Last updated:
11th March 2026
Planning new school places
New Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Units at three schools
The Council proposes to open three new SEND units in September 2026, at:
- Walter Infant School
- St Pauls Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior School
- Winnersh Primary School
The Walter Infant and St Pauls Junior School proposals are for pupils with Education Health and Social Care Plans for Autism or Speech Language and Communication needs. They will meet the needs of 12 pupils (Walter Infant School) and 16 pupils (St Pauls CoE VC Junior School).
The Winnersh Primary School proposals are for pupils with Social Emotional and Mental Health Needs. It will meet the needs of 12 pupils (although up to 14 pupils may be admitted).
The attached documents give further details for each proposal. They are part of a statutory consultation exercise for each scheme. The formal consultations run from 01/01/2026 to 29/01/2026.
Responses can be sent to:
Piers.brunning@wokingham.gov.uk
Documents:
- Walter Infant School Statutory Notice
- Walter Infant School Full Statutory Notice
- Winnersh Primary School Statutory Notice
- Winnersh Primary School Long consultation document
- St Paul’s Church of England Full Statutory Notice
- St Paul’s Church of England Voluntary Controlled Junior School Statutory Notice
On 26 February 2026 the Council's Executive agreed to the three new SEND units described above. The decision paper, including the reason for the decision can be read below:
School Place Planning
The Wokingham Borough School Places Strategy 2025 to 2030 was approved by the Council’s Executive on 20 November2025.
The strategy assesses the sufficiency of education provision over this period; with options to address likely shortfalls.
Summarised by phase:
For child care and early years education the Council does not envisage a shortfall in provision that will require council action.
For the primary sector, the key focus must be on reducing the number of places available to reduce surplus provision. Otherwise in development areas where new schools may be desirable to look at creating solutions, including relocations of existing schools.
For the secondary sector, the Borough continues to see high demand for Year 7 places. However, as demand falls there will be a need to manage down capacity in partnership with schools and trusts to keep surplus capacity at circa 7%.
The post-16 focus is on 6th form provision. Although the rising demand seen in the secondary Year 7 rolls will in time reach the Borough’s sixth forms, the new Bohunt Wokingham School sixth form, and likely capacity in several of the borough’s schools sixth forms, show that there is no immediate need for more provision. However, it will be important to maintain sixth form capacity at the Emmbrook School by replacing their temporary 6th form provision with permanent capacity.
The Special Education Needs and Disabilities focus is on creating more capacity in the borough through a mix of new special schools and resourced provision in mainstream schools.
It is intended that the strategy will be reviewed annually.
