Reading Girls' School is a single-sex partially selective (bilateral) school in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

RGS traces its history to Reading Girls' British School, established in 1818 at Southampton Street. Neither is to be confused with Reading Abbey Girls' School, attended by

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

. In 1907 it transferred to the new purpose-built George Palmer School in Basingstoke Road. In 1960 George Palmer Girls' School moved to RGS' current campus at Northumberland Avenue and was named Southlands Secondary School for Girls. The boys' section had moved to the purpose-built Ashmead School in 1952. That school was later renamed Thamesbridge College before becoming the present-day

John Madejski Academy John Madejski Academy (JMA) is an 11–19 years old academy in Reading, Berkshire, England. JMA formed part of the White Horse Federation Trust until 2025, where it is now part of the Greenshaw Learning Trust. Michael Millner became the princi ...

. Southlands School was renamed Reading Girls' School in 1993 with the reimplementation of its selective stream. Since November 2015 RGS is undergoing a rebuild, a new campus on the same site is due to be completed by August 2016. In February 2016 RGS was placed into

special measures Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards. In education (England and Wales) Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...

after an

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

inspection rated the school as 'inadequate'. The inspection highlighted problems with leadership, management and quality of teaching at the school. Previously a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the school governor, governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in Community school (England and Wales), community schools. Foundation schools ...

administered by

Reading Borough Council Reading Borough Council is the local authority for Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. Reading has had a council since at least 1542, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1998, the council has been a unitary authority, be ...

, in September 2017 Reading Girls' School converted to academy status and is now sponsored by the Baylis Court Trust.

Academics

Although Reading Girls' School is not categorised as a grammar school, it does have verbal and non-verbal reasoning entrance tests for the selective stream section of the school. The school offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils.

References

External links

Reading Girls' School official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reading Girls Secondary schools in Reading, Berkshire Girls' schools in Berkshire Educational institutions established in 1818 1818 establishments in England Bilateral schools in England Academies in Reading, Berkshire