Padworth College opened in a rural setting near Reading in 1963. The college’s aim is to create a happy and secure environment with an atmosphere which is relaxed and yet purposeful, where the needs of the individual are recognised and respected. Padworth is distinctive in a number of respects. There is no uniform, all members of the college community are known by their first names, and rules are kept to the necessary minimum for a residential community. Students aged 13 to 19 come to Padworth from the United Kingdom (UK) and all over the world, and a large proportion are boarders in college term time. For around two thirds of the students English is not their principal language. There is a strong expectation that they are at the college both to achieve their academic potential and to develop into confident, responsible and independent young adults by the time they move on to university. This is the first time that the college has been inspected by Ofsted.