Reed's School A GSG School

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What The Good Schools Guide says

Headmaster

Since 2014, Mark Hoskins BA MA MSc. A proud ‘Welshman’ who enjoyed a spell in the civil service as an economist but found his vocation teaching the subject - which he still does at A level. First posts were in the state sector, where he was educated. Then eight years at Whitgift (head of economics and business studies, and head of middle school) followed by a nine year stretch as second master at RGS Guildford.

He initially strikes us an unassuming, conventional character but as we talk, a mischievous paternal frivolity emerges. It is encapsulated by his tradition of performing a rousing rendition of the Tears for Fears pop anthem, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, to the sixth form each year. ‘The theme tune to my own A levels and just a fantastically apt song for that stage of life,’ he explains, pointing out the framed lyrics on his study wall presented to him by a previous years’ upper sixth form leavers.

Takes a ‘first among equals’ approach to leadership, humbly joking that ‘many staff could probably do my job, I certainly couldn’t do theirs’. Strikes the perfect balance between rapport and respect with the pupils, says his team. Parents are impressed with his ‘ever presence at everything’. They’ll be relieved then that we can report Mr Hoskins is showing no signs of itchy feet. ‘Reed’s gets into your blood, I wouldn’t be head anywhere else, I love it here,’ he attests.

Lists school founder Andrew Reed, his colleagues and the pupils as daily inspirations but it’s his ‘unfailingly positive’ mum who he eventually reveals is his brightest guiding light. Lives on site with wife. His two children who attended the school are both now at university. ’I miss them terribly,’ he says.

As we part company, Mr Hoskins requests a ‘shameless plug’ for what pupils describe as his ‘legendary’ podcast (the inspired named of Reed’s Between the Lines). Do check it out, we rather enjoyed it.

Entrance

Open days are described by parents as ‘bonkers busy’. Five applicants for every place at 11+ and 13+ when pupils join from both primary and prep schools, including Ripley Court – part of the Reed’s Charitable Foundation. At both entry points, ISEB common pre-test are taken online in November for entry in September. Followed by ‘light touch’ interview plus fun activity (an escape room this year) to help identify pupils with curiosity and a ‘genuine interest in the school’ beyond the increasingly high academics required to secure a spot.

At sixth form the Reeds’ experience opens up to welcome girls and has an excellent reputation as an established and dynamic co-ed 16+ option in the locality. A high number of applicants, mostly from neighbouring girls' schools and with brothers at the school. Hopefuls do entrance tests in subjects they want to study (most subjects require at least a 7 at GCSE to study the A level course), plus interview.

Entry criteria is adapted for pupils who join school under the Foundation programme each year, usually as full boarders. These pupils (approx 10 per cent of the school) have lost the support of one or both parents and are experiencing financial hardship as well as the need for strong pastoral support. Detailed financial and personal disclosures and a home visit are required alongside entrance exam.

Exit

Most boys stay on to A level, even those who might just miss the mark at GCSE. A prestigious range of post A level destinations for both boys and girls – primarily Russell group, with Exeter, Durham and Nottingham most popular. Wide range of courses – classics to chemistry, economics to engineering, modern languages to music. Good numbers of medics – five in 2024, plus two to Oxbridge. Growing numbers overseas – mostly to the US, including Yale, Tulane, Tulsa and Northeastern in 2024. We met one sparky sixth former set on a degree apprenticeship and another planning a gap year with an agenda for adventure.

Latest results

In 2024, 75 per cent 9-7 at GCSE; 56 per cent A*/A (86 per cent A*-B) at A level.

Teaching and learning

‘You shouldn’t find many quiet classes here,’ we are warned before our tour. Indeed, lessons are highly interactive and fizzing with fun. Parents in younger years say teachers ‘know how to teach boys’ and ‘instil confidence and self-belief’. Lots of male teachers. Class sizes below sixth form around 18, with A level sets between eight and 12. Scholarly encouragement in the form of tuck shop vouchers and minimal homework in the early years confirms this is a school that indeed understands teenagers.

