Admissions
The Wren is a comprehensive school, that does not select by aptitude or ability. The school was created to serve the community of Central West Reading, which otherwise had no access to local secondary schools, and this is reflected in our catchment area map which can be viewed in this link The Wren Catchment Area
For admissions to The Wren in Year 7 – 11, families should apply via Brighter Futures for Children. The link can be found here Brighter Futures For Children Admissions.
Please contact the admissions team at school with any queries [email protected]
The Wren 2023-24 and 2024-5 Admissions Policy can be viewed here
Download the Year 7 Admissions Appeal Form here.
Admissions to Year 7
Year 6 families should apply for places at The Wren using the admission timetable below and via Brighter Futures for Children, our admissions authority.
The Wren has 168 places available in Year 7. In the event of oversubscription, the following criteria will be applied:
- Looked After Children or a child who was previously looked after.
- Children who have exceptional social or medical needs,
- Children whose parents are The Founders of The Wren School
- Children of permanent Excalibur Aca
- Students living in the catchment area, with a sibling attending The Wren at the time of application.
- Students living outside of the catchment area, with a sibling attending The Wren at the time of application
- Students living in the catchment area
- Students living outside of catchment area
Admissions to Years 8 – 11
We welcome applications to all year groups. You can apply for an In Year Admission to The Wren if your child is moving to Reading, new to the country, moving to the area or changing school. We recommend that applicants visit the school and meet with our admissions team, who will assist you through this process.
Applications for In Year admissions can be made four weeks in advance of a place being required and should be made via Brighter Futures to Children, using the following link
Where there are more applicants than places the school will maintain a waiting list according to the oversubscription criteria listed, without regard to when the child’s name was added to the waiting list. Positions on the waiting list can therefore move down as well as up. This waiting list is managed by Brighter Futures for Children.
Admissions to Wren Six
There are no automatic entries from Year 11 to Wren Six and Wren students and external applicants are asked to apply directly to the school.
In the event of oversubscription applications will be considered by category as listed below:
- Looked After Children or a child who was previously looked after
- Children of The Founders of The Wren School
- Students of Excalibur employees
- All other applications. Priority will be given to siblings.
Open Evenings and Open Mornings
We are always delighted to welcome visitors to our school.
We warmly welcome families of Year 5 & 6 and members of our local community to our Open Evening on Thursday 28th September 2023. This is a wonderful opportunity for families to visit our wonderful school site, find out about our curriculum and teaching and meet some members of our school community.
You can register your place at our upcoming Open Evening here.
Open mornings take place throughout September and families are welcome to sign up to these by calling 0118 214 3888.
At this event, future students will have an opportunity to discuss course options and future careers with our specialist team and find out about our Personal development programme at Wren Six.
Year 6 – 7 Transition
We look forward to welcoming our newest Wren students and families to our community each year. We recognise the excitement, anticipation and questions the movement from Year 6 to 7 can bring and so organise a thorough transition programme to ensure that both families and students feel well prepared for their learning journey ahead.
Once places have been allocated you will receive a welcome letter from Mr Salberg, our Principal outlining the dates of our transition programme below.
Between April and May we commit to contacting and where possible, visiting and meeting with staff and students in every one of our wide numbers of feeder schools. Through this we ensure that we know as much as we can about students prior learning in school and how we can ensure that they are successful and happy when they move to us. Year 6 students are always very welcoming and keen to meet us.
In June we host our transition day. This is an opportunity for Year 6 students, supported by our Student Ambassadors, to experience learning at The Wren, meet some of their teachers and new friends and prepare for the routines of secondary school life.
Our ‘Welcome Families’ evening in June ensures that those at home know how they can best prepare their child for Year 7 and is an opportunity to introduce key staff. This provides another occasion to welcome students to our site, so they feel increasingly at ease in our setting.
Year 7 begins with a ‘Learning Conference Day’; an opportunity to ensure students are prepared for learning, meet their new friends, and are supported in becoming ambitious and confident learners. The highlight of this is the community lunch where we provide a meal for all students to enjoy with their new teachers and staff at The Wren.
Our Year ahead meeting in the first term ensures that families have real clarity over school processes, opportunities available for students, how we ensure we are ambitious for all students and how learning is measured.
We are always available for families to contact with any questions.
Appeals
Applicants, who have had their application to The Wren denied, have the right to submit an appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel and/or request to be placed on a waiting list. The outcomes of appeals since 2021 are shown below:
Applications must be received within 20 school days from the date of the denial letter.
Appellants must contact [email protected] sending the form found 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.