River Academy
Reading, RG1 8EQ · Reading local authority
Reading’s School Grade A− better than 76% of towns in England
What stands out about River Academy
- No letter for this school: the reason is below.
- Room to spare: 373 pupils for 1,200 places
- 64% of families who put it first got a place for September 2026 (136 of 211)
- Homes in its postcode sector (RG1 8) sold for a median £358,750; Reading’s is £355,000
How hard is it to get a place at River Academy?
64% of the families who put it first got a place for September 2026.
Years when some first choices missed out: 2025 (40), 2026 (75). 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. Maiden Erlegh Trust sets the admissions rules. Apply through Reading council’s coordinated admissions.
Outline = places offered · green = families who put it first · striped = more first choices than places · the 10 most in demand
64% got their first choice
Who goes here
DfE school census, January 2025186 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
No letter for River Academy
No published GCSE results: a new school with no Year 11 yet, or a cohort small enough for DfE to suppress. No results, no letter.
Letters go to England’s open mainstream state schools with published Key Stage 2 or GCSE results (grammar schools included), each against the schools of its own phase.
Ofsted inspections
Shown, not graded: Ofsted is never part of a letter or the School Grade.
Not inspected yet (a new school, or one that changed status recently).
Living near River Academy
For families thinking of moving: what homes cost around the school, and the other schools close by.
Home prices in RG1 8, 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 RG1 8 sell for about the same as 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
22 state schoolsLocation
Directions ↗Reading, RG1 8EQ
River Academy: common questions
How hard is it to get into River Academy?
For September 2026, 211 families put River Academy first and 136 of them were offered a place; 162 places were offered in all.
How much do houses cost near River Academy?
Homes in its postcode sector, RG1 8, sold for a median £358,750 over the 36 months to August 2026 (112 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.