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| Leighton Park School/Reading | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
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Shinfield Road ,, RG2 7ED | |
| Information | |
| Type | Private school Public school Day and boarding school |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) |
| Established | 1890 (1890) |
| Head | Matthew L S Judd |
| Staff | 213 (approx.) |
| Gender | Co-educational |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 535 |
| Colour(s) | Blue,Copper,White |
| Publication | The Park |
| Campus | 65-acre (260,000 m2) parkland campus |
| Former Pupils | Old Leightonians |
| Website | leightonpark.com |
Leighton Park School is a co-educationalprivate school for both day and boarding pupils inReading in South EastEngland. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, having been founded as a Quaker School in 1890. The school's ethos is described as achievement with values, character and community. It is one of sevenQuaker schools in England.[citation needed]
The school is based in a 65-acre (26 ha) parkland estate just south ofReading town centre, next to theUniversity of Reading'sWhiteknights Park campus.[1] The school has been a member of theHeadmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference since 1932.[citation needed] It offers both theInternational Baccalaureate andA Levels at Sixth Form.
The school won Senior School of the Year in the Independent Schools Association (ISA) Awards 2023, the largest independent schools’ body in the UK. This success came on the back of Leighton Park also being acknowledged as one of the country’s best independent schools in the prestigious TES Schools Awards 2023
Matthew Judd has been the headmaster since September 2018.[citation needed]
AtA level in 2019, pupils' progress score was Well Above Average with students gaining 0.6 of a grade on average across their subjects.[2] No data were published by theDepartment for Education for the school atGCSE level.[3]
The School was inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in November 2021 and was found to be excellent for both the quality of pupils’ personal development and the quality of their academic progress.[4]
There are 27 music teachers covering a range of instruments.[5] The school offers dance with a new studio built in 2020 and a GCSE and A Levels qualifications available. The school's music and media centre opened in 2019. It offers a BTec in Digital Media Production at both level 2 and level 3 and works with nearby Pinewood Studios.
Old School and attached laboratories at Leighton Park are Grade IIlisted buildings.[6] Grove House was designed by Victorian architectAlfred Waterhouse, who also designed theNatural History Museum in London[citation needed] and himself an old boy ofGrove House School.
Leighton Park was opened in 1890 by members of theReligious Society of Friends (Quakers), as apublic school for boys. It was founded afterGrove House School, also a Quaker school, closed in 1877. Grove House School had educated notable personalities such asLord Lister,Alfred Waterhouse andThomas Hodgkin.[citation needed]
Leighton Park grew from four boys in 1890 to 103 in the 1920s. The junior school became the independentCrosfields School, making Leighton Park solely a senior school. By 1970 the school had 300 pupils, and in 1975 girls were admitted to the sixth form. In 1993 the school became fully coeducational. Today the school is home to around 520 pupils drawn from over 44 different countries.[citation needed]
In 2015, the school celebrated its 125-year anniversary.[7]
In March 2016, the school was granted planning permission to develop the main hall and music department into the Music and Media Centre (MMC) which will enhance the facilities for teaching Music and Media at the school. The building officially opened in March 2019. The school is currently redeveloping the historic Grove House to be a new Sixth Form Study Centre and School Library - due to open in early 2024.[8]
Leighton Park appeared on the BBC One Show in 2020, featuring the school's production of PPE for health workers during the Covid-19 pandemic[9]Leighton Park was featured on the BBC Politics Show, which was hosted at the site in December 2010.[10]
In April 2005, Quaker-based Sunday Worship was broadcast live from Leighton Park on BBC Radio 4. Heard by an estimated 1.75 million listeners, the sequence of readings, music, ministry and silence "reflected the essence of Quaker values to the wider world."[11]
In November 2011 thieves stole Maverick the Harris hawk from a teacher's aviary. Maverick was used "to build a more adventurous curriculum for pupils" and helped students learn physics. Pupils were left distraught after the theft as a core team of pupils had been trained to handle him.[12]
Notable old pupils include:
 | This article's list of alumnimay not follow Wikipedia'sverifiability policy. Pleaseimprove this article by removing names that do not have independentreliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriatecitations.(May 2019) |
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Secondary data is not available or applicable for this school.
| International | |
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| National | |
51°26′15″N0°56′51″W / 51.43750°N 0.94750°W /51.43750; -0.94750
