- Reading Blue Coat, a day school founded in 1646, has a bucolic setting on 46 acres next to the River Thames in Sonning, Berkshire. The site provides “great capacity for the stretching and developing of body and mind”, says the headmaster Peter Thomas.
- Pupils are strongly encouraged to compete: last year, 99 per cent of year 7 boys played football or rugby. The school has its own boathouse and rowing is among the main sports alongside athletics and cross country, cricket, girls’ hockey and netball.
- The school has had a mixed sixth form for more than four decades and will be fully coeducational by 2027.
- At A-level, pupils have a choice of 26 subjects, plus the Extended Project Qualification. In 2025, 84 per cent of A-level grades were A*-B.
- Notable former pupils include the TV presenter Jeremy Kyle, the politician Alok Sharma, and the actors Tom Rosenthal and Natalie Dormer.
Sign up to The Times and The Sunday Times weekly parenting newsletter