Kendrick School, London Road (geograph 3800931)

Kendrick School is a selective girls'

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

situated in the centre of

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Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

, UK. In February 2011, Kendrick became an

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

History

A Picture of a Southern Town- Life in Wartime Reading, Berkshire, England, UK, 1945 D25295

The school is named after John Kendrick, a Reading cloth merchant who died in 1624. John Kendrick left the then substantial charitable bequest of £12,500 to the towns of Reading and Newbury to provide employment and education for the poor. Initially this was used to provide a house of industry, or

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

, called ''The Oracle'', a name that was revived for the Oracle shopping mall which now occupies the site. In later years the funds left by Kendrick were mismanaged and subject to legal challenge. In the 1870s this was resolved, and the remaining bequest used to found Kendrick Girls' School, along with the Kendrick Boys' School that was later to merge with

Reading School Reading School is a grammar school for boys with academy status in the English town of Reading, the county of Berkshire. It traces its history back to the school of Reading Abbey and is, thus, one of the oldest schools in England. There are no ...

. An oil painting of John Kendrick, rescued from the Oracle workhouse, still hangs in the hall at Kendrick School. The caption reads "John Kendrick, founder of this workhouse". The school in its current form was founded in 1877 and occupied Watlington House in Watlington Street for the first 50 years of its life. In 1927, the school moved to its current site, situated on the corner of Sidmouth Street and London Road. The building is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

. The school was originally known as "Kendrick Girls' School" but is now called "Kendrick School". The current Headmistress is Christine Kattirtzi. She replaced Marsha Elms at the end of the Spring Term, 2012.

Academic performance

Kendrick School has an outstanding Ofsted rating and has a progress 8 score "well above national average". Pupils are selected on the basis of academic ability via an admissions test at age 11 (although entry is possible in other years too). The school was among the top five grammar schools in the UK based on GCSE performance in 2018, and in 2019. In July 2011, Kendrick School was identified by the

Sutton Trust The Sutton Trust is an educational charity in the United Kingdom which aims to improve social mobility and address educational disadvantage. The charity was set up by educational philanthropist, Sir Peter Lampl in 1997. Since then, it has unde ...

as the fifth highest state school for proportion of higher education applicants accepted at

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and

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Universities. The report found that 15.2% of pupils were accepted to

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and 79.4% were accepted to the highly selective Sutton Trust 30 universities over the previous three years. A 2016 report also ranked Kendrick among the top 10 state schools in Oxbridge admissions. As a state-funded school, there are no fees; as a result, it is severely over-subscribed, with over ten applicants per place.

House System

The Kendrick House system consists of three houses: Cedars, Sidmouth and Palmer House. Each house is assigned a colour and animal, as follows: Cedars — blue seal (Cedars seals), Sidmouth — yellow squid (Sidmouth squidmouth) and Palmer — green llama (Palmer llama).

Notable former pupils

* Anne Treisman, cognitive psychologist * Beryl Cook, artist * Chi-chi Nwanoku, musician * Janet Reger, lingerie designer * Rosi Sexton, retired professional

Mixed Martial Artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

and first British female to fight in the UFC *

Yasmina Siadatan Yasmina Siadatan (born 1981 in Hull, England) is a British businesswoman of British and Iranian descent. She was the winner of the fifth series of the British television show ''The Apprentice''. As the winner, she was offered a job working for b ...

, winner of the BBC television series,

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...

in 2009. * Jessica Swale, theatre director and playwright *

Claire Taylor Samantha Claire Taylor (born 25 September 1975) is a former cricketer who represented England more than 150 times between 1998 and 2011. A top order batter,In women's cricket, "batsman" is commonly used, alongside "batter". Taylor was the ...

, England cricketer * Wendy Tan White, technology entrepreneur * Imogen Rose Hart, Producer Luanna the Podcast *Adhya Shastry, winner of the BBC television series, BBC Young Dancer, in 2022

References

External links