All our new students arriving into Year 7 and 8 are welcomed into Fryer House, our school within a school. Students benefit from all the facilities Leighton Park has to offer but they also have their own building, its own area in our grounds, and with staff who specialise with this age group. Students can enjoy Fryer House during lunchtime and after their lessons. It is also home for our students who choose to board on a flexi, weekly or full time basis.
Click on the image to take a look at our virtual tour of Fryer House with Becky, Director of Fryer.
Our Year 7 students come from a number of primary and prep schools in the Reading area. Our comprehensive transition programme provides a number of opportunities to get to know their new school prior to joining. All new students are invited to our Newcomers’ Day the day before the start of term, so that they can get to know each other and start to become familiar with the Park. Our Fryer Camping experience on the first weekend of term is a wonderful way for our 60 new Fryer students to get to know each other and their Tutor team.
We’re focused on supporting you to succeed as yourself. You’ll get to experience exciting new subjects, like Engineering and Music Tech but also enjoy off-curriculum interdisciplinary projects, like our Enquiry Week and 10X Challenge. You can spend time with friends and learn new skills in one of our 90+ co-curricular activities, like Adventure Club, Stressless Art, Animation Society, Fryer and Chocolate Factory and Rock Climbing – there really is something for everyone and the vast majority are included in the fees.
You’ll get lots of support too, in small classes with specialist teachers. You can call your teachers by their first names – and they’ll be by your side every step of the way. You’ll also have time each day to check in with your dedicated academic tutor.
A sense of belonging gives you the confidence to flourish. We’re here to make sure that happens. Fryer House is an incredible home to our Year 7 & 8s where you can catch up with friends in break time and lunch. Our House system, Sport for all and Music for all programmes give everyone an opportunity to shine, whether on the stage, the sports field or getting creative. It also helps that we have 65 acres of beautiful parkland to relax in, enjoy moments of calm and breath.
House and co-curricular activities are mixed with the other year groups, giving you the chance to make friends who share your interests, within an inclusive and kind community. With students from 47 different countries, you can learn more about the world and enjoy other cultures and global perspectives.
While our GCSE students are in the Top 1% in the country for the academic progress that they make, our real focus is on you loving your learning. Our feature-ready curriculum blends valuable analytical and critical thinking skills with creative habits of mind – giving you the skills to make connections and work together with others to create solutions – all in real-world, interdisciplinary learning. You’ll learn from our subject-specialist teachers but also through our collaboration with industry partners.
We love this approach because it is the best way to ensure that you have the skills you’ll need to succeed in a fast-changing world but it is also a much more fun and interesting way to learn. Our approach helped us win the national ISA Award for Future Readiness 2024-25.
We want you to Live Adventurously, to push yourself, enjoy new experiences and have fun with friends. Our Year 7 & 8 residential trips are the perfect opportunity to explore and gain independence, and with no extra cost for mum and dad.
Travel the world on our international language trips, sports tours and ski trip. Learning should never be boring. We’ll make sure you have the experiences and inspiration to unleash your inner drive.
Our Creativity, Activity & Service (CAS) personal development programme and super-curricular programmes help you explore your greatest passions, learn more about yourself and develop the confidence to achieve your remarkable potential. We lead the UK for student personal development – winning the Independent Schools Association Award for Pupil Personal Development in 2022/23.
If sport is your thing then we’ve got good news. You can play sport every day if you want, with two Games afternoons each week and more than 30 sports to choose from in our co-curricular programme. Football, Hockey and Netball are our key sports, with excellent coaches, great facilities and multiple teams in each year group. Basketball, Judo, Tennis and Swimming are also important sports here, with specialist coaches.
In football, we partner with Chelsea Football Club, with their coaches coming to lead skills training workshops each week. We also partner with the Reading Rockets Basketball Team and Camberley Judo Club.
We’re perhaps best known for our phenomenal Music department but creativity runs deep at Leighton Park. 60% of our students study an instrument with one of our 27 instrumentalist teachers.
In Drama, you can get involved in our incredible productions and take lessons with LAMDA or Trinity (Musical Theatre). Our Loop Dance Company is a wonderful community of dancers and you can study towards NATD qualifications.
The Creative and Performing Arts are supported by incredible facilities, including our sector-leading, Music and Media Centre, two Drama studios and Dance Studio, seven Specialist Art studios and the very cool Design Studio and huge MakeSpace.
Education is a partnership and we’ll expect you to put the effort in. We’ll provide you with incredible learning spaces, specialist teachers and up-to-the-minute learning technology to make sure your hard work is optimised.
Our stunning new School Library will inspire you to new heights. Most subjects have their own academic buildings giving university campus vibes and our 65 acres of beautiful parkland will give you the perfect backdrop.
Our students have access to our Google Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), where they’ll be able to use our online learning resources, collaborate with each other, and complete assignments.
Our forward looking approach to learning technology helped us adapt very quickly during the lockdowns, and to support students who have had to isolate. During our evaluation of distance learning during lockdown in May 2020, 95% of families agreed or strongly agreed that the lesson provision in Google Classroom had been of excellent quality
Day 1: After a lovely Oakview lunch, we loaded our bags, boarded the coach and were on the road. Everyone was in great spirits and excited for what was to … Read More +
The Fryer Project Qualification (FPQ) is the culmination of the two-year ‘Approaches to Learning’ programme, a hallmark feature of teaching and learning at Leighton Park. The programme aims to foster … Read More +
Leighton Park’s Year 7 students recently showcased their entrepreneurial flair in this year’s exciting 10X Challenge, turning their £10 investments into an impressive £1,210.49 in just one hour! Working in … Read More +
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