The Willink School, Reading

Ofsted's report card from its 6 May 2026 inspection grades The Willink School on 7 areas: 7 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Expected standard. "On the whole, pupils achieve well."

Attendance and behaviour - Expected standard. "Leaders have a well-developed approach to increasing and sustaining the high attendance of pupils."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "The curriculum is broad and ambitious for all pupils."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders typically provide vulnerable pupils with a variety of support, which helps them to become fully involved in school life."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders have created a positive professional culture where staff feel valued, supported and heard."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders prioritise how they approach the personal development and wellbeing of pupils."

Post 16 provision - Expected standard. "Leaders know the strengths and areas for development of the sixth form."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should refine the support for pupils who are at the early stages of developing their foundational knowledge of reading and writing, so that pupils learn the precise skills they need to progress well"; "Leaders should embed strategies to improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils, so that their attendance continues to rise and is in line with other groups of pupils"; "Leaders should continue to develop their work to have detailed oversight of the needs of all groups of pupils, so that the most vulnerable pupils thrive".

In 2026, pupils at The Willink School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 55.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 49.3 in West Berkshire and 47 across England.

64% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 50% in West Berkshire and 47% in England.

That is up from 51.9 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.04: pupils made about average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 36.3, against 58.7 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 22.4 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 25 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and Geography.

For September 2026 entry, 214 families put The Willink School as their first choice and 345 named it as one of their preferences, for 201 places offered. That is 1.1 first choices for every place. 18 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

The nearest other state secondary schools to The Willink School are Theale Green School (2.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 42.2); Little Heath School (4.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 48.8); King's Academy Prospect (4.2 miles, Good, Attainment 8 39.7); and Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School (4.4 miles, Good, Attainment 8 46.3).

The Willink School's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

Of the 194 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 87% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 28% to a further education college, 5% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 125 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 54% went on to university or other higher education, 5% to apprenticeships and 30% into work. 27% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

11.3% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 4.7% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (81%) and Mixed (8%).

The nearest railway station is Mortimer Rail Station, about 2.3 miles away in a straight line.

5 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Willink School (adjacent), 170 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood The Willink School stands in is among the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 47 crimes within a mile of the school, most often shoplifting, violence and sexual offences and anti-social behaviour. That is well above the typical figure around schools in West Berkshire (26), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, The Willink School issued 177 suspensions, 14.4 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 2 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to The Willink School are Mrs Bland's Infant School (0.1 miles), Garland Junior School (0.4 miles), Sulhamstead and Ufton Nervet School (1 mile) and Mortimer St. John's C.E. Infant School (1.5 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.