THE NEW primary school being built in Emmbrook has taken the next step towards completion.
Built as part of the Matthews Green development, the 210-place school is being built on land off Queens Road.
Now, the secretary of state for education has appointed The Keys Academy Trust to run the facility.
Groundworks for the school have already been completed, and the buildings are built as modules off-site. It is hoped they will be installed between November and January.
A new 500sqm community facility will be built next to school. These will have separate entrances but will be linked, with the school and community centre sharing facilities if and when needed.
Decisions on who will run this are still to be determined.
The buildings are expected to be ready for community use from late summer 2021, with the timing of the school opening dependent on demand for places.
This new school and community facility is part of the North Wokingham development, where approximately 1,900 new homes are planned.
More than 1,000 of these homes are already occupied following construction by Crest Nicholson, Berkeley Homes, Bellway, Bovis Homes and Linden Homes.
The facilities are funded through developer contributions as part of the four major new communities at Arborfield, Shinfield and North and South Wokingham, and includes an investment of £98million in new schools.
These four development areas will bring seven new primary schools to the borough.
Floreat Montague Park, to the east of Wokingham town centre is already running. Alder Grove in Shinfield will open in September, and two others are being built, one in Arborfield Green and the other in Matthews Green.
Cllr UllaKarin Clark, executive member for children’s services at WBC, said: “The Keys Trust has a track-record of providing a fantastic educational experience to children across the borough.
“We’re delighted to be working with them again as we begin our journey to construct what will undoubtedly be a brilliant facility in a few years’ time, in line with when we expect additional school places to be required in the area.”
Cllr Wayne Smith, executive member for planning and enforcement, added: “Providing essential infrastructure alongside housing across the borough is a crucial part of the way development has been planned in the area. The announcement of the operator for the new school in the north of Wokingham is another key milestone as we realise almost £100 million investment in new educational facilities in our area.”
The Keys Academy Trust, which already runs nine other primaries in the borough, is a Church of England multi-academy trust. The soon to open Alder Grove is also managed by The Keys.
The other schools they manage are Crazies Hill CofE Primary School, Polehampton CofE Infant and Junior Schools, Sonning CofE Primary School, St Nicholas CofE Primary School, Earley St Peters CofE Primary, The Coombes, and St Sebastian’s CofE Primary.
Hester Wooller, executive headteacher and CEO of The Keys Academy Trust, said: “The Keys Academy Trust is delighted to be appointed as the provider for the new primary school at Matthews Green. The Keys Academy is a local trust based in Wokingham with nine primary schools and we look forward to working in partnership with the council to develop another new primary school to serve this new community. This is a very exciting time of growth within The Keys.”
