Reading Blue Coat School is a co-educational (boys only up to Sixth form) independent day school for students from ages 11 to 18. As at September 2022, the School has circa 800 students. From September 2023, the School will welcome a co-educational intake into Year 7 with the intention of being a fully co-educational independent day school from September 2027 onwards. The School will continue to be co-educational between the ages of 16 and 18.

The School was founded in 1646 by Richard Aldworth, a Master of The Skinners’ Company, and a Governor of Christ’s Hospital. The School was established near St Mary’s Minster Church in Reading and was originally known by its historic name of Aldworth’s Hospital. In 1947, Reading Blue Coat School moved to the magnificent estate of Holme Park in the Berkshire village of Sonning, where it remains today.

The ethos of the School derives from its Christian foundation and traditions, fostering care and concern within the community and enabling all students to develop their full potential. The School aims to provide a stimulating and friendly atmosphere in which each pupil can realise his or her full intellectual, physical, and creative potential. Students are encouraged to be self-reliant and adaptable, and the School intends that they will learn the basis of good citizenship, founded on honesty, fairness and understanding of the needs of others. The curriculum provides a balanced blend of academic and co-curricular activities that combine to meet these objectives.

The School employs more than 200 salaried staff, of whom about 50% are academic. Reflecting the character of our co-educational sixth form, nearly half of our academic staff are female.

The most important role of every RBCS teacher is to teach the pupils. That sounds obvious, but it can be easily forgotten when one is also a tutor attached to a House, running a sports team or musical ensemble, helping with CCF and DofE, organising an activity, dealing with pastoral issues, and also trying to live a life outside the RBCS bubble.

A key aim of RBCS is to encourage growth of intellectual curiosity, creativity and habits of learning, in order to help each and every pupil achieve their full potential. This is doubly important when we remember that RBCS pupils are busy in so many ways outside the classroom as part of a co-curricular programme of which we can be justifiably proud.

To achieve our aim, we need committed, well-qualified staff who are able to inspire pupils. Developing these qualities in teachers does not happen by accident, and it must be underpinned by meaningful professional development. Our ethos of care, consideration and courtesy for one another extends to the professional training on offer at RBCS. We are generous in our support of postgraduate qualifications, ISQAM or the HMC Pastoral Management Programme. We have excellent provision for teachers who are new to the profession. RBCS is a Regional Training Centre (rated excellent) for NQTs, as well as offering PGCE training with the University of Buckinghamshire. More experienced staff are encouraged to contribute to our in-house training through the micro INSET programme or membership of the Staff Learning Research Group. Needless to say, we take our teachers and their learning experience very seriously at RBCS. We operate a timetable of nine lessons each day, with each lesson lasting 35 minutes. A full allocation for a subject teacher is 34 lessons a week, which may include co-curricular involvement in Games, Activities, Careers or PSHEE. The ideal teacher at RBCS will make the most of their abilities and encourage others to do the same. There are learning opportunities outside the classroom, and we want our teachers as well as the pupils to embrace them.

A successful independent school is much like a small or medium-sized business, requiring many different professions and occupations to support our pupils and academic staff in delivering the best possible education and life experiences for our pupils. Opportunities exist for highly motivated and committed people, usually working in small teams, in the following functions:

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF There are opportunities for administrative staff to work within the support departments as well as in our academic administration centre; including secretaries, receptionists, clerical assistants, and exam invigilators.

BURSARY (FINANCE AND OPERATIONS) Our Bursary team includes professional finance staff who manage accounts, invoicing, payments and payroll activities; and operations management specialists who ensure the smooth running of day-to-day operations and development of the school facilities and infrastructure.

FOUNDATION OFFICE The School was founded in 1646 by Richard Aldworth, who set aside a sum of money to be used for the education of young boys in the Reading Area. Since then, the Foundation Office has been launched to ensure that Richard Aldworth’s vision of the School remains at the heart of its ethos, and that Reading Blue Coat remains a place where young people are given opportunities they may not have access to in the wider community.

GROUNDS We take great pride in our environment, and our team of professional grounds people and gardeners maintain the 46 acres of pristine sports grounds, woodland and attractive floral gardens to the highest standards.

HOUSEKEEPING Most of our own housekeeping (cleaning) staff work part-time hours throughout the year to ensure the classrooms, meeting rooms, offices and sports facilities are kept clean and tidy to a standard that we can be very proud of.

HUMAN RESOURCES Our HR professionals co-ordinate and administer all staffing matters for the school.

IT SERVICES Our dedicated team of IT specialists provide technical support, and manage our IT networks, infrastructure and software for pupils, teachers and support staff.

LIBRARY Our well-equipped Library is a centre of student learning and is staffed from breakfast to evening by qualified Librarians during term time.

MAINTENANCE We have our own dedicated maintenance team who are responsible for keeping the wide variety and use of buildings, services and site infrastructure operating to a consistently high standard.

MARKETING & ADMISSIONS We have a small team of professional staff who market the School; manage our external communications, including social media; manage applications and student admissions; and raise funds for the School.

SPECIALIST TECHNICIANS AND SUBJECT TECHNICIANS We employ many technical specialists on a term-time-only basis to support our teachers in delivering the wide ranging curriculum and additional activities for our students, including Science Technicians, Language Assistants, and subject-support Technicians.

SPORTS COACHES Our full-time Sport and PE staff are supported on a seasonal, term-time basis by qualified sports coaches working part-time, to coach our teams in all of the major sports.