Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre
Secondary · Reading · RG4 8LR
Data updated
Earlier grade, confirmed by a later ungraded inspection
Ofsted's most recent (ungraded) visit confirmed the school remains Good. Ungraded inspections do not award a new grade.
Inspected 27 March 2024
Read the Ofsted report ↗At a glance
1,537 pupils · 107% of 1,440 capacity (over capacity) (January 2026 census)
- School type
- Academy converter
- Age range
- 11–18
- Gender
- Mixed
- Admissions
- Non-selective
- Free school meals
- 10.5% of pupils (January 2026)
- English as additional language
- 16.1% of pupils (2024/2025)
- SEN support
- 11.6% of pupils (2024/2025)
- EHC plan
- 1.7% of pupils (2024/2025)
- Sixth form
- Yes
- URN
- 136307
In figures
For September 2026 entry, 191 families named it first for 243 Year 7 places, 0.79 first choices per place. We hold 8 Year 7 admissions rounds for it, 2019 to 2026; none was decided by a published distance. An ungraded Ofsted inspection on 27 March 2024 confirmed its earlier grade, Good. In the 2025/26 autumn and spring terms its pupils missed 8.5% of sessions, against 6.6% across England.
Admissions demand: Year 7 entry, September 2026
0.79 first-choice applications per place243 places offered · 191 first-choice applications · usually has places
First-choice applications per place, by entry year
Source: DfE applications and offers on national offer day · how demand is measured
Catchment area
Catchment area: not named in the council's figures.
Admissions cutoff distance: Year 7
Cutoff by admission criterion (2026 entry)
- Category 7 (Children not in the designated area of the school with a sibling at the school in years 7-11 in September 2026)
- 3.733 miles
Source: the admissions authority's published figures · how cutoffs work
Compare admissions across the area: Reading school admissions · the wider Reading authority
GCSE results (2024/2025)
248 pupils at the end of key stage 4 in 2024/2025
Progress 8 is suspended nationally for 2024/25 and 2025/26. These cohorts sat no key stage 2 tests (COVID), so there is no baseline to measure progress from.
A-level results (2024/2025)
Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · what “suppressed” means
Schools with a similar intake
Attainment 8, 2024/2025
On attainment 8, this school is behind the schools that teach a comparable intake.
They are matched on intake, not location, so most are not local: see nearby schools for those you could apply to.
It is not a ranking. Source: DfE performance tables 2024/2025 · how the matching works
Special educational needs
Needs this school records that it caters for, in the order it lists them.
- Visual Impairment
Provision type: Resourced provision.
- Resourced provision
- 8 of 8 places taken full, or over capacity
Unit places come from the school census and describe the position when it was taken, not today. Confirm with the local authority before relying on them.
Pupils by ethnicity (January 2026)
White British 61% (Reading 28%, England 59%) · Any other White background 6% (Reading 10%, England 7%) · Asian Indian 5% (Reading 16%, England 4%) · Not recorded 4% (Reading 3%, England 2%) · Any other Mixed background 4% (Reading 4%, England 3%) · Any other Asian background 3% (Reading 8%, England 3%) · Asian Chinese 3% (Reading 3%, England 1%) · Black African 3% (Reading 8%, England 5%) · Mixed White and Black Caribbean 2% (Reading 3%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Asian 2% (Reading 3%, England 2%) · Any other ethnic group 1% (Reading 2%, England 3%) · Asian Pakistani 1% (Reading 7%, England 5%) · Any other Black background 1% (Reading 1%, England 1%) · Asian Bangladeshi 1% (Reading 1%, England 2%) · Mixed White and Black African 1% (Reading 1%, England 1%) · other groups together 1%
Source: DfE schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2026 census · how to read these figures
Attendance (2025/26 autumn and spring terms)
Suspensions and permanent exclusions (2024/25)
10.61 suspensions per 100 pupils and 1 permanent exclusion · England, secondary schools: 21.24 suspensions and 0.23 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils · Reading: 22.87 suspensions and 0.16 permanent exclusions per 100 pupils
Suspensions and exclusions, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE pupil absence data, autumn and spring terms, and DfE suspensions and permanent exclusions, school-level file · how absence is measured · how to read exclusions
Staffing
Full-time-equivalent, 2025/26.
Teacher retention (2024/25)
89% of teachers stayed at the school the following year · 7% moved to another state school · 4% left the state-funded sector
Vacancies (November 2025)
0% of teaching posts vacant, 0% filled temporarily · England, secondary academies: 0.45% vacant, 0.33% temporary
Teacher sickness absence (reported in the November 2024 census)
79.5% of teachers took sickness absence, 10.2 days each on average · England, all state-funded schools: 61.8%, 8.1 days
Teacher pay (November 2025)
Mean salary of full-time qualified teachers £48,733; 8.8% on the leadership pay range · England, secondary schools: £53,766, 11.3%
Vacancies, sickness and pay, last three years Premium
Premium shows the same figures for each of the last three years.
Unlock with SchoolFacts Premium →Source: DfE School Workforce Census · how these figures are counted
Where pupils go after GCSEs
Where students go after sixth form
Destinations measured the year after leaving, DfE destination measures in the 2024/2025 performance tables.
Inspection history since 2015
- 26 March 2024: School remains Good
- 2 October 2018: School remains Good
Source: Ofsted management information · ungraded visits and the two inspection systems
The area around the school
- Child poverty (IDACI)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
- Overall deprivation (IMD)
- 10/10among the least deprived tenth of England
| Census 2021 | This area | England |
|---|---|---|
| Adults with a degree or higher | 54.5% | 33.9% |
| Adults with no qualifications | 5% | 18.1% |
| In managerial or professional work | 53.4% | 33.2% |
| Households deprived in two or more ways | 5.8% | 18.1% |
| Residents in very good health | 59.2% | 48.5% |
| Homes owned by the occupier | 91% | 62.3% |
| Social housing | 0.8% | 17.1% |
| Privately rented | 8.2% | 20.5% |
| Detached houses | 76.2% | 22.9% |
| Flats | 1.2% | 22.2% |
| Homes with four or more bedrooms | 69.2% | 21.1% |
| Households with no car or van | 4.9% | 23.5% |
These figures describe the area, not the pupils. Source: Census 2021 (ONS) and English Indices of Deprivation 2025 (MHCLG) for small area E01016430 · how to read area figures
What homes cost nearby
- Median sale price
- £580,000285 sales within 1 km, January 2024 to September 2026
- Typical range
- £407,000–£720,000the middle half of sales
- England median
- £300,000all sales over the same period
Homes around this school are among the dearest tenth of school neighbourhoods in England, comparing the median within 1 km across every state school.
Source: HM Land Registry sales within 1 km since January 2024 · how sales are counted. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Postcodes located with OS Code-Point Open: contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026; contains Royal Mail data © Royal Mail copyright and database right 2026; contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.
Roads around the school
- Child pedestrian casualties
- 1an urban school averages 2.0
- Collisions at school-run times
- 2an urban school averages 5.7
- All reported collisions
- 4an urban school averages 30.5
- Of those, serious or fatal
- 0an urban school averages 6.1
A high count usually reflects traffic, not an unsafe school. Source: DfT road casualty statistics (STATS19), collisions within 500 m, 2021–2025 · what is counted