Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre

Reading · RG4 8LR

General information Secondary School · 11-18 years Who goes here 1537 pupils, 10.5% FSM

Parent score Rate this school No reviews yet - be the first SEN Resourced provision · 12.7% on SEN support Behaviour 8.3% absence rate Staff 14.6% turnover Financials Spending and funding Environment Buildings and facilities

We haven't asked this school for its behaviour and staffing figures yet. Sign up to tell us you'd like them, and we'll email you when they arrive.

Notify me

Your email address

Leave this empty

We'll email you a link to confirm first. Your address is only used for news about this school, and every email has a link to stop them. Privacy

Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre

General Information

Address: Surley Row, Emmer Green, Reading, RG4 8LR – View on map
Phone: 01189015800
Website: Visit school website
Headteacher: Ms Laura Mathews
Age range: 11-18 years
Demand for places (Year 7, September 2026): 191 families put it first for 243 places – 8 for every 10 places. 96% of them were offered a place. 1 of the 243 places went to families living outside the council area. Children putting it first, for every 10 places: 2023 9 · 2024 9 · 2025 7 · 2026 8
Sixth form: Yes
Intake: Mixed
Religious character: None
Nursery provision: No

Who goes here

1537 pupils out of 1440 places At or near capacity

Pupils eligible for free school meals: 129
% eligible for free school meals: 10.5%
Pupil mix: 6 in 10 (less mixed than the Reading average)
English as an additional language: 14% (England 22%)

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Teacher turnover: 14.6% a year (Reading 17.2%, typical in England 15.5%)
Where they went: about 48% moved to another school, 52% left state schools altogether (retirement, other careers, independent schools, abroad)
Data years: 2022/23 to 2024/25 (average of 3 years, DfE school workforce census)

Teachers who moved school or left state schools in the year after each November, as a share of all the school's teachers. Some turnover is healthy – retirements, promotions, moving house.

Behaviour

Awaiting Data

About this Behaviour status

We've asked this school for real behaviour figures under Freedom of Information and haven't had a response yet.

Across Reading: suspensions by reason

Suspensions for sexual misconduct: 7 (0.7 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.7)
Permanent exclusions for sexual misconduct: 0
Suspensions for bullying: 33 (3.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 1.9)
Suspensions for abuse against sexual orientation or gender identity: 3 (0.3 per 1,000 pupils; England 0.8)
Data year: 2024/25 (DfE suspensions and exclusions statistics)

These are figures for all state secondary schools in Reading, not this school's own – the government doesn't publish them school by school. A suspension can have up to three reasons. Most sexual harassment between pupils never leads to a suspension, so these figures show only part of the picture.

Attendance

Overall absence: 8.3%
Persistently absent pupils: 21.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About persistent absence

A pupil is counted as "persistently absent" if they miss 10% or more of their possible school sessions - roughly one day in every two weeks. Schools and Ofsted both pay close attention to this figure specifically, since it can highlight a pattern the overall absence rate alone might hide.

SEN

Resourced provision for Visual impairment 8 places · 8 pupils at the last count

Places are usually for children with an EHC Plan and are arranged through the council, not the normal school application.

Pupils on SEN Support: 12.7%
Pupils with an EHC Plan: 2.2%
Data year: 2025/26

Most common needs - SEN Support

Autistic spectrum disorder: 63 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 53 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 50 pupils
Speech, language and communications needs: 8 pupils
SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need: 6 pupils

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Autistic spectrum disorder: 14 pupils
Social, emotional and mental health: 9 pupils
Physical disability: 3 pupils
Vision impairment: 3 pupils
Specific learning difficulty: 3 pupils

These figures show the makeup of the school.

About these SEND figures

These figures give a sense of the makeup of the school - they aren't a judgement on the quality of support provided.

Parent score - no reviews yet –

Be the first to review — win £100 of books for your school Every honest review enters you into our prize draw

Behaviour

–

Openness

–

Teaching Quality

–

School Ethos

–

Ability to Deal with Problems

–

Headteacher Approval

–

SafeguardingSafeguarding (parent rating)How parents rate the school on keeping children safe - how safe their child feels, and how well concerns are listened to and acted on. It's parents' experience, not an inspection result; Ofsted checks safeguarding separately.