Pupils believe their teachers ‘actually really care’. One younger pupil describes their English teacher as ‘magical’, whilst an older one perceptively adds, ‘they want us to do well for us, not just the school’.

School’s bespoke learning model hooks lesson objectives around higher order learning methods and ‘teaches to the top end’ as standard. Whilst pacey, it is not pushy. Most boys secure nine very good GCSEs and ‘space to enjoy school’. A ‘lively’ scholars’ programme involves lunchtime lectures, careers challenge cup, specialist societies and debates.

In year 9, boys take bespoke courses in learning habits, enterprise and FutureTech – Reed’s’ proprietary cross-curricular maths, robotics, CAD, nanotechnology and aeronautics programme. At GCSE pupils study up to three single sciences. No combined option. French, German and Spanish offered from the off, but not a compulsory option at GCSE. Mandarin, Arabic, Japanese and Italian offered via co-curricular. Latin is taught to year nine and large numbers take it to GCSE.

In sixth form, maths, geography, physics, psychology and economics the most popular subjects. Around a third take EPQ or additional courses leading to qualifications alongside three, sometimes even four A levels. Extensive sixth form extension programme fosters leadership and independence alongside softer skills through debating society, subject linked masterclasses and ever-popular toastmasters club. Parents say careers advice is ‘progressive and thorough’.

Learning support and SEN

All new arrivals assessed upon entry, then continuous tracking and teacher feedback ensures learning support is offered to all that show any signs of requiring it, ‘with or without diagnosis’. When we visit, department is ‘evolving following some staff changes’ so be sure to do your homework if your child has additional needs. We do hear of ‘superb support’ in the past and are assured that school is working hard and fast to rebuild the department. Current team of four offer one to one or small group sessions mainly helping pupils with dyslexia, dyspraxia and ADHD. Learning support takes place in a handful of functional offices which have whiteboards walls and wipeable tables though lack frills or softer touches. Pupils needing quiet spaces for reflection or regulation can seek solace in the school’s dedicated wellbeing spaces. ‘We ensure everybody understands the needs of our often-unseen neurodiverse pupils and can anticipate and manage the overwhelm they might feel in school,’ new head of department reassures.

A tech-led approach helps level out accessibility and SEN students who are academically able to access the school’s pacey curriculum do well with 56 per cent achieving A*/A grades at A level, which is line with the school average. Value added also excellent.

The arts and extracurricular

‘Incredibly inclusive’ music department headed up by passionate Oxford music scholar and Old Reedonian who has sights set on a legacy of the Spotify sort, recently taking a group of students to Abbey Road Studios to ‘make a hit’ to celebrate 150 years of the Old Reedonians society. As you do. Trombone lessons offered to all year 8 boys and, in keeping with its foundation ethos, school offers an instrument loan programme for the 300 plus individual lessons that the 20 peripatetics deliver each week. Annual European choir tour and students have performed at Cadogan Hall, St Paul’s Cathedral and Royal Festival Hall. ‘They get all the boys singing, even mine!’ one mother quipped.

When we visit, staging is being dismantled following previous night’s upper school performance – a ‘rather bleak but ultimately uplifting’ verbatim play about hate crime. In sharp contrast, the lower school are in rehearsals for Spongebob the Musical. Around 12 performances a year. Since our last review a dedicated performing arts space is still on the wish list. Department prides itself on rigour, ‘we’re not airy fairy’. Around 90 pupils do LAMDA. Alumni include the lighting programmer for Six the Musical and actor, Tom Hardy.

Art rooms are well equipped but noticeably quiet when we visit. Forty-four pupils took GSCE art and design in the last three years. Fine art, graphics, product design, photography and media studies are all offered at A level with excellent facilities – dedicated editing suite, top of the range cameras and filming equipment plus industry standard publishing and design packages.

Over 200 clubs and teams each week featuring a good mix of academic and sports with a sprinkling of the arts. ‘It’s a “get stuck in” kind of school,’ says one parent. CCF for all year 9s and vast majority do bronze DofE. In year 10 pupils choose to continue with either of the former or the Reed’s Art Programme is available for the less outdoorsy.

Plethora of trips span academia (Rome for classics), sports (see below), cultural (New York for drama), and charity (South Africa for the Calabash Trust).

