofsted inspection

Short (ungraded) inspection, 27 March 2024: School remains Good.

Read the Ofsted reports

From Ofsted's published inspection data (Open Government Licence). Report cards and older grades use different scales, so they can't be compared directly.

About and location

Type

Academy

Phase

Secondary

Ages

11–18

Pupils

1537 (capacity 1440)

Gender

Mixed

Academy trust

GLF SCHOOLS

Phone

01189015800

Address

Surley Row, Emmer Green, Reading, RG4 8LR

Website

highdown.reading.sch.uk

Official school record, including Ofsted reports