WHAT? WHERE?

Bradfield College Reading Berkshire aerial drone shot

Set in 265 acres of lush Berkshire countryside, Bradfield College is a co-ed boarding and day school for ages 13–18, with just over 800 pupils (354 boarding boys, 294 boarding girls, 106 day boys, 57 day girls).

Founded in 1850, it has just celebrated its 175th anniversary, marking the moment with the opening of the £8 million St Andrew’s Study Centre in 2024 – a 14th-century church reimagined as a jaw-droppingly beautiful library and study hub, complete with 15,000 books, seminar spaces and sunlight pouring through ancient stone.

Bradfield has gone from strength to strength in recent years and now sits firmly in the top tier of all-rounder schools – academic, sporty, creative, and unpretentious. The campus feels like a storybook village, with the legendary open-air Greek theatre(‘the Greeker’), Thai garden, and sweeping sports fields blending history and heart.

FACILITIES

You can tell a lot about a school from its buildings, and Bradfield’s speak of quiet confidence rather than showiness. The Blackburn Science Centre gleams with glass and gadgets, the Music School is acoustically superb, and the art studios, housed in pretty cottage-style buildings by a brook, hum with creativity. Plenty of sports facilities to coo over – a tennis centre, a sports complex, with a state-of-the-art gym, spin studio, a 25m pool, all-weather astro pitches, playing fields as far as the eye can see and a nine-hole golf course.

Bradfield College Reading Berkshire converted chapel to study centre and library the St Andrews Centre

The Pavilion café (all chatter, lattes and low lighting) is a Sixth Form staple. The £8m St Andrew’s Study Centre (funded partly by £3.75m in donations) is jaw-dropping – blending the ancient stone of the original 14th century chapel with bright, modern learning spaces and 15,000 books. One student joked that revising in this space bumped their grades by at least one mark. The next big project, a purpose-built Health & Wellbeing Centre (slated for 2026), will cement Bradfield’s pastoral credentials.

SPORT

Bradfield College football team Boodle Cup winners

Football is the school’s calling card, and Bradfield’s record (ISFA Boodles Cup winners in three of the last four years) speaks for itself – it’s also crowned winner of the 2025 Muddy Best Schools Award for Sport. But this is not a single-sport school – hockey, cricket, netball, tennis, golf, squash and shooting all flourish, with pupils competing nationally. Facilities include a nine-hole golf course, Astroturf with 16 tennis courts, clay pigeon ranges, and acres of immaculate pitches.

Sport is about participation as much as performance. Regardless of whether you are playing in the As or the Es, elite athletes and enthusiastic joiners are equally valued. A Padel court and 4G Astro pitch are on the students’ wish list, and while the school are all ears, these things are big investments – they may need to be patient.

CREATIVE & PERFORMING ARTS

The arts now stand shoulder to shoulder with sport. Music is booming (280 pupils learning instruments; choirs, jazz and contemporary groups galore), art results sparkle, and drama has real kudos. House Play and House Song traditions mean every pupil gets a chance to perform, even those who’d rather not. There are also three big productions a year, plus endless clubs mean pupils can flex creative muscles.

The elephant in the room? Bradfield doesn’t have a purpose-built theatre. But what it lacks in velvet curtains, the Music School has the wow factor; the Greeker amphitheatre is iconic (and frankly magical on a summer evening); and the Old Gym has a kind of vintage charm (useful when al fresco doesn’t align with the British weather). There’s also a black box rehearsal space and drama classroom for the theoretical side of the subject, where pupils get stuck into the more academic elements of the curriculum – from dissecting play texts to writing polished live-theatre reviews and performance-analysis.

SIXTH FORM

Bradfield’s Sixth Form is where everything clicks into focus. It feels more like university with training wheels – independent, collegiate and buzzing. The new St Andrew’s Study Centre is the Sixth Form’s intellectual heart, offering seminar rooms, quiet pods and collaborative spaces where pupils actually want to work. Lessons are more discussion-driven, tutors are more mentor-like, and the timetable builds in proper thinking time.

Socially, Sixth Formers have a grown-up rhythm: the Pavilion café-bar opens on Tuesday and Thursday nights (one drink allowed, all very civilised), and leadership roles across sport, drama and societies come thick and fast. Every pupil has a personal tutor, and those weekly one-to-ones keep ambitions realistic and stress levels sane – sometimes it’s study advice, it’s life advice.

On weekends, the mix of downtime and co-curricular choice keeps life varied – gym sessions, art, rehearsals, or just chilling.

ACADEMICS

The numbers tell the story. Record-breaking 2025 results put Bradfield firmly among the academic big-hitters: A Level: 19% A*, 48% A*–A, 79% A*–B. IB Diploma: 35 average points (32+ gets you into the Russell Group). GCSE: 18% 9s, 63% 9-7s, 95% 9-5s.

Pupils sit around 10 GCSEs, and sixth formers choose between A levels and the International Baccalaureate (IB). Business, economics and maths remain popular, but so too do history of art, film and photography. They are introducing a BTEC in Sport & Exercise Science to broaden academic pathways.

The Horizons Programme prepares students for life beyond Bradfield, from mock LinkedIn sessions to budgeting workshops – and even a bit of old-school laundry training from matrons who ‘make you iron your shirts properly’.

Average class sizes are 22–23 in lower years, smaller in Sixth Form, and staff go above and beyond to support the students if they hit any bumps in the road.

PASTORAL

Bradfield’s pastoral reputation is hard-earned and well-deserved. Weekly 15-minute tutor check-ins, well-trained house staff, and matrons who double as agony aunts keep students grounded. One sixth former said they’re more mentor than mother – they really get it.

