Christ The King Catholic Primary School

About Christ The King Catholic Primary School

Christ The King Catholic Primary School sits within the Reading local authority, where it ranks 36th out of 38 primary schools on the key stage 2 expected standard in reading, writing and maths. That places it in the bottom half of schools locally, well behind the top-performing peers in the area: All Saints Junior School, Redlands Primary School and Alfred Sutton Primary School. The school is a state-funded Roman Catholic primary for mixed-gender pupils aged three to eleven, with a nursery on site and a current roll of 315 children against a capacity of 365. Headteacher Vanessa Bingham leads a school that has a notably high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at 42.6 per cent, more than double the national average. The nearest outstanding-rated school is Geoffrey Field Infant School, just 0.2 kilometres away, which gives local families a clear alternative within walking distance.

In its most recent Ofsted inspection in May 2022, Christ The King improved from a Requires Improvement rating to Good overall, with Good marks for quality of education, personal development, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management. The early years provision remains Requires Improvement, which is a specific area the school will be working on. At key stage 2 in the 2023/24 academic year, 47 per cent of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, well below the Reading local authority average of 61 per cent. Only 6 per cent achieved the higher standard in that combined measure. Individual subject scores were more mixed: 64 per cent met the expected standard in both reading and maths, with average scaled scores of 103 in each, while 55 per cent reached the expected standard in writing. The school ranks in the bottom 50 per cent nationally and regionally, sitting at the 84th percentile across England.

The school offers a broad set of facilities including art studios, a sensory room, music rooms, an ICT suite, a forest school, a gymnasium and a chapel. Sports on offer include tennis, cross country, rounders and dance, and there is a good range of clubs such as coding, science club, chess, eco club, film club and art club. The school has a strong SEND offer, with provisions for moderate learning difficulty, social emotional and mental health needs, speech language and communication needs, visual impairment, physical disability, autistic spectrum disorder and other difficulties. Admissions for the 2025/26 year show the school is oversubscribed: 77 applications for 29 places, with 28 first-preference offers made from 28 first-preference applications, giving an oversubscription ratio of 2.66. This is a school that serves a diverse and disadvantaged community, and it will suit families who value a Catholic ethos and a supportive, inclusive environment with a wide range of enrichment activities.

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