Reading Blue Coat School - Changing Times

Changing Times

The impact of the Second World War, combined with rising educational expectations, posed challenges to the School which was faced with the fate of eventual closure unless it removed to more extensive premises outside Reading and met the terms of the Education Act 1944. Described by the Headmaster, Bernard Inge, as "an act of faith", and following a local fundraising appeal sponsored by the Bishop of Reading, the Mayor, and Corporation, the Trustees acquired the Holme Park estate. 150 boys, of whom a hundred were boarders, with nine teachers eventually made the move to Sonning on 21 January 1947, the headmaster’s 44th birthday.

Buildings and facilities had to be updated in haste if the Ministry of Education's stringent regulations were to be met and its 'recognition of efficiency' accorded. New classrooms were opened in 1955 and named after the Dunster brothers. In 1961, the School's first Sixth Form was opened. A major new science centre was opened in 1973, closely followed by a brand new Sixth Form Centre and enlarged library. Further classrooms including modern facilities for technology and computing were added in the 1980s in response to rising educational expectations and growing pupil numbers. In 2001, the new Allan Sanders Science Centre was completed and a brand new Sports Hall opened in 2004. In 2006, the School celebrated its 360th anniversary. In 2008, the school opened their brand new cricket pavilion which overlooked the cricket field adjacent to the car park. 2009 was a year of change in the school, the new Boat House was opened on the banks of the river below the school and the sixth form centre was expanded and altered with the knocking through of many interior walls. The connecting (and little used) squash court was incorporated into the centre. The newly completed 'James McArthur Sixth Form Center' (named after a previous headmaster) was opened in the autumn of 2010 by Old Blue and MP for Reading West Alok Sharma

April 2011 saw the demolition of the Dunster, Gaines Cooper and Lesser buildings and the start of construction of a new classroom block, the Richard Aldworth Building, which now provides first-class teaching facilities for a number of major departments. English, Maths, Modern Languages, Classics and Geography are housed in the new building, which also includes a new Art department that enjoys a view over the School’s pitches and the River Thames. The RAB also contains a Common Room for Middle School pupils (aged 13-16). The building has a light and airy feel thanks to an atrium design and a glass roof running the length of the building and includes a number of environmental features, such as a ground-source heat pump and the recycling of rainwater. The new building was opened in time for the start of the 2012/13 academic year. It was opened official on 28 September 2012 by the Home Secretary, The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.