–

Would recommend –

Educational Attainment

Good 2024 report

About this Ofsted rating

Ofsted changed how it rates schools in the last couple of years, so ratings from different years aren't always on the same scale - that's why we show the year alongside every rating.

Attainment 8 score: 50.4
Compared with the area: 2.3 points below the Reading average (52.7)
Compared with schools with similar pupils: As expected (−1.8 points against an expected 52.2)
Grade 4+ in English and maths: 75% (Reading 70%, England 65%) Falling
Data year: 2024/25

View the School Context Comparator – how this school's results compare with schools teaching similar pupils.

GCSE results over time

This schoolReading averageEngland↘ Falling Down 3.0 points since 2022/23. In 2024/25 this school was 2.3 points below the Reading average (52.7).

About the Attainment 8 score

Attainment 8 measures a pupil's average result across 8 GCSE-equivalent qualifications (English and maths count double). It shows how pupils performed, not how much progress they made getting there - a school with a higher score doesn't necessarily add more value, since pupils often arrive with different starting points. Progress 8 is the measure designed to account for that, but it currently can't be calculated for any school for the two most recent academic years, due to a nationwide gap in the data caused by COVID-19 disruption to Key Stage 2 testing.

4th of 9 secondary schools in Reading for Attainment 8

#2Reading School83.0
#3Reading Girls' School51.8
#4Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre50.4
#5Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School46.0
#6Maiden Erlegh School in Reading45.6

Click to see the full ranking

Attainment 8 ranking

Illustrative MVP scores - not based on verified data yet.

Rank School Score

#1Kendrick School84.0
#2Reading School83.0
#3Reading Girls' School51.8
#4Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre50.4
#5Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School46.0
#6Maiden Erlegh School in Reading45.6
#7The WREN School44.8
#8UTC Reading42.0
#9King's Academy Prospect36.8

Leaver Destinations

In education, employment, or training a year later: 98.0%
Went into further education: 95.0%
Data year: 2024/25

About leaver destinations

This shows where a school's Year 11 leavers were recorded the following year - in a "sustained" destination means in education, an apprenticeship, or employment for at least 6 months, not just enrolled briefly. It's a different picture from exam results alone, and can highlight schools that support pupils well beyond just their GCSE grades.

GCSE Subjects Offered

English Language
Maths (General)
English Literature
Science Double Award
History
Geography
Business Studies
Sports Studies
Physics (General)
Biology
Chemistry (General)
Community Development
Music Studies (General)
Art & Design
Spanish
Computer Science
Food Technology
French Language
Chinese
Economics
Speech & Drama
Statistics
D & T
Photography
Religious Studies
Portuguese
Russian
Italian
Greek

About this subject list

This isn't the school's own description of its curriculum - it's real DfE exam entry data, showing which GCSE subjects this school's pupils were actually entered for in 2024/25. A subject not appearing here may still be taught but had no pupils entered that year, so treat this as a helpful guide rather than a complete guarantee - it's worth confirming directly with the school for the year your child would actually study.

View full Ofsted inspection report

4th of 8 secondary schools in Reading for Ofsted rating

#2Reading SchoolOutstanding
#3Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic SchoolGood
#4Highdown School and Sixth Form CentreGood
#5King's Academy ProspectGood
#6Maiden Erlegh School in ReadingGood

Click to see the full ranking

Ofsted Rating ranking

Based on real Ofsted ratings (via official DfE data) for schools on the same four-word grading scale.

Rank School Score

#1Kendrick SchoolOutstanding
#2Reading SchoolOutstanding
#3Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic SchoolGood
#4Highdown School and Sixth Form CentreGood
#5King's Academy ProspectGood
#6Maiden Erlegh School in ReadingGood
#7Reading Girls' SchoolGood
#8Hartland High SchoolInadequate

Financials

Spending per pupil, and how this school compares to others nearby, will appear here once we've linked in official DfE spending data.

View on the Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool (GOV.UK)

Have you rated Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre yet? Your experience helps other parents.

Rate this school

General Information

Who goes here

Staff

Teachers leaving each year

Behaviour

Across Reading: suspensions by reason

Attendance

SEN

Most common needs - SEN Support

Most common needs - EHC Plan

Educational Attainment

Attainment 8 ranking

Leaver Destinations ?

GCSE Subjects Offered ?

Ofsted Rating ranking

Financials

Leaver Destinations

GCSE Subjects Offered