The WREN School
61-63 Bath Road, Reading, RG30 2BB
- Phase
- Secondary
- School type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 19
- Gender
- Mixed
- Religious character
- None
- Trust
- EXCALIBUR ACADEMIES TRUST
- Headteacher
- Mr John Salberg
- Sponsor
- Excalibur Academies Trust
- SEN provision
- ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
- Constituency
- Reading Central
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Capacity
- 1,176
- Pupils on roll
- 931
- URN
- 142121
- Local authority
- Reading
- Website
- School website
- Telephone
- 01182143888
About this school
The WREN School is a secondary academy in Reading. It teaches children aged 11 to 19 and has 931 pupils on roll.
You can read Ofsted's latest judgement for the school below. Where the Department for Education has published them, its results and pupil characteristics appear below. Numbers and a report only go so far, so visit in person before you apply.
Ofsted judgement
Ofsted no longer gives schools a single overall grade. Each area of the school's work is graded on a five-point scale, and safeguarding is judged separately.
- Inclusion
- Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching
- Expected standard
- Achievement
- Expected standard
- Attendance and behaviour
- Expected standard
- Personal development and wellbeing
- Expected standard
- Leadership and governance
- Expected standard
- Post-16 provision
- Needs attention
- Safeguarding
- Met
Exam results
Key stage 4 (GCSEs)
| Measure | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils at the end of key stage 4 | 156 | 186 | 156 |
| Attainment 8 score | 38.7 | 43.0 | 44.8 |
| Progress 8 score | -0.30 -0.54 to -0.06 | -0.13 -0.35 to +0.09 | - |
| Grade 5 or above in English and maths | 29% | 35.5% | 41% |
| Grade 4 or above in English and maths | 58% | 60.2% | 59.6% |
| Entered the English Baccalaureate | 31% | 22.6% | 13.5% |
| English Baccalaureate average point score | 3.4 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
Progress 8 is paused nationally for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 school years. Those pupils sat no key stage 2 tests during the Covid pandemic, so there is no starting point to measure progress from. A blank figure here is not missing school data.
Trends over time
How The WREN School has moved over recent years against the local and national picture. Every figure is shown in the table beneath its chart.
| Year | This school | Reading average | England average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 38.7 | 42.8 | 39.8 |
| 2023/24 | 43 | 41 | 39.5 |
| 2024/25 | 44.8 | 44.3 | 39 |
Department for Education KS4 performance data, published school results.
| Year | This school | England average |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 9.9% | 6.8% |
| 2023/24 | 9.2% | 6.6% |
| 2024/25 | 8.3% | 6.2% |
Department for Education pupil absence data.
| Year | This school |
|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 994 |
| 2023/24 | 1,003 |
| 2024/25 | 979 |
School census, spring count each academic year.
How The WREN School compares
The WREN School ranked 7th of 9 secondary schools in Reading for Attainment 8 in 2024/25. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 56% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 15% of England schools in 2024/25.
| School | Attainment 8 (2024/25) | Absence | FSM (6 years) | Pupils | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 44.8 | 8.3% | 29.1% | 931 | — |
| Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School | 46 | 7.5% | 21.3% | 1,082 | 0.2 miles |
| King's Academy Prospect | 36.8 | 9.5% | 39.7% | 1,157 | 0.8 miles |
| River Academy | — | 5.1% | 29% | 373 | 1.3 miles |
| Kendrick School | 84 | 4.9% | 9.2% | 939 | 1.6 miles |
| Reading Girls' School | 51.8 | 8% | 28.3% | 905 | 1.8 miles |
Results reflect each school's cohort as much as its teaching, and free school meals share is context, not a judgement. Small gaps between neighbouring schools are rarely meaningful on their own.
Inspection history
-
Graded inspection report14 April 2026
- 23 January 2024
School context
From the 2024/25 school census and absence figures.
- Free school meals (last 6 years)
- 29.09%
- English as an additional language
- 51.8%
- Overall absence
- 8.31%
- Persistent absence
- 26.88%
Location
Nearby schools
-
Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School0.2 miles
Secondary · Reading
-
King's Academy Prospect0.8 miles
Secondary · Reading
-
River Academy1.3 miles
Secondary · Reading
-
Kendrick School1.6 miles
Secondary · Reading
-
Reading Girls' School1.8 miles
Secondary · Reading
Other schools in Reading
The WREN School ranks 15th of the 19 ranked secondary schools in Reading.
- Blessed Hugh Faringdon Catholic School Secondary
- Denefield School Secondary
- Hartland High School Secondary
- Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre Secondary
- Kendrick School Secondary
- King's Academy Prospect Secondary
- Langtree School Secondary
- Little Heath School Secondary
- Maiden Erlegh Chiltern Edge Secondary
- Maiden Erlegh School Secondary
- Maiden Erlegh School in Reading Secondary
- Oakbank School Secondary
Common questions
- What year groups does The WREN School teach?
- The WREN School teaches children aged 11 to 19. It is a secondary school in Reading.
- Who is the headteacher of The WREN School?
- The headteacher of The WREN School is Mr John Salberg, as recorded in the Department for Education's register of schools.
- When was The WREN School last inspected?
- Ofsted has inspected The WREN School, and its latest judgement is set out in the inspection section on this page, with the framework and the date it was made.
- How big is The WREN School?
- The WREN School has 931 pupils on roll, teaching children aged 11 to 19.
- Is The WREN School full?
- The WREN School has capacity for 1,176 pupils and 931 on roll (79%), so it has space against its published capacity. Places are allocated through the local authority's admissions process, so capacity alone does not tell you whether a place is available.
- Is The WREN School a faith school?
- No. The WREN School has no designated religious character.
- Who runs The WREN School?
- The WREN School is part of EXCALIBUR ACADEMIES TRUST. Schools in a trust or federation share leadership and governance, but each keeps its own inspection record and results.
- What SEN provision does The WREN School have?
- The schools register lists The WREN School's special educational needs provision as: ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Contact the school to discuss how it would support a particular child.
- How have The WREN School's results changed over recent years?
- Its Attainment 8 score was 38.7 in 2022/23 and 44.8 in 2024/25. The year-by-year figures, alongside local and national averages, are charted in the trends section on this page.
- How does The WREN School rank locally?
- The WREN School ranked 7th of 9 secondary schools in Reading for Attainment 8. Its Attainment 8 score was higher than 56% of England secondary schools that published results in 2024/25. Its absence rate was lower than 15% of England schools in 2024/25. Results reflect each cohort as well as the school, so treat rankings as a starting point.
- What is The WREN School's absence rate?
- The WREN School's overall absence rate is 8.3% in the latest published census, above the England average of 6.2%.
- What are The WREN School's exam results?
- Where the Department for Education has published them, The WREN School's key stage results are shown in the results section on this page, with the last three years so you can see the trend rather than a single year.
School details come from the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register. Inspection outcomes come from Ofsted, and exam results from the Department for Education's school performance service. This page was last updated on 15 July 2026.