| Motto | Seeking quality in all |
|---|---|
| Type | Comprehensive community school |
| Principal | Ann Keane-Maher |
| Chair of Governors | Mike Reeves |
| Specialism | Maths and Computing College |
| Location | Waingels Road Woodley Berkshire RG5 4RF England |
| Local authority | Wokingham |
| DfE URN | 110070 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Staff | c.170 |
| Students | c.1,470 |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Houses | Astor, Brunel, Da Vinci, Holmes, Rowling, Turing |
| Colours | |
| Website | School website |
Waingels College (previously Waingels Copse School) is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school located in Woodley, Reading, Berkshire, England. It has a population of 1,500 students but may rise due to overcrowding in the area and an appeals process which now has to take place. Over 400 people apply for entry annually, though there are only 270 places available (a rise from 240 in previous years). The school has specialist status as a Mathematics and Computing College.
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In September 2006 the school was split into six houses. Each house has its own colour and is named after an inspirational role-model. Each house has a learning community, Red, Green and Gold which are seen on the uniform with a Red, Green or Gold collar around it and on the logo.[1]
| Name of house | Colour | Role Model |
|---|---|---|
| Astor | White | Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit as an MP in the UK. |
| Brunel | Green | Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer and creator of the Great Western Railway. |
| Da Vinci | Blue | Leonardo Da Vinci, the Italian scientist, inventor and artist. |
| Holmes | Red | Kelly Holmes, the Olympic gold medalist at middle distance. |
| Rowling | Yellow | J K Rowling the British author who created the Harry Potter series. |
| Turing | Black | Alan Turing, the British mathematician and cryptographer. |
In the 1970s and 1980s the school had four houses named for local connections: Bader (house colour red), after the airman Douglas Bader who flew from the old Woodley airfield; Brunel (house colour yellow), the only survivor in the current line-up; Jerome (house colour blue), after the author Jerome K. Jerome who wrote about the nearby River Thames; and Miles (house colour green), after the Miles Aircraft company, once based at Woodley airfield.
The school was originally built back in 1970 to replace the old secondary modern school in Loddon Bridge Road. The school is being rebuilt (except for the following blocks, Music, sports, ICT and Maths) and will be complete in November 2011 at a cost of £31M.
Sports days are held annually in Palmer Park. Before 2011, Years 7-9 were the only ones to compete, due to the Work Experience for Year 10, and Study Leave for Year 11. However, This has now come under dispute due to the fact Year 10s may no longer be going on Work Experience. Year 10s competing is currently undecided.
The P.E. department at Waingels encourages students to take part in many extracurricular sporting activities such as football. Their main rival is The Bulmershe School, located on the other side of Woodley, as it is a specialist Sports College. In 2010 Waingels College are representing Berkshire in a rugby tournament competing against other counties.
Waingels underwent a 31.1M redevelopment to the whole school, this includes many classrooms and high-tech features. The project is expected to be finished by December 2011.