Birch Copse Primary School
Reading, RG31 5LN · West Berkshire local authority
Reading’s School Grade A− better than 76% of towns in England
What stands out about Birch Copse Primary School
- Its own letter, A: Key Stage 2 results better than 89% of England’s primary schools
- 78% meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 16 points above England’s schools
- 7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals (fewer than England’s 25%)
- Ofsted: Outstanding, July 2024 (shown, not graded)
- 57% of families who put it first got a place for September 2026 (56 of 99)
- Homes in its postcode sector (RG31 5) sold for a median £415,000; Reading’s is £355,000
Results
DfE · Key Stage 2Reading, writing and maths 78%
Met the expected standard, DfE’s 3-year average 2023–2025 · higher than 89% of England’s 14,979 graded primaries · West Berkshire avg 56%
Each subject, 2025
Met the expected standard; the mark is England’s schools · average scaled score: reading 108, maths 106 (100 = the expected standard)
England’s figures are of its graded mainstream state schools, each school counted once; grammar schools are included, which is why the right-hand tail is long. Small cohorts are suppressed.
How hard is it to get a place at Birch Copse Primary School?
57% of the families who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2019 (21), 2020 (9), 2021 (7), 2022 (2), 2024 (16), 2025 (22), 2026 (43). The council runs the coordinated admissions; each school’s rules (siblings, distance, faith) decide who gets in. DfE doesn’t publish the furthest distance offered, so check the council’s admissions booklet for that. West Berkshire council sets the admissions rules. Apply through West Berkshire council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places · the 10 most in demand
57% got their first choice
Reading and West Berkshire, side by side
2023–2025All 55 graded primaries in West Berkshire. Schools with more pupils on free school meals usually score lower, so a school above the crowd for its free school meals is doing better than its intake predicts. Reading’s schools are coloured by their letter.
Show as a table
| School | Letter | Free school meals | KS2 expected standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Ilsleys Primary School | A+ | 9% | 88% |
| Enborne C.E. Primary School | A+ | 4% | 84% |
| Theale C.E. Primary School | A | 21% | 82% |
| Bradfield C.E. Primary School | A | 11% | 80% |
| St Paul's Catholic Primary School | A | 4% | 79% |
| Birch Copse Primary School | A | 7% | 78% |
| Robert Sandilands Primary School and Nursery | A | 27% | 77% |
| Hampstead Norreys C.E. Primary School | A | 26% | 76% |
| Curridge Primary School | A− | 7% | 72% |
| Mortimer St Mary's C.E. Junior School | B+ | 10% | 70% |
| Downsway Primary School | B | 7% | 67% |
| Springfield Primary School | B | 9% | 66% |
| Falkland Primary School | B | 6% | 66% |
| Cold Ash St Mark's CE Primary School | B | 2% | 66% |
| Burghfield St Mary's C.E. Primary School | B | 13% | 65% |
| Sulhamstead and Ufton Nervet School | B | 6% | 65% |
| The Willows Primary School | B− | 25% | 64% |
| Shefford C.E. Primary School | B− | 6% | 61% |
| Englefield C.E. Primary School | B− | 8% | 61% |
| Yattendon C.E. Primary School | C+ | 3% | 58% |
| Westwood Farm Junior School | C | 15% | 57% |
| St Finian's Catholic Primary School | C | 3% | 57% |
| St Joseph's Catholic Primary School | C | 7% | 57% |
| Chieveley Primary School | C | 10% | 56% |
| Brightwalton C.E. Aided Primary School | C | 10% | 56% |
| Kennet Valley Primary School | C | 25% | 55% |
| The Winchcombe School | C | 18% | 55% |
| Fir Tree Primary School and Nursery | C | 34% | 55% |
| Hermitage Primary School | C | 13% | 54% |
| Hungerford Primary School | C | 29% | 54% |
| Garland Junior School | C | 27% | 54% |
| Stockcross C.E. School | C | 5% | 54% |
| Calcot Junior School | C− | 29% | 53% |
| Bucklebury C.E. Primary School | C− | 16% | 53% |
| Thatcham Park CofE Primary | C− | 19% | 53% |
| Francis Baily Primary School | C− | 17% | 52% |
| Shaw-cum-Donnington C.E. Primary School | C− | 37% | 51% |
| St Nicolas C.E. Junior School | C− | 17% | 51% |
| Speenhamland School | C− | 25% | 49% |
| Woolhampton C.E. Primary School | C− | 5% | 48% |
| Long Lane Primary School | D | 9% | 47% |
| Purley CofE Primary School | D | 22% | 47% |
| Whitelands Park Primary School | D | 23% | 46% |
| Parsons Down Junior School | D | 17% | 45% |
| Spurcroft Primary School | D | 14% | 45% |
| Welford and Wickham C.E. Primary School | D | 19% | 44% |
| John Rankin Junior School | D | 13% | 44% |
| Kintbury St Mary's C.E. Primary School | D | 26% | 41% |
| Aldermaston C.E. Primary School | D | 29% | 40% |
| Pangbourne Primary School | D | 17% | 39% |
| Lambourn CofE Primary School | D− | 30% | 36% |
| Brimpton C.E. Primary School | D− | 22% | 26% |
| Chaddleworth St Andrew's C.E. Primary School | D− | 27% | 25% |
| Beedon C.E. (Controlled) Primary School | D− | 46% | 18% |
| Beenham Primary School | D− | 33% | 0% |
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025416 pupils. SEN support is extra help in school for a special educational need; an EHC plan is the council’s legal plan for pupils who need more.
Girls and boys
Birch Copse Primary School’s letter
Its own results against England’s schools, not the town’s School Grade.
How school letters are worked out
Each school’s measure is compared with every graded school in England of the same phase: for primaries, the share of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (DfE’s three-year average); for secondaries, Attainment 8 and the share with grade 5 or above in English and maths, each turned into a z-score against England’s schools and averaged. The letter comes from the share of those schools it beats, in the same bands as every grade on the site. The same method gives U.S. schools their letters, against their own state.
Graded: England’s open mainstream state schools with published results (grammar schools included, which select by test). Not graded: special schools, alternative provision, nurseries, 16–19 colleges, UTCs and studio schools, Welsh schools. Ofsted plays no part.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Graded inspection: Outstanding, July 2024.
Living near Birch Copse Primary School
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in RG31 5, the school’s postcode sector
Reading property prices →Median sale price each year, 2010 to 2025
By type, the 36 months to August 2026
Homes in RG31 5 sell for well over Reading’s typical price. HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales. Catchments aren’t published, so the postcode sector stands in for “around the school”.
Schools within 1.6 miles
18 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Reading, RG31 5LN
Birch Copse Primary School: common questions
Is Birch Copse Primary School a good school?
By its published results, well above average: its Key Stage 2 results are better than 89% of England’s primary schools (its letter is A), with 78% of pupils meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% for England’s schools. Ofsted: Outstanding, July 2024.
How hard is it to get into Birch Copse Primary School?
For September 2026, 99 families put Birch Copse Primary School first and 56 of them were offered a place; 60 places were offered in all.
What is Birch Copse Primary School’s Ofsted rating?
Its latest inspection outcome is Outstanding (July 2024).
How much do houses cost near Birch Copse Primary School?
Homes in its postcode sector, RG31 5, sold for a median £415,000 over the 36 months to August 2026 (294 sales).
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Also: DfE Key Stage 4 performance, schools data (2023/24 and 2024/25 final, 2025/26 provisional) and Key Stage 2 performance tables 2024/25 by subject; DfE school census, January 2025; DfE school-level applications and offers, September 2019 to 2026 entry; HM Land Registry Price Paid by postcode sector, 2010 to August 2026.
A school’s letter is our own summary of its published results against England’s schools of the same phase; Reading’s School Grade is a separate grade, built from the results of the schools in and around the town against other towns. Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.