Wokingham is facing ‘challenges’ to deliver enough secondary school places, a Wokingham Borough Council executive report has said.
A peak in birth rates a decade ago and continued migration to the borough due to new housing have been identified as the causes.
Set out in a Wokingham Borough Council executive report, leaders of the authority are set to vote on a strategy to address how to deliver enough school places amid rising demand on Thursday, August 26.
A particular area of concern is Shinfield, near Reading. The report says that this area has an ‘emerging shortfall in provision for all age groups’, which reflects ‘the impact of housebuilding locally’.
This leads to projections of there being ‘insufficient places to meet local needs’ by 2025.
Wokingham is also experiencing a rising demand for Year 7 places, partially due to migration into the new borough.
There was particularly high international migration between 2021 to 2023.
This has also been brought about by the arrival of peak birth numbers from 2012 and 2013, now aged ready for secondary school.
While there is a higher demand for places in secondary school, there is a surplus in space for children in the lower years of primary school.
The report further says that ‘significant numbers of Wokingham children’ are going into other boroughs for secondary school, including neighbouring Bracknell Forest, Reading and Slough.
For some residents, available schools in Wokingham ‘require lengthy journeys and affected families have tended to opt’ for schools across the boundary.
Taking on larger cohorts of students has been agreed with some secondary schools, according to the report.
The council has agreed to work to open a sixth form at Bohunt School.
Going forward, council leaders would like to build a primary school in Shinfield to address the shortfall across all age group places.
Nearly 1,200 homes have been built in Shinfield in recent years, after the major development was approved by the council in 2014.
Developers Vistry Group recently shared that more than 600 homes have now been complete as the final stage of the new homes.
With the shortfall in Shinfield, the council is concerned that it could mean more pupils attend schools outside of walking distance, which would add to congestion on roads.
Council leaders, comprised as the executive, will meet on Thursday, September 26 to discuss these findings and a solution going forward.
