Reading School & Kendrick School Entrance Tests
Reading School (boys) and Kendrick School (girls) are Berkshire's two single-sex selective grammars. Despite often being grouped together, they run ENTIRELY SEPARATE entrance tests with different exam boards, different dates and different formats — there is no joint process. Reading School's FSCE test is in July; Kendrick's GL test is in September.
Exam board
Reading School: FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise) · Kendrick School: GL Assessment
Year 7 places
273
Across consortium
Applicants per place
4.0×
Typical competition
Test format
Bespoke test format. Previously used FSCE format, new format from 2025.
Selection methods used
Subjects tested
- English
- Mathematics
- Reasoning
Competition (latest)
943 applicants chasing 273 places · 4.0× per place
Paper-by-paper breakdown
Reading School (FSCE) — KS2 + Creativity
KS2-curriculum English and Maths plus a creativity section. Administered by FSCE Ltd (Reading School subsidiary). Format details published annually.
Kendrick Paper 1
≈ 1 hourCombination of English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Multiple choice (GL Assessment).
Kendrick Paper 2
≈ 1 hourSame subject mix as Paper 1.
Annual timeline
Confirm exact dates each year on the council pageRegistration opens
Reading: early in calendar year · Kendrick: 1 May
Registration deadline
Reading: midnight, 17 May 2026 · Kendrick: midnight, 1 July
Test window
Reading: Thursday 16 July (main day) + Friday 25 September (out-of-catchment) · Kendrick: third Friday of September
Results release
Both schools release results mid-October (before 31 October CAF deadline)
How to prepare
- Treat the two schools as fully separate processes: register, prepare and sit each test independently.
- For Reading School, focus on the KS2 National Curriculum (English & Maths) plus the creativity section — FSCE format differs from generic GL/CEM material.
- For Kendrick, prepare across all four GL Assessment disciplines (English, Maths, VR, NVR) with multiple-choice practice.
- Reading School's familiarisation guide is explicitly NOT definitive — content changes each year.
- Use timed multiple-choice practice for Kendrick (two ~1-hour papers with a short break).
Important to know
- There is NO joint admissions process — different exam boards, different dates, different formats, separate registrations.
- Reading School uses the FSCE Entrance Test (its own subsidiary exam board) — this replaced the previous Durham CEM arrangement.
- Reading School's test is in JULY, not September — uniquely early in the Berkshire calendar.
- Kendrick's published 99.00 waiting-list threshold (2026) is a standardised score — not a 'pass mark' for entry, only for the waiting list.
- Reading School oversubscription has six categories: Priority Places, Sporting Aptitude, Feeder Schools, Priority Postcodes (13 Reading postcodes), Catchment Area, All Others.
- Both schools require BOTH the school's own registration AND the home LA's CAF by 31 October.
- Kendrick explicitly states it 'does not support or promote tutoring' — its policy view is that scores should reflect natural ability.
About the qualifying score: Neither school publishes a fixed pass mark. Kendrick reports a 2026 waiting-list threshold of 99.00 standardised; Reading School's eligible score varies year to year. Always check the latest threshold on the council's admissions arrangements before applying.
Official links
Sources used on this page
- reading-school.co.uk/admissions/year-7-entry
- kendrick.reading.sch.uk — Admission into Year 7 in September 2026
Schools using this test(2)
Where to go next
- Each school sets its own qualifying score and oversubscription rules — open a school page above for the per-school detail.
- Use the Chances Calculator with your postcode to see your likelihood at every school in this consortium.
- Council and school admissions pages are the authoritative source for registration deadlines and test dates.