Know exactly where your child stands for Reading Blue Coat School
Thousands of practice questions and up to 6 mock papers, all in the exact Reading Blue Coat School 11+ format, on one simple plan. It starts with a free diagnostic.
Thousands of practice questions and up to 6 mock papers, all in the exact Reading Blue Coat School 11+ format, on one simple plan. It starts with a free diagnostic.
Reading Blue Coat School
Reading Blue Coat School (RBCS) is an independent, co-educational day school in Berkshire that admits pupils at Year 7 entry. The 11+ admissions process is a single-stage assessment using the Quest Admissions exam board, alongside a compulsory interview stage. The school, located in Sonning-on-Thames, offers a mixed intake and will be fully co-educational by 2027.
The child who does well here tends to be curious and willing to join in, without needing to be the loudest in the room. Reading Blue Coat is an independent day school in Sonning-on-Thames, Berkshire, taking pupils from 11 to 18. Girls have joined Year 7 since 2023 and the school becomes fully co-educational in 2027, so a child starting Year 7 that September arrives in a school that is mixed the whole way through. Main entry is at 11+, with further places at 13+ and in the sixth form. The site is Holme Park, forty-six acres of grounds running down to the Thames, a few miles out of Reading. There is no boarding.
The school was founded in 1646 by Richard Aldworth, a London merchant with Reading connections, who left money to educate twenty poor boys of the town. It moved out to Holme Park in 1947 and stayed. The old blue coats survive as ceremonial dress worn by senior prefects, and the motto, 'Veritas Omnia Vincit', still stands over the place. Daily life has a river in it: the boathouse sits on the Thames below the grounds, near Sonning Lock, and rowing opens up from Year 9, alongside the rugby, hockey, netball and cricket. Pupils start things of their own, among them Cafe Neuro, set up by pupils for neurodivergent classmates.
The Good Schools Guide calls this a 'diverse, warm community' and its pupils 'rounded and grounded'. The admissions staff say plainly that they look for kindness, curiosity and engagement. It suits a child who wants to try a lot of things, likes being outdoors as much as in, and will settle better somewhere that knows them by name.
Key facts
Annual fees
£8,700 per term (2026/27), including VAT at 20%, for all year groups; includes pupil accident and personal effects insurance. Application fee £120 (non-refundable, waived for Universal Credit recipients) and £1,250 acceptance deposit including VAT.
Admissions
Admissions contact
admissions@rbcs.org.uk
Admissions phone
0118 944 1005
Registration form
Sibling policy
What this school tests
Online Academic Assessments
English
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Reading Comprehension - Comparison
- Reading Comprehension - Evaluation
- Reading Comprehension - Grammar and punctuation
- Reading Comprehension - Inference and Deduction
- Reading Comprehension - Information Retrieval
- Reading Comprehension - Language Techniques and Imagery
- Reading Comprehension - Sentence-level Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension - Sequencing
- Reading Comprehension - Structure, Form, Voice and Tone
- Reading Comprehension - Summarising
- Reading Comprehension - Text Classification and Purpose
- Reading Comprehension - Types of Words and Phrases
- Reading Comprehension - Word Meaning / Choice
- Spelling
- Vocabulary
Maths
- Algebra
- Angles and Degrees
- BIDMAS
- Coordinate Grids
- Estimation and Rounding
- Factors and Multiples
- Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
- Measurement
- Money
- Number and Place Value
- Operations
- Perimeter, Area and Volume
- Position and Direction
- Properties of Shapes
- Ratio and Proportion
- Reflection, Rotation and Symmetry
- Sequences
- Special Numbers
- Speed, Distance and Time
- Statistics
- Time
Non-verbal Reasoning
- Figure Analogies
- Figure Matrices
- Figure Series
- Grid Matrices
- Horizontal Codes
- Match to a Group of Figures
- Most Like Three Figures
- Odd Figure Out
- Odd Shaped Matrices
- Star Matrices
- Triangle Matrices
- Vertical Codes
Verbal Reasoning
- Alphabet Logic
- Anagrams
- Compound Words
- Embedded Words
- Form a Word
- Insert 2 / 3 Letters
- Insert a Letter
- Letter Analogies
- Letter Sequences
- Move 1 / 2 Letters
- Ordering Words
- Rhyming Synonyms
- Shuffled Sentences
- Synonyms
- Word / Logic Puzzles
- Word Analogies
- Word Completion
- Word Match
- Word Opposites
- Word Pairs
- Word Relationships
- Word Swap
- Words and Codes
Spatial Reasoning
- 2D Rotations
- 2D View of 3D Shape
- 3D Rotations
- Block Counting
- Building Blocks
- Combining Shapes
- Diagonal Reflections
- Figure Missing from Image
- Fold and Punch
- Folding Cubes
- Hidden Shapes
- Missing Face of Cube
- Nets of 3D Shapes
- Shape Completion
Catchment area
Selection review and safety net
Previous exam results
GCSE results
2025: 82% of grades at 7 or above, 61% at grades 8-9
A-level results
2026: 51% of grades at A*-A, 80% at A*-B and 19% at A*
Frequently asked questions
What exam board does Reading Blue Coat School use for the 11+?
Reading Blue Coat School uses the Quest Admissions exam board for its 11+ entrance assessment.
Does Reading Blue Coat School interview candidates as part of the 11+?
Yes, there is an interview stage as part of the 11+ admissions process at Reading Blue Coat School.
Is Reading Blue Coat School co-educational or single-sex?
Reading Blue Coat School is a mixed, co-educational school, having introduced girls to Year 7 in 2023 and becoming fully co-educational in 2027.
What are the school fees for Reading Blue Coat School?
Annual fees are £8,700 per term for the 2026/27 academic year, which includes VAT at 20%, pupil accident insurance, and personal effects insurance.
What is the website for Reading Blue Coat School admissions?
You can find more details on the school's official admissions page at https://rbcs.org.uk/admissions/admissions-process/.
Location
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