School Information
Click here to download the Routine Round 1 Admissions Appeal Form for September 2023.
Admissions Policies
Click here to read our Admission Policies – Years 7-11 and Sixth Form
The Reading Borough Council admissions process can be viewed here.
As a member of the Excalibur Academies Trust, all admissions information can be found here.
Applying for a place at The Wren School
All applications for Years 7-11 must be made via Brighter Futures for Children. To apply click on the link below:
For further information on how to apply for a place in our Sixth Form, please refer to the sixth form tab on our website.
Routine Round Admission to Year 7 on National Offer Day
The Wren School holds an open evening for prospective year 7 students in September. Our prospectus can be found at the bottom of this page. We strongly recommend that families read our admissions policy closely as The Wren School is currently over subscribed within catchment. For any questions regarding admissions, please contact our Admissions Officer, Mrs Demi Bisoffi on 0118 214 3888 or email her here.
2023/2024
| Category | Oversubscription criteria – see Admissions Policy 2023 for further details | Initial Places Offered |
| 1 | Children with a statement of special needs naming the school and Looked After Children or previously Looked After Children | 3 |
| 2 | Students who have medical grounds for admission | 0 |
| 3 | Children of founders of The Wren school | 0 |
| 4 | Children of Excalibur employees | 0 |
| 5 | Students living in the catchment area, with a sibling attending the Wren school at the time of application | 40 |
| 6 | Students living outside of the catchment area, with a sibling attending the Wren school at the time of application | 4 |
| 7 | Students living in the catchment area‐ the tie breaker of straight‐line distance from home to school was used as it was not possible to offer every child a place in this category.
It was not possible to offer a place to 57 children from category 7 |
121 |
| 8 | Students living outside of catchment area | – |
| Total | 168 |
As at 1st January 2023, there were 564* applications for a place at The Wren School.
The last child offered a place lives 1.219 miles from the Yeomanry House.
No child whose application fell into the criterion ‘living outside catchment area’ was offered a place in either 2023, 2022, or 2021.
* These figures do not include late applications.
Catchment Area
The Wren School was created to serve the community of Central West Reading, which otherwise has no access to local secondary schools, due to the only provision in the centre of Reading being selective, and a majority of children educated there live outside Reading. West Reading is served by Prospect School and Blessed Hugh Faringdon School. It is for this reason that, although the land available to build The Wren School was very near to these two schools, the data point for The Wren School is at Yeomanry House. Yeomanry House is 0.381 miles to the west of Reading town centre (The Wren School 1.205 miles).
The catchment borders for The Wren School were drawn up with reference to those 1,600 children of families who expressed interest in applying to The Wren School, during the application phase of the project in 2012. The founders cross-referenced family addresses against the local primary school attended, and identified those primaries whose potential Wren cohort was significant. The Wren School catchment area is therefore consistent with these primary school catchments, with the exception of EP Collier school, whose catchment was restricted to the area south of the River Thames. Care was taken to ensure that a minimum of 26% of families living in the finalised catchment were entitled to Pupil Premium, as per records held by Reading Borough Council (RBC). The proportion of students currently on roll at The Wren School who are entitled to Pupil Premium is in excess of 28.2%.
Please click here to view a map of the catchment area.
2023/2024 Admission Appeals
All applicants refused a place at The Wren School have a right of appeal to an Independent Appeals Panel, constituted and operated in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. The outcomes of previous appeals are shown in the table below.
| Principal reason for appeal | Appeals heard | Successful | Success rate |
| Allocated school is unsuitable | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Anxiety – separation from family/friends
|
1 | 0 | 0% |
| Bullying at allocated school | 2 | 0 | 0% |
| Convenient location for travel/school run | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Criminal violence to child or family associated with allocated school | 0 | ||
| Exceptional medical grounds for child | 0 | ||
| Exceptional medical grounds within family | 0 | ||
| Ethos, values and education at the Wren | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Family/friends recommend the Wren | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Local family/friends can provide childcare | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| Preference/Convenience | |||
| 2022/23 (to date) | 8 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021/22 | 8 | 0 | 0% |
In-Year Appeal Information 2022/2023
- Applications to appeal must be received within 20 school days from the date of the refusal letter.
- Appellants should advise Mrs Demi Bisoffi, admissions@wren.excalibur.org.uk that they wish to appeal and lodge their appeal with her either by email or by sending it to the school.
- All appellants are required to state the ground of their appeal, and the school will only accept fully-completed appeal forms which are found for 2022-23 here. Appeals lodged which do not fully present the appellant’s case, are in any other format, or to any other authority, such as RBC, are NOT VALID and will not be accepted. Applicants will receive confirmation that their appeal has been accepted to proceed to a hearing within 2 school days. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the appeal has been received and accepted by the school.
- Appellants will receive at least 10 school days’ notice of their appeal hearing, to which they are expected to attend. Any additional evidence from the appellant must be submitted to the Clerk to the Appeals Panel no later than 5 school days before the hearing is scheduled. Any information or evidence not submitted by this deadline might not be considered at the appeal.
- Appeals will be heard within 30 school days of the deadline for lodging appeals where possible.
Appellants should be informed by letter within a further 5 school days of the Appeal Panel’s decision. The Appeal Panel will consist of 3 independent members. Decisions are made in accordance with the School Admission Appeals Code. The decision made by the Appeal Panel is final and binding on all parties.
For any queries, please contact Mrs Demi Bisoffi on 0118 214 3888 or email admissions@wren.excalibur.org.uk