Plans for a new special educational needs centre at Maiden Erlegh School in Earley have been revealed – as Wokingham Borough Council strives to overcome difficult challenges.

Under the plans, the high school would host room for up to 25 children with autism and social, emotional and mental health needs by September 2025. The council says the new centre is vital for ensuring that it can cope with rising demand on its services.

Carey Tulloch from the council’s children’s services department said the new space would be “critical” to delivering specialist facilities, in a document accompanying the plans.

Pupils at the centre will benefit from a therapy room, a sensory room, a dedicated resource space and specialist classrooms.

These will be housed in the former Silverdale Community Centre, which will be refurbished. But the council will need to get permission from its own planning committee to change the use of the building before it can be used for educational purposes.

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Wokingham Borough Council faces major challenges in providing education for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Rising costs and an increase in the number of children needing SEND services have not been covered by schools funding from the government.

This has led to a deficit of almost £10 million in the council’s schools budget, and the award of an additional £8 million “safety valve” grant from the government earlier this year.

In return for the grant, Wokingham Borough Council agreed to improve its SEND school services. It hopes the new centre will help it do this, while also cutting the costs of currently having to send children to specialist schools that are outside the borough or run privately.

Ms Tulloch said: “Due to the significant increase in SEND population seen in recent years there is not enough specialist local provision to meet need.

“The number of SEND pupils is projected to continue to grow significantly and action needs to be taken to ensure that appropriate provision is available locally.”

She added that building the new centre would benefit children as they wouldn’t have to travel long distances, and would improve autism awareness for the whole school.