AN ASSISTANT headteacher at a historic school in Reading has dispelled misconceptions about it after it was revealed that only 13 per cent of pupils are White British.
Reading School was founded in 1125 and currently functions as a state selective grammar school for boys, requiring the passage of an exam for entry.
Government figures showed that 13 per cent of the boys there are described as White British, which has been seized on by right-wing political figures as a stark demonstration of demographic change.
In an attempt to address this, Greg Fairchild, an assistant headteacher and director of admissions, has laid out the changes the institution has made to encourage boys throughout Reading to apply.
He said: “Under-representation of any and all groups is an issue that Reading School is determined to address.
“If we think of admission to Reading School as a funnel, we can best remedy this at the top.
“We want all bright local boys to consider Reading School as a welcoming and achievable option for their secondary schooling, irrespective of their ethnicity.
“Currently, there are Reading postcodes and Reading primary schools from whom we get very little interest at our Open Days, despite us knowing that there are curious and creative boys working hard under the tutelage of fantastic primary school teachers.
“That is why we have taken the bold step of giving priority to bright boys who live in Reading postcodes from Woodley to Tilehurst and Caversham to Whitley, and going one step further by also prioritising bright boys who go to state primary schools within a few miles of Reading School.
“We think that paying vast amounts of money for poor quality 11+ tutoring is damaging both to childrens’ wellbeing and to parents’ pockets, so our new entrance test now only covers topics that boys have learnt up until the end of Year 5 in their primary school. The test pattern and content is unpredictable, so that 11+ tutoring is a waste of both your money and your free time! We hope that this will encourage those curious boys with agile minds from all backgrounds to come and give our test a go.”
Mr Fairchild went on to say the historic appearance of the school might give people the false impression that it is private – when in fact it is a state school.
He said: “Reading School’s similarity in look to Hogwarts Castle is a huge barrier, as it can be mistaken for a stuffy private school – most local children were born at Royal Berkshire Hospital, without even realising that the school immediately opposite is free to go to and fantastic fun – last week we had boys cooking their lunch on open fires, test-firing rockets and winning national sports competitions.
“We are proud of our efforts so far, efforts that resulted in us achieving the Sutton Trust’s ‘Fair Admissions’ Gold Award, with their spokesperson stating:
‘Gold is awarded to schools who have made several determined and significant changes to their admissions policies to ensure that there is fair access to all pupils regardless of socio-economic background. For your school we wanted to recognise your use of Pupil Premium priority in admissions policy, your new eligibility tools and your extensive advocacy for fair school admissions.’
“However, we are well aware of the scale of the under-representation and will pull every lever possible to ensure that Reading School admissions reflects the diversity of talent found across our fantastic town.
“We encourage local primary school teachers and families to reach out to us on admissions@reading-school.co.uk with their questions so we can bust some misconceptions about Reading School.
“Research has shown that reasons for unevenness of admissions are complex – from socio-economic background to parental engagement, access to information to prior attainment and familiarity with process.
“To reduce this to ethnicity alone is therefore reductive, but we agree that the statistics mentioned are one narrow indicator of under-representation that we are determined to address.”