Sport

‘We have sports mad students here,’ says school. Indeed, this is one of the country’s sporting powerhouses, attracting some of Britain’s top young talent. World class output in the form of Tim Henman OBE, Jack Draper, Jack Kenningham, Paul Brown-Bampoe (both rugby), Connor Williamson (hockey) and Ben Taylor (golf) plus an overflowing trophy cabinet with most recent success in the national hockey championships. In tennis, Reed’s has won the Glanville Cup (national title) 12 times in 16 years and claims to be the most successful ski racing school in the UK, with recent victories in the English schoolboys and schoolgirls. The swimming academy, launched in 2022, is making a splash under the leadership of a 2012 Team GB Olympic swimmer too.

With an Olympian array of sport offered, it’s no surprise facilities and coaching staff are also gold standard. Mixed reports on strength of offering for the less than or averagely sporty are strongly refuted by school who affirm top class coaches work with all pupils right down to the D, E and F teams in rugby, hockey and cricket. Fledgling hockey players, with no experience pre-Reed’s have gone on to win national championships, they tell us.

Some supplements for optional add-ons like one-to-one coaching in the wow-factor indoor performance cricket centre with five double lanes of nets, spin bowling machines and video analysis. School concedes that the impressive indoor tennis academy (housed in a giant inflatable bubble) is offered to elite players as a priority. However, there are non-academy teams, additional tennis courts and tennis club open to all every Saturday morning. Netball, hockey and cricket for all sixth form girls amongst other sports, including golf, skiing and tennis. Football for sixth form boys only, for now. Golf is available from beginners through to academy players, charged extra as off-site. Numerous co-curricular sports clubs – basketball particularly popular and ‘could be filled three times over’.

Glamorous itinerary of sports jaunts for sports teams, which are open to all, including rugby and hockey tours to South Africa, cricket trip to Abu Dhabi and Dubai for tennis. The annual recreational ski trip is open to whole school.

Around a quarter of boys choose GCSE PE annually with around 25 pupils taking it to A level each year.

Boarders

Around 10 per cent of pupils board - a mix of termly, weekly and flexi. Boarding houses are organised by year group and the environment is structured but nurturing. Pupils are ‘well known’ by the house tutors and matrons who keep a close eye, especially on the more vulnerable Foundation boarders. For younger years mobile phones locked away before lights out at 9.30-10pm, older pupils are entrusted with more personal responsibility to learn to adapt to university life.

Rooms are smart and modern and (as we visit after Christmas perhaps) some adorned with quite the collection of aftershaves! Single rooms for sixth and fifth formers and up to three per room in cabin beds for the years below. Homely common rooms have Marvel comic hero art and are decked out with sofas, beanbags, pool table, a couple of gaming screens and DVDs by the shelf full. In the middle school house, we note a shiny red kitchen-diner for late night snacks, another kitchen converted into a very basic gym, a counselling room and a GCSE ‘war room’ for revision.

Boarders can use all school facilities under staff supervision on a timetabled basis and enjoy Sunday trips with staff to local attractions and events.

Ethos and heritage

Set within Surrey’s ‘golden triangle’ of mega mansions, Reed’s’ location in the ‘most expensive village in England’ is in stark contrast to its origins. A proud Foundation school, it is named after its originator, Rev Dr Andrew Reed, who set up the London Orphan Asylum in Shoreditch in 1813. Continued philanthropic initiatives see school share its expertise and facilities with over 40 state primary schools. We find little ones splashing in the pool, taking lunch in the dining hall and racing air compression cars they’ve designed and produced in the courtyard. ‘Reedonians are taught from the start to give back,’ one parent explains. Staff tell us they constantly remind pupils of their privilege and ‘work hard to model and instil a moral responsibility that goes beyond these gates’. Chapel at least once a week.

Reed’s has a modern college campus feel with an eclectic mix of buildings from arts and crafts main school building to contemporary FutureTech block where DT, robotics and electronics lessons take place. We enjoy a meander along the ‘coolest’ corridor; history, which is peppered with all manner of ancient artefacts and military attire. Science labs run into double figures, one is home to the school’s pet bearded dragon; in another we spot a life size cardboard cut-out of Prof Brian Cox.

