EXCLUSIVE: Wokingham children left without school place after Floreat withdraws offers for this September

FAMILIES across Wokingham borough have been left reeling after their children’s places at a new school were withdrawn, just over two weeks before the start of the new term.

Children who had been provisionally offered a place at the new Floreat Silver Meadow primary school, in Shinfield, received a letter from Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) on Thursday (18) informing them that the school’s opening had been pushed back to September 2017, meaning their child no longer had a place.

The letter, sent out by the Interim Head of Learning and Achievement at WBC, Alan Stubbersfield, said the council had not received an assurance of the financial status of the school, resulting in the decision to delay the opening until September 2017.

Floreat Education, the trust behind the new school, has been contacted for a comment. A statement on their website on July 26 announced that the new school would be named Floreat Silver Meadow, but no suggestion of the current situation was given.

The school was due to open to its first cohort of pupils in temporary accommodation on September 5. It is thought that at least 20 children have been affected.

Furious parents Kat and Jon McNamara contacted The Wokingham Paper to tell of their anger at receiving the letter, two weeks before their daughter was meant to start at the school. They had declined an offer from Mortimer St John’s Church of England Infant School as they believed their daughter had a place at the new school, which is going to be based in Shinfield.

Man arrested after crash near Wokingham leaves motorcyclist with life threatening injuries

Man charged with sexual assaults

Kat said: “It’s been an awful 24 hours and a complete rollercoaster six months. Frankly this whole school debacle has been so badly mismanaged and we have been treated so badly that I sincerely hope the least we get is an apology and acknowledgement.

“We spoke to the admissions team, the most helpful at the council, yesterday (Thursday) and they have given us a list of all the schools in WBC that have spaces. The closest one is 8.1 miles away. We are on the waiting lists for all our preferences but are unlikely to get a place at one of these until term starts.

“I am in touch with other parents and they are all in similar positions. There are around 20+ affected children from Three Mile Cross and Spencers Wood that will now have to either defer their place in hope that a space becomes available in a local school, or accept a school miles away from home. For us, neither is a great option especially since we have a young son who wont have a sibling in catchment when it comes to him starting school.

“What makes our situation worse is that we had a place at Mortimer St John’s but when we received the “provisional” offer from WBC and Floreat we foolishly/naively advised them we no longer needed the place and being in a separate borough they have allocated the place to another child! The result is [our daughter] doesn’t actually have a school place ANYWHERE for September now.”

Floreat Education and Wokingham Borough Council have been contacted for a comment. We will update this story with new information as we get it.

A previous version of this article incorrectly said this affected students attending Floreat Montague Park. This is not the case, and we apologise for any confusion caused. Floreat Montague Park will be opening this September as planned.