Reading's St Joseph's College Closes Forever

Parents have reacted with sadness after St Joseph’s College in Upper Redlands Road, East Reading, closed down for good. The private Catholic school, which taught children aged three to 18 and had 565 pupils, shut its gates at around 3.30pm on Thursday, July 9 after a farewell ceremony.

Ravjant Nijjhar, whose daughter Anya is in Year 2, said: "It was in a great location. The teachers and the ethos and that whole kind of lovely community is never going to be the same."

Some pupils will move to other private schools and some to state schools. Mrs Nijjhar is sending Anya to Reddam House and added: "She’s sort of randomly burst into tears, now and over the last few weeks because, you know, two of her best friends are going to Abbey School, whereas I’ve chosen Reddam for a much broader, you know, holistic approach, but they couldn’t distance-wise, so she’s feeling upset that her two friends are going to a different school.

"The uncertainty has affected me.

"For me personally, I’m hoping that it will come back as a school, and I hope that Reading Borough Council get involved to make sure that it isn’t a large developer that comes along and builds a block of flats, but it will come back as a school."

Some pupils said they will go to The Oratory in Woodcote and to Bradfield College. Valance Choi, 17, who will go to The Oratory, said: "I’ve been here for four years. It’s very poignant. It’s very sad, but also, you know, grateful that we’re here for, you know, these few years and have been making great memories."

A 15-year-old leaving for Bradfield said: "I’ve been here since I was three years old, so I’ve had the whole St Joseph’s College experience." He added the move means switching exam boards midway through GCSE studies.

The school was founded for girls by the Sisters of St Marie Madeleine Postel and became co-educational in 2010. Mr Choi said: "As a Catholic myself, I think Catholic ethos is something I value and also is something my family values. So it’s quite a shame that this is kind of the end of independent Catholic education in Reading."

Mrs Nijjhar, who is Sikh, said: "Even though we’re Sikh, Sikhs follow a very similar ethos to Catholic education. I liked the emphasis on spirituality in the school, the prayers that they’ve been taught at night. I learned them from my daughter. She says, ‘Oh my God, we come to say thank you for your love today. Thank you for all my friends and family and all the things you’ve brought to me. Guard me in the dark of night and in the morning send your light.’"

Oliver De Maringey will send his two sons to state schools and said he will arrange extracurricular activities to plug the gap. He implied the school began to struggle financially and that governors decided to close after parents were told in May. He criticised leadership, saying: "I’m literally ****** off with a headteacher for that. I think fundamentally, if you look on gov.uk, we’re not struggling for numbers.

"What we were not good at was the analogy ‘champagne lifestyle, lemonade budget’.

"So we were splashing out new laptops, lots of new staff, when actually we should have probably been cutting or amalgamating certain classes which were low on numbers, just being a bit smarter strategically."

He added: "People had to scrimp and save and run 20-year-old cars to pay for this education, but it wasn’t out of reach. It was an affordable, diverse school which catered for all in society."

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter