Over the past few weeks it has been my privilege to visit two of the Borough’s secondary schools. Bohunt and The Piggott. It was a pleasure on both occasions, not just because I enjoy visiting our local schools but because I was there to help them celebrate. The visit to Bohunt was for the topping out ceremony for their new 6th form block which will be opening for students in September. And the visit to The Piggott was for the official opening of their new hall, 6th form space, labs and netball courts. Both of these are projects that the council has supported financially, and it was great to see the positive impact that both of them will have for the schools. And there is more to come, as the project to build a new 6th form block at Emmbrook gets underway.
The beginning of March is also the time at which people hear the outcome of secondary school admissions for September. I am delighted that once again we have managed to offer 82% of children a place that the school that was their parents’ or carers’ first choice, and that 98% have a place at one of their preferred schools. There are a few children – less than 50 – who couldn’t be accommodated at one of their preferred schools. This will be disappointing, but I know that all of the academy trusts who run our local secondary schools are striving hard to offer not just a good standard of education for all their students, but to ensure that they flourish and are equipped for life as the young adults that they will become.
You may be aware that the government has recently published its Schools white paper. This outlines some major changes to education policy, particularly with regard to special educational needs. The thrust of that change is that all schools should become more inclusive, and that as many children with additional needs should be taught in mainstream as possible. Most children do best when they are educated close to home, with their peers, where the curriculum offer is as broad as possible. Our schools locally embraced this inclusive agenda some time ago, and I am very pleased to say that the council is able to support them in that with funding for new buildings to accommodate the specialist units that will be required on the mainstream school sites.
But mainstream schools are not suitable for every child. There will still be a need for special schools. We do not have enough special school places locally, even after taking account of greater inclusion, and we are working on increasing the capacity in the borough for all age groups. In September we plan to open our first post-16 SEND hub at the former Wokingham library.
All these things taken together show that we are delivering locally for our young people. Not just as a council but as an education system, with the school trusts and the council working together in partnership to ensure that all young people have opportunities to flourish and reach their full potential.
By Cllr Prue Bray