Superstar sports block is accessed across a public footpath, which leads to the train station (a 10-minute walk away). Playing fields, Astros, pitches and courts as far as the eye can see all fringed by woodland.

Lunch is a frenetic affair, served at speed to quickly move along the mammoth queue into the dining hall. Students sit in one hall, staff in another – a relaxed, happy atmosphere prevails. Fabulous sixth form block comprises a cool cafe and hang out area, glass roofed atrium for quiet study and boarding facilities.

Pastoral care, inclusivity and discipline

‘We are interested in who the child is becoming as much as what they are achieving,’ says school. Parents, pupils and staff all remark upon school’s sense of community. House system, which enjoys mass participation, helps foster ‘happiness throughout’. In years 7 and 8 pupils are known colloquially as the Close and boys from year 7 to year 11 can hang out in the day pupil centre. Two school counsellors, behavioural therapist and three matrons (‘nicest women ever’) all on hand to iron out mainly teenage angst related issues. ‘They go the extra mile and much further than I’ve seen with other schools,’ said one experienced parent.

Head says discipline is based around the excellent relationships between staff and pupils. Lessons are exemplary but we do detect a slight loosening up at lunchtime when we spot boys checking their mobiles (not against school rules) and jostling in the lunch queue, plus some exuberant horseplay on the fields. One mother told of ‘over boisterous’ behaviour but felt school ‘stepped in quickly’. A few others thought school wasn’t always ‘consistent’ with sanctions but head assured us it was, and pupils said the rules were clear, one adding, ‘Even the slightest disrespect of the space or the privilege we have is stamped out very quickly’. Bullying, pupils said, was simply ‘not a thing here’.

Most students enjoy after school activities until 5.30 when the buses leave. Some remain even longer. ‘We often need to shuffle them home,’ school jokes.

Girls are warmly absorbed at sixth form through a carefully planned (and we hear ‘great fun’) induction programme. Results follow with girls’ values added scores amongst the highest cohort at the school. In turn, ‘they give us a push to work harder,’ says one boy. We see in action, respectful friendships between boys and girls. ‘Social life in the sixth form is really, really good,’ shares one girl with a mischievous grin.

Very inclusive. Lots of posters celebrating unsung heroes of black history and female scientific trailblazers across school site, plus widespread promotion of its grief support group and LGBTQ alliance (not called a ‘club’ because that’s not inclusive, we are told). ‘We are not a heteronormative school,’ a sixth former explains.

Pupils and parents

‘They turn out nice young people,’ locals say. The sixth formers we enjoy lunch with were thoroughly good company - respectful but relaxed, charming, intelligent and considered. On our tour, our guides dutifully stop to pick up rubbish and hold doors open as we go. Not a whiff of entitlement. School’s sizeable, Foundation community helps ensure socio-economic and ethnic diversity. Parents turn out on the sidelines wearing their ‘weekend roughs’. ‘No snobbiness,’ we hear. ‘We’re invited in for so many functions and events, there’s a lovely community feel,’ one mother said, adding the PTA ‘is super active and raises thousands’. A dozen school bus routes ferry from as far afield as Balham, Sheen and Epsom. But with reports of journey times of over 90 minutes some days, no wonder many pupils take the train which whizzes from Waterloo via some of south west London’s most salubrious post codes to Guildford.

Money matters

Over 30 sports scholarships available, with the specialist academies offering places to around 20 pupils annually. Academic, art, music and drama scholarships too – all with up to 15 per cent remission on day fees. Available at all entry points and year groups by both incoming students and internal applicants. Lunch is compulsory but stripped out of fees now to avoid VAT. Foundationers can receive up to full remission.

The last word

‘The gold standard,’ one stalwart of the Surrey school scene declared. Reed’s nurtures and coaches every bit of excellence from every child in the classroom, the sports field and beyond, launching considered, community minded go-getters into the world.

Special Education Needs

School caters mainly for mild/moderate dyslexia. SEN details added by us.

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