The College’s pastoral philosophy is clear – joyful, warm, friendly, informal. The new Health & Wellbeing Centre, funded by a major gift, is in the pipeline, while student voice flourishes through equality committees, house forums and informal evening chats with the Head himself.

The Bradfield Diploma keeps pupils looking beyond the classroom. Run through Y10 and Y11, it nudges them out of comfort zones with challenges in leadership, service, public speaking, and adventure. It’s less about ticking boxes and more about self-belief – a clever bridge between GCSE grind and the independence of Sixth Form life.

BOARDING

Weekly boarding defines Bradfield life. Many pupils stay Monday to Saturday, heading home for Sunday recharge and family time. Londoners can hop on the Sunday night coaches from Hammersmith or Reading.

All newcomers start in Faulkner’s, the co-ed Y9 house that every pupil mentions as the secret sauce of Bradfield’s community spirit. It’s intense at first – no phones all day – but you come out of it knowing everyone in your year. From Y10 onwards, they move into single-sex houses with distinctive personalities.

The vibe? Structured independence. Freedom with guidance. Mobile phone use is limited to 25 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening for Y9s, and increasing responsibly through the years.

THE HEAD

JEREMY QUARTERMAIN AND DOG, HEAD OF BRADFIELD COLLEGE BERKSHIRE

Head Jeremy Quartermain joined in September 2025 having moved his wife, three daughters and their dog the 230 miles from Rossall School in Lancashire. A self-confessed lover of books, music and big educational ideas, Quartermain brings calm authority and a clear vision to Bradfield. He describes the school as “ambitious but humble – joyful, outward-looking and kind,” and it’s clear he means it.

His focus is less revolution, more evolution. Expect a sharper academic edge without losing the school’s warmth, continued growth in sport and performing arts, and a firm hand on wellbeing with the new Health & Wellbeing Centre opening in 2026. He’s also driving a culture of ‘value-added confidence’ – celebrating the journey as much as the outcome.

He talks passionately about keeping Bradfield’s education relevant to the world teens are actually entering: a curriculum that embraces innovation (cue the school’s in-house Campus XR AI/VR learning project), and a pastoral culture that prizes joy as much as results. “We want our pupils to achieve extraordinary things,” he says, “but also to be decent, balanced, flourish and be fulfilled while they do it.”

The result? A school that feels modern and forward thinking while celebrating the past. Watch this space, there’s more to come from Bradfield, a school that is on the up.

QUIRKS

The Michaelmas Goose weekend – a fun, competitive house event that brings a chaotic mash-up of inflatables, dodgeball and dancing over the weekend. The singing, cheering and laughter is loud. To say it is the highlight of the year, is an understatement.

The Greeker (of course) – not many schools boast a sunken outdoor theatre – providing a dramatic setting for concerts and productions. Summer productions are opened up to the wider community – in 2025 local primary school children had the opportunity to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It got rave reviews.

Add in a Thai Garden (planted to honour the first Thai pupil) and a head who genuinely loves medieval church history, and you’ve got a school that blends old soul with sharp intellect.

MOBILE PHONE POLICY

Strict and sensible. In Y9 phones are only allowed for short bursts (25 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening, locked away the rest of the day. Older pupils have more freedom, but tech is always turned in at 9pm. Sixth formers are unrestricted.

ISI REPORT

The latest ISI inspection rated Bradfield ‘Excellent’ for both academic achievement and personal development, praising its inclusive ethos, rich curriculum and outstanding pupil wellbeing. You can read the full report here.

WORD ON THE GROUND

I know quite a few parents at Bradfield and they talk about the children being kind and grounded – none of the noisy swagger you might expect of a top private school. As a school they are on a mission to stamp out any sense of entitlement – apparently the community partnerships with local schools and charities is profound and ongoing.

Results are improving (now on a par with Marlborough) and parents rave about the all-rounder ethos, its warm community and top-notch communication. London families also see it as a less-pressured but equally aspirational alternative to London Day schools and Wellington. Weekly boarding appeals to families who want the best of both worlds – independence for teens and regular time at home.

TRANSPORT

Bradfield is rural but well connected. By bus: the College offers routes to and from Theale. Reading Buses (No26) connects the school to Reading. By car: you’re just 5 mins from J12 of the M4 – Reading is 30mins by car and London is doable in 1hr (if the traffic gods are on your side). By train: Theale, Pangbourne and Reading stations will whizz you into London Paddington in 35 mins or you can hop on the Elizabeth Line. By plane: Heathrow airport is just 40 mins away.

FEES

In line with similar top-tier boarding schools. Day fees: £15,512 per term; Boarding: £19,390. Scholarships are offered (academic, sport, all-rounder, music) but only bursaries bring actual fee reductions – although there are plans to introduce sixth form academic scholarships with substantial fee reductions. No sibling discounts. Bradfield College also offers a school fee plan to allow parents to pay monthly.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

GOOD FOR: Bradfield is an all-rounder’s paradise: weekly boarding, co-ed, sport, the IB, and that first year in Faulkner’s to bond the year group. The school is at the top of its game – confident, modern, and pastoral care is praised across the board. Best for broad-minded, energetic pupils who’ll dive into both classrooms and co-curriculars.

NOT FOR: Less ideal for rugby obsessives or those who prefer a more urban location with everything on your doorstep.

DARE TO DISAGREE? Be our guest. The next Open Days are Sat 17 January 2026, 31 Jan 2026. Tours can be arranged by appointment.

Bradfield College, Bradfield, Reading RG7 6AU. Tel: 0118 964 4500.

Bradfield College, Reading

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