Reading School - School Site

School Site

The current school site consists of a main block (with two wings), a Science block, the Page building, the John Kendrick building, South House, Music School (formerly known as Junior School) and a chapel. The main school building, the chapel, South House and the building to the east of South House have all been designated as Grade II listed buildings by English Heritage.

The main block consists of 11 teaching rooms, as well as most of the school's administrative rooms. The classrooms here are mainly used to teach English, Economics, Classics, Latin and Ancient Greek; but the two Drama studios are used exclusively for Drama. The block is built around a central quadrangle, with the main teaching rooms down the east side, and the Drama studios to the west. Over the northern entrance to the 'quad' is Big School, the school hall. There are also two wings: East Wing and West Wing. East Wing serves as a boarding house, while West Wing houses the staff room, sixth form common room, administrative entrance and reception, the newly renamed 'Middleton room' (ICT suite) and Religious Studies department.

The Science block, situated on the south-east of the site, contains a workshop for Technology classes, three Physics labs, three Biology labs, three Chemistry labs and a lecture theatre.

South House is a boarding house, although it also contains four teaching rooms and the 'Eppstein room', which functions as a secondary Mathematics office.

The Page Building, located between South House and the Science block, contains two Art rooms, two Technology labs (Graphics and Electronics), three Mathematics rooms, the main Mathematics office and an ICT suite.

The John Kendrick building, opened in 2002, is to the west of the site, housing the Library (formerly the Learning Resources Centre), two Geography rooms, two History rooms and four language classrooms. The adjoined 'Coach House' contains another Geography room, a History room, and two offices.

The chapel is where the school's Christmas and Easter services take place, and every student attends once a week. The chapel has four groups of pews, facing towards the central aisle. Above the entrance is the organ, and at the far end is the altar and vestry.

Music School (formerly Junior School) has a teaching room, an ICT suite, a hall (used for orchestra and choir practices) and four smaller individual teaching rooms (used for individual music lessons). The school is developing an arts area in the unused part of the building. The building is situated at the far end of the drive, on the left of the main entrance.

The school has built a modern refectory to provide decent dining facilities for boys to replace a "Tuck" Shop which sold packaged food, Soft Drinks (Canned), Sweets, Chocolate Bars, Mints and Water (Flavoured and sparkling). The Tuck Shop also sold Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate, Latte, Espresso etc. from a vending machine. The refectory sells Cooked Meals, Cooked Cookies, Cooked Waffles and more. The price of a cooked meal with pudding is £2.20, one without is £1.80, to have extra food on the side (I.E. - Chicken Legs, Ham, Turkey, Beef, Sausage Rolls etc.) will cost an extra 40p. All food is paid for by a fingerprint scanner. If you modify food, drink, sweets or anything as such, you must pay for it, if you cannot afford to, you must write your name on paper and the next time you "top up" your food account the overdue money on the paper will be taken away from your food account. The refectory has two sections, one for boarders and one for non boarders, boarders may order breakfast from the refectory in the morning. In the refectory there is a TV that shows various programmes (Usually sport), the volume is high, but not usually audible from the amount of noise. When entering the refectory, you must not bring any bags, you may sit if you are not eating food, but anyone with food may take your place as they have higher priority. The refectory has an extension called the 'Grab and Go' where students (or teachers) may buy lunch, or snacks if they are in a rush and wish to eat on the go or aren't in the mood for waiting in a usually long refectory line. The refectory is in the centre area of the school for quick access to and from lessons anywhere - apart from Music School or any lessons held in Music School.

Plans are also developed for improved sports and science facilities.

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