River Academy
We hold no offer-day distances for this school yet. Enter your postcode to see how far it is from your home.
Summary
The key facts, in one place- Getting in
- Oversubscribed for Year 7 2026
- Size
- 373 pupils; 162 places a year; classes of 27
- Run by
- Maiden Erlegh Trust
- Type
- Free schools
- Ages
- 11 to 18 · Mixed
- Sessions missed: 5.1%, against 8.1% in Reading.
- Persistently absent: 9.9%, against 23.4% in Reading.
- Oversubscribed: 1.3 first choices for each place (Year 7 2026).
- We hold no offer-day distances for this school: ask the council how far places went.
At a glance
Against Reading and EnglandOverview
Getting in
- 211 families put it first for 162 places; 136 of them got in
- We hold no catchment map for this school, so we can't say which addresses are inside it.
- We can't tell how far Year 7 places reached: we hold no offer-day figures for this school. Ask the council or the school for the last distance offered.
Quality
- We hold no inspection judgement for this school.
- We hold no published results for this school: it may be new, or have no pupils in the tested years.
Daily life
- Absence: 5.1% of sessions missed; 9.9% of pupils miss 1 in 10 or more. Schools with a similar intake: 9.0% and 27%
- Suspensions: 3 per 100 pupils (schools with a similar intake: 20); 1 permanent exclusion
- Classes average 26.6 pupils; 43% of classes have more than 30
- 18.9 pupils for each teacher
- Nearest stops, in a straight line: bus 198 m
- 3 police-reported road collisions within 500 m (0 fatal, 0 serious)
- Air: nitrogen dioxide 10.2 µg/m³, PM2.5 7.0 (1 km square, background level)
Who runs it
- Maiden Erlegh Trust, with 11 schools
- Opened as an academy (free schools) on 1 September 2024
- We can't compare results before and after it converted: we hold results for only one side of the date, because DfE publishes a few years at a time.
Getting in
How far offers reached
How far away the last child offered a place under the distance rule lived, as the council measures it. It changes every year with who applies: a record, not a promise. Children with a higher priority can be offered places from further away.Year 7. Distance of the last child offered a place on offer day. How places are offered →
Applications and offers, DfE
| Entry | Year | Places | First choices | Any choice | First choices offered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 7 | 2026 | 162 | 211 | 667 | 136 |
| Year 7 | 2025 | 171 | 181 | 612 | 141 |
Source: DfE, Primary and secondary school applications and offers (school level, Open Government Licence), 2025 to 2026. Families name up to three schools, so most applications are somebody's second or third choice.
Daily life
Absence
| Year | Sessions missed | Authorised | Unauthorised | Pupils missing 1 in 10 | Pupils missing 1 in 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 5.1% | 3.8% | 1.3% | 9.9% | 0.5% |
| Schools with a similar intake | 9.0% | 27% |
Source: DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England: absence rates by school level, 2024-25. Similar intake: state schools of the same phase with free school meals in the same band (30-40%), the median of 654 schools.
Suspensions and exclusions
| Year | Suspensions per 100 pupils | Pupils suspended | Suspensions | Permanent exclusions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024/25 | 3.2 | 1.6% | 6 | 1 |
| Schools with a similar intake | 19.7 |
Source: DfE, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England: school level, 2024-25.
Class sizes and staff
| Measure | Figure | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Average class size | 26.6 | 2025/26 |
| Classes over 30 pupils | 43% | 2025/26 |
| Pupils for each teacher | 18.9 | November 2025 |
Source: DfE, school workforce; school census, 2025/26.
Stops nearby
| Kind | Nearest (metres, straight line) |
|---|---|
| bus | 198 |
Source: DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes), current. A stop across a railway or main road may be a long walk. Bus frequency is not held.
Road collisions within 500 m
| Year | Collisions |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 |
| 2024 | 1 |
| 2023 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2021 | 0 |
Source: DfT, Road safety data (STATS19): collisions and casualties, last five years, 2021 to 2025. 0 serious and 0 fatal in all; 1 involved a pedestrian, 0 a cyclist. Only collisions with an injury reported to police are counted.
Air quality
| Pollutant | Annual mean (µg/m³) | Year |
|---|---|---|
| NO2 | 10.2 | 2024 |
| PM10 | 10.8 | 2024 |
| PM25 | 7.0 | 2024 |
Source: DEFRA, Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) 1 km background maps. A 1 km background figure: not the air at the school gate beside a busy road.
Pupils
Who goes there
| Measure | Share of pupils | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Eligible for free school meals | 33% | 2025/26 |
| First language other than English | 37% | 2025/26 |
| SEN support | 21% | 2025/26 |
| Education, health and care plan | 8.3% | 2025/26 |
| Girls | 42% | 2025/26 |
Source: DfE, schools, pupils and their characteristics; special educational needs, 2025/26.
Who runs it
Who runs it
- Maiden Erlegh Trust, with 11 schools
- Opened as an academy (free schools) on 1 September 2024
- We can't compare results before and after it converted: we hold results for only one side of the date, because DfE publishes a few years at a time.
Area
Homes in reach of this schoolLook up any home near here: its sales, an open-data valuation, and which schools it keeps in reach.Search homes →Sources
- DEFRA, Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) 1 km background maps
- DfE, Primary and secondary school applications and offers (school level, Open Government Licence)
- DfE, Pupil absence in schools in England: absence rates by school level
- DfE, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England: school level
- DfE, school workforce; school census
- DfE, schools, pupils and their characteristics; special educational needs
- DfT, NaPTAN (National Public Transport Access Nodes)
- DfT, Road safety data (STATS19): collisions and casualties, last five years
- School register: DfE Get Information about Schools (this school)
- How we check these figures: How we know
More in schools in Reading and the Reading league table. School register: DfE Get Information about Schools, updated 17 October 2026.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources are named beside each figure. All sources.