 Centre doubles spaces before new school year
The second phase of the Addington Early Years Centre for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is ready to welcome 16 new children for the new school year next month.
The centre's first phase opened in autumn 2023 to 17 children aged three to eight years with SEND. Based at the old Farley Hill Primary School site, it offers a small bespoke learning environment specifically designed to cater for their needs.
The phase two work includes two new classrooms, a soft play room, splash and sand room and a second, larger playground.
A large team of dedicated staff are on hand to support the children at all times, helping them feel safe and settled, and a family support worker is also available.
 More provision at two mainstream schools
Two new special educational needs and disability (SEND) facilities are also getting their finishing touches to welcoming children in September.
Eight pupils are due to start at a new resource base at Loddon Primary School and six will start at a new SEND unit at Radstock Primary School, both in Earley.
The 14 children, who all live in the borough, have been taking part in activities to get them ready for this exciting transition over the past term.
Over the next three years, 42 additional spaces will be created with phased entry for children with social and communication difficulties.
This will offer bespoke teaching and environments as well as opportunities for integration into mainstream classrooms, meaning children will benefit from being members of the school community.
Children using a resource base spend about half their time in the main school and the rest getting specialist support at the resource base.
Meanwhile, the SEND unit is for children with a higher level of need. They spend around 70 per cent of time getting specialist support and the rest in the school.
This bridges the gap between children who require less intensive support and those who attend a specialist school.
 Listening to you on country park improvements
We're planning to improve California Country Park in Finchampstead and we've just finished seeking your views on our proposals.
Thanks to everyone who took our survey - we're now going through your responses and we'll confirm the next steps as soon as we can.
Following enhancements to the play area and car park, we're now looking at improvements to the lakeside and other popular areas.
Proposals include a paved seating area, picnic areas with spaces for wheelchairs and a timber deck extending to the lake for water bird viewing, as well as planting wildflowers for bird foraging.
There could also be surfaced footpaths to the lakeside, playground and woodland picnic areas, a flowering lawn and other new planting, as well as turning the existing historic well building into a visitor information point.
A dividend from development
The work would be jointly funded by us and Finchampstead Parish Council, using funds from developers building housing in the area, so it wouldn't cost anything to local taxpayers.
Barkham Parish Council and Winnersh Parish Council will also contribute to the project with funds from the new development in their local areas.
NHS Royal Berkshire Hospital Trust is consulting on potential future locations for the Royal Berkshire Hospital, currently in Reading town centre. It is looking at two sites, both in Wokingham Borough: Thames Valley Park (end of the A329M) and Thames Valley Science Park (off the M4 near Shinfield).
 Relaunched park and ride scheme to expand
Following a successful trial we’re excited to announce that we’re expanding services from Winnersh Park & Ride.
Weekday services are now being re-introduced and the Saturday service is increasing frequency, thanks to funding from the Department for Transport (DfT).
From 19 August, the 500 Winnersh Park and Ride will operate four buses an hour on weekdays and Saturdays, making it easier to get to and from Reading town centre.
We're committed to making bus services more attractive, in partnership with local operators, as outlined in our Bus Service Improvement Plan.
Like with all bus services, the 500's viability relies on people using it - so please consider this healthier and more environmentally friendly option if you can.
Construction of the park & ride facility was funded by developer contributions as well as the Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership.
An affordable journey for everyone - fares are:
- Over 18: £2 per journey, £4 return
- 18 and under: £1.50 each way, £2.80 return
- Family group fare up to three adults and two children: £8 (includes parking)
A £1 parking charge applies to all vehicles parked per day for the park & ride.
Work is still progressing on our improvements to California Cross at Finchampstead, which are funded by contributions from developers building new homes in the area.
You can follow all the major updates by signing up to our Traffic and Travel newsletter or get more regular, detailed updates in our dedicated California Cross project newsletter.
 Turning back the pages on new library's past
We'll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of Wokingham town having its own library on Thursday 5 September.
The celebrations will take place in the new purpose-built library which opened at Carnival Hub, on Wellington Road, almost two years ago.
It relocated from its previous site in Denmark Street, formerly the site of GK Motors, where it had been based since 1996.
The new library boasts about 1km of book shelving along with computers, a dedicated children's area, meeting rooms, breakout areas and a flexible arts, performance and community space.
It was provided as part of our multi-million pound regeneration of the town centre, which also included the new Wokingham Leisure Centre at Carnival Hub.
The birthday celebrations include a charity coffee morning in aid of the SHARE Wokingham food bank, which takes place from 10am to 11.30am.
|
