PLANS to open a new SEND school in Winnersh have been put on hold, a situation described by the leader of Wokingham Borough Council as “an absolute disaster”.
The Oak Tree Academy School was due to open in September next year, following a decision by the council’s planning committee to approve the plans.
The Department of Education has delayed approval for the school, meaning it is now postponed.
The school will be built on Winnersh Farm, next to the M4 motorway and the Royal British Legion Club, have 150 places, shared equally between Reading and Wokingham borough councils, and run by the Maiden Erlegh Trust.
The delay means budgets will need to be reconsidered, and if a new procurement process is needed, the revised 2023 opening date could be pushed back even further.
Maiden Erlegh Trust “could possibly be willing to open Oak Tree in another school building for one academic year from September 2022 but will not run the school at another site beyond this date”, according to a report produced by Reading Borough Council’s Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC) company.
At a Reading Borough Council meeting of its Adult Social Care, Children’s Services and Education committee last week, Cllr Ashley Pearce, the lead member for Education, said the council will do all it can to help the school open next year.
“No places for Reading pupils had been earmarked so there is no initial disappointment but, of course, this is going to have big knock-on effects on placing pupils next year and on our budgets,” he said.
“We are of course working with our Wokingham counterparts and the DfE to get this project back on track as soon as possible and are in discussions around funding and accommodating our pupils in other Reading schools if the September 2022 opening date cannot be met.”
If opening the school at the Winnersh site in September 2023 is not considered possible by the end of 2021, children earmarked to attend Oak Tree will instead have to be placed in other schools.
This is likely to be more expensive and impact on funding for children with SEND, which is already stretched.
Cllr John Halsall told Wokingham Today: “The Department of Education has said to us there’s going to be a delay, which could be a couple of years.”
This would mean SEND children with specialist education requirements will continue to travel outside of the borough, which requires taxis and similar transport services.
He promised that the council would press its case to the Department of Education to get the school back on track.
“The cost of sending SEND children to schools for two years is huge,” he said. “If you have a child who requires special assistance, and you’ve banked on that child going to the new school in the borough, rather than having to go somewhere else, you’d be devastated.”
And Cllr Pearce said Wokingham counterparts and the MPs for Maidenhead and Reading East are seeking answers from the Department of Education.
“There will be a contingency plan if it doesn’t open in 2022 but our aim is to get it to open then, by hook or by crook. The ball is in the Department of Education’s court for that.”
Additional reporting: Tevye Markson, local democracy reporter
