Queen Anne’s School

Boardingly Worldly ranking

The Worldly ranking measures a school's external standing from publicly sourced signals — academic results, press coverage, alumni and awards — scored out of 100. Signal coverage: 85%.

About this school

On a hill above Caversham, across the Thames from Reading, sits a school that has spent well over a century educating girls without ever quite becoming a household name. Queen Anne's School takes girls from eleven to eighteen, and at around 450 pupils it is small enough that a child is unlikely to disappear into a big year group. That is the first thing worth saying about it, though it is also the first thing to interrogate, because for a family living thousands of miles away, smallness cuts two ways. A school this size cannot hide a struggling girl behind a crowd. Equally, a girl who does not click socially has fewer places to go, and a boarding community that thins out at weekends can turn intimacy into something closer to isolation. Which of those you get is not a matter of atmosphere. It is a matter of numbers, and you should insist on them.

The parents, on the whole, are warm. On our Worldly scorecard, Parent Views land at 71 out of 100, drawn from review sentiment of 78, and I will not pretend that is nothing. But I would not lean on it the way a brochure would. Review sentiment is a noisy signal: happy families post, unhappy ones tend to leave quietly, and a day family's experience of a school is not the same as that of a full boarder whose parents are in another time zone. Treat parent warmth as a reason to look harder, not as proof that the pastoral system works. The honest position is that pastoral quality here is the unresolved question, and it is the one to test on the ground. Ask how house life is organised, how many girls board full-time as opposed to weekly or flexi, and how those full boarders are distributed across year groups. Ask what a Saturday and a Sunday actually contain when the local girls have gone home. Ask about exeats, half-term arrangements, guardianship and airport logistics. A school of this scale lives or dies by its houses, and warmth in a testimonial is no substitute for a weekend timetable.

Academically, Queen Anne's is sound rather than ferocious. The Brains Trust pillar sits at 60, built on a DfE A-level average around a B+. That is a school getting good work out of a broad intake rather than one selecting hard and then taking credit for the results, and for most families that is the healthier arrangement, because it points to teaching that adds something. It is not a hothouse. Whether that reads as steadiness or as a ceiling depends on your daughter. If she is a fierce specialist aiming at the most competitive courses, press the school directly on its recent university destinations and its record in the subjects she cares about, in Britain and beyond. We were given no such data, and you should not accept a glossy generality in its place. If they cannot answer precisely, that silence is itself an answer.

The wider picture is honest and modest. The overall Worldly score is 41 out of 100, which we classify as National. In plain terms, Queen Anne's is not among the most globally networked schools in the country. Its Alumni Power reads 53, with 41 notable alumni identified and a LinkedIn network of some 776, which is a respectable regional footprint rather than an old-girls' web that opens doors on three continents. Bragging Rights come in at 46, reflecting HMC membership and a light Tatler presence. The reputation is real, but it is largely a British one, and outside the Thames Valley and the boarding circuit the name does not carry far. A family choosing partly for the pull of an alumni network should know that this is not where that pull is strongest. What you are buying here is the education itself, not the crest, and I mean that as a compliment more often than not.

One figure is worth reading carefully rather than skipping. The Staffroom View sits at 40, on staff sentiment of 58. That is middling, and it matters, because the adults are the school, and a contented eleven-year-old is usually the work of a teacher who is herself well supported. A 58 is neither an alarm nor a reassurance. It is exactly the sort of thing to probe: how long do staff stay, how many housemistresses have held their posts for more than a few years, does the common room feel settled or churning. In a small school, house life leans hard on a handful of adults, so turnover is not an abstraction. It is the difference between a child who is held steady and one who is handed from stranger to stranger.

So what kind of young woman does Queen Anne's tend to produce? Here I have to be careful, because character is easy to assert and hard to prove, and I will not dress up a mood as a finding. On the evidence we have, the picture is of a grounded and capable girl, well taught and genuinely known. But do not take my word for the formation. Ask the school to show it: the service and leadership roles, the societies, the music and sport and drama, and specifically what a girl who is not top of the year is given to do with her afternoons, because that is where character is either built or neglected. A school that turns advantage into something useful can point to how it does so. One that only launders advantage will talk in adjectives.

Let me be plain about who this suits. Queen Anne's is a good home for a girl who wants a smaller British girls' school, who will be steadied rather than driven, and whose family can visit and verify that the full-boarding community is large enough to sustain a real seven-day life. It is the wrong choice for the fierce academic specialist chasing the most competitive courses, for the family buying a global network, and above all for the overseas full boarder if the school cannot produce hard numbers on weekend occupancy, full boarders by year, staff tenure and international support. Fees run to roughly £30,000 a year as a day pupil and more to board, and at that price precision is not rude, it is the minimum you are owed. If they answer cleanly, drive up the hill. If they answer in warmth, walk away.

Sources: School website · Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) report · DfE Compare School Performance · Boardingly Worldly Ranking (our scorecard + underlying signals)

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Academics

Exam results

Not yet verified against an approved source. Contact school.

Life & activities

Boarding & pastoral

Boarding type: Full, Weekly, Flexi

Pastoral care: Award-winning pastoral care; peer mentor system supports younger students; strong sense of community.

Latest inspection

Common questions

How much are the fees at Queen Anne’s School?

At Queen Anne’s School, full boarding is £18,985 per term, weekly boarding is £18,420 per term and day fees are £9,325 per term. These are indicative figures from public data — always confirm the current year's fees directly with the school.

Where is Queen Anne’s School?

Queen Anne’s School is in Caversham, Berkshire, United Kingdom (RG4 6DX).

Is Queen Anne’s School a boys', girls' or co-educational school?

Queen Anne’s School is a girls school.

What ages does Queen Anne’s School take?

Queen Anne’s School educates pupils aged 11-18.

Does Queen Anne’s School offer boarding?

Yes — Queen Anne’s School offers full, weekly, flexi boarding.

How many pupils are there at Queen Anne’s School?

Queen Anne’s School has approximately 450 pupils.