Reading schools, advice please!!

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hello, I am thinking of moving out towards reading from London in search of a nice family home near good schools (I have a 2 year old and number two on the way).

Can anyone give me any advice on areas/schools to look into??

It needs to be commuteable to iver.

Thanks

Independent or state?

West Berkshire would be my tip if you want a bit of a countryside feel. Streatley primary school is amazing if you want state and St Andrew's Pangbourne is a lovely prep.

State please!

Thanks

Take a look at the schools in Wokingham Borough.

There are lots of good state primary schools over a wide area; Twyford, Wokingham, Earley, Lower Earley, Hurst, Winnersh, etc. I think the latest SATs results have just been published which will give you an indication of the best schools, but obviously they do not always give the whole story.

If you need to look further ahead, the secondary schools are mostly all very good or excellent. Eg, The Holt in Wokingham (girls only) is fantastic and achieves results on a par - and possibly better - than some of the very expensive local private schools.

There are several Outstanding mixed secondaries in Wokingham Borough, eg, The Piggott, Maiden Erlegh and St Crispins. Also, there will probably be another state secondary school called Oakbank opening in 2012, on the site of a former school, set in a nice rural location.

In Reading itself, there are the two excellent grammar schools, but unfortunately, there's not too much in the way of state back-up options in Reading Borough (with Highdown possibly being the most sought-after).

Over in West Reading, there is Little Heath secondary, also rated Outstanding.

HTH

I live in Wokingham, and although my DS is not at state school, I can say there are some good ones in this area. However, do be careful. There are some which are not so good either. In fact, my son used to be at state school here and we had to move him out half way through a year as the school was totally failing to teach him. If you are looking at Reading, I would aim for the Caversham area, although their schools are very oversubscribed.