The two pronged process for bringing forward a new secondary school in the area alongside the development of the SDL has been steadily moving forward. As previously discussed, the current processes laid down by the government are complex and confusing.
In essence the council cannot build a school themselves, but can commission the building of an independent academy, however they cannot commission such an academy until there is a proven need, which is that the number of available secondary school places across the whole borough is below a certain threshold. Given the current arrangement of secondary schools in the Wokingham Borough and that distance from the school is used as the oversubscription criteria this will leave parents in Arborfield, Barkham and Finchampstead in an increasingly difficult position and unlikely to get their first choices of secondary school, most likely finding their children allocated to schools elsewhere in the borough with spaces.
The alternative is for local parents to bring forward plans for a free school. The key difference with a free school is that an application need only prove demand not need. What this means is that if parents can show a demand for a local school in the area of Arborfield, Barkham and Finchampstead, the Department of Education would consider it and provide funding, even though Wokingham Borough Council would not be allowed to commission and academy because the need threshold has not been met.
The council is hosting a meeting with a view to forming a Local Secondary School Development Working Party, the meeting will be held on 11th December, at 7:30pm, at the Royal British Legion Club in Arborfield. All are welcome to attend, to confirm attendance at the meeting please contact Admissions.Review@wokingham.gov.uk. The meeting will be looking at all the issues surrounding the provision of a new secondary school, issues that are important to consider whether it is a Wokingham Borough Council commissioned academy, or a government approved free school group that ultimately provides the school.
Some members of AG-RAG who are parents of children who will be affected if we have to wait for Wokingham Borough Council to be allowed to commission an academy have formed the South of Wokingham Free School group, and in advance of the meeting have issued the following press release and presentation to local stakeholders. For more details of the group and to join in please contact the group through their Facebook group.
