Proposal for the expansion, remodelling and development of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Resource Unit (Phase 1) at Westwood Farm Schools Federation, Tilehurst
Have your say.
Consultation status Open - 42 days left
Background
Westwood Farm Infant and Junior Schools in Tilehurst are partnered together as a Federation. A Federation is a formal arrangement where two or more maintained schools share a single governing body, allowing them to collaborate and share resources, staff, and expertise while retaining their individual identities, names, and uniforms.
The Infant School provides for just over 200 children between the ages of three and seven, including a Nursery/ Foundation Stage 1 class for up to 30 children.
The McKee Unit at Westwood Farm Schools was opened in September 2023. It is a 12-place complex needs Resource Unit for infant age children.
Children with complex needs experience significant intellectual or cognitive impairments that affect learning across all areas of the curriculum. Many have co-occurring communication, physical, or sensory needs, global developmental delays, hypermobility and require highly personalised, differentiated curricula delivered by trained staff.
The school aims to provide a broad, balanced education that is relevant to children's lives and will promote learning for life. This includes children with SEND who can work alongside their peers, within the normal curriculum.
The Junior School provides for just over 200 children between the ages of seven and eleven. There is currently no provision for children with complex needs in this age group.
Westwood Farm Schools Federation has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to inclusion and partnership working with the council. The leadership team and governing body are proactive, experienced, and highly engaged in developing and sustaining the Resource Unit model, offering a strong and stable base for both educational development and staff training.
Between January 2020 and January 2025, the number of children and young people with EHCPs in West Berkshire rose by 57%, from 1,074 to 1,686, dipping under the national trend of 64%.
Our SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2024 to 2029 identifies the expansion of complex needs provision as a priority, and the need to reduce out-of-area placements and travel distances.
What we are proposing
The proposal is to expand the existing 12-place Key Stage 1 unit to 18 places, and include Key Stage 2 pupils, to be able to support children up to the end of Year 6. Expanding the provision enables pupils to progress through Key Stages 1 and 2 within a familiar environment, ensuring continuity of learning and reducing disruption for children and families.
The proposed expanded Resource Unit would:
- provide more specialist classrooms, therapy and sensory spaces
- enable more small-group and one-to-one teaching
- continue to offer planned inclusion in mainstream lessons and school life
- be fully accessible and designed to meet Building Bulletin 104 standards
- provide an enhanced transition from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2
A new purpose-built extension, and remodelling and refurbishment of existing areas would create a high-quality, inclusive learning environment.
We're proposing a prescribed alteration under Section 19 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and follows the Department for Education's statutory guidance: Making Significant Changes ('Prescribed Alterations') to Maintained Schools (January 2023).
National policy, the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, March 2023, emphasises increasing local mainstream capacity and reducing reliance on out-of-area placements. The expansion would support this ambition by delivering high-quality, specialist-supported places within a mainstream setting, aligned with both Department of Education (DfE) guidance and the council's local inclusion priorities.
This proposal forms part of West Berkshire Council's ongoing commitment to ensure sufficient, high-quality local provision for children and young people with EHCPs, enabling them to learn closer to home.
Early engagement with parents, carers, and the school community has demonstrated strong local support for retaining and expanding the existing Resource Unit. This approach aligns with West Berkshire Council's commitment to co-production, ensuring families and schools are partners in shaping sustainable, high-quality local provision.
Why this site?
We recognise that decisions about where to locate and expand specialist provision must balance data-led sufficiency planning with practical, deliverable opportunities that improve outcomes for children and young people with EHCPs. While the latest needs analysis does not identify Westwood Farm Schools as the highest priority location based solely on EHCP numbers or projected growth, the proposal to expand this site reflects a combination of strategic, educational, and operational factors that make it a viable and beneficial local solution.
Unlike other potential sites, which may require significant capital investment or extended development timescale, the Westwood Farm Schools site offers a deliverable, lower-cost option achievable within existing budgets. This allows us to create much-needed local places efficiently and provide more resource across West Berkshire.
Although not the area of highest identified demand, expanding the provision in Tilehurst helps to reduce travel distances for families in the east of the district, increases parental choice, and ensures a fairer distribution of specialist support across West Berkshire.
The site sits within a densely populated school catchment area where there is currently limited Key Stage 2 specialist provision of this type. Expanding the Resource Unit will help fill that local gap, providing targeted support for children who might otherwise require placement in special schools such as Brookfields, Tilehurst or The Castle, Newbury. The expansion will ease capacity pressures on those special schools, ensuring that they can prioritise children with the most complex needs.
Westwood Farm Schools are an important part of our broader strategy, strengthening inclusion within mainstream education and providing a model for sustainable future developments. The expansion would further increase the level of mixed provision available, which includes Resource Bases, Units, and special school places. No adverse impact is expected on mainstream rolls or funding. West Berkshire Council will maintain close collaboration with local headteachers, academy trusts, and the Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB) to ensure a balanced local offer.
You can read our answers to Frequently Asked Questions here.
How to take part
If you'd like to give us your views on our proposal to expand the existing 12 place Key Stage 1 Resource Unit to 18 places, and include Key Stage 2 pupils, please complete our survey by midnight on Wednesday, 17 December 2025. It should take about 5-10 minutes.
If you like to talk to us about this proposal, we'll be running an open meeting:
- at Westwood Farm School, Fullbrook Crescent, Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire RG31 6RY
- on Thursday, 20 November 2025 from 7pm to 8pm
If you can't attend in person, you can join online. Please email SENDengagement@westberks.gov.uk and you will be sent joining instructions
We're also holding drop-ins:
- at Westwood Farm School, Fullbrook Crescent, Tilehurst, Reading, Berkshire RG31 6RY
- on Tuesday, 2 December 2025 from 8.30am to 9.30am
- on Thursday, 4 December 2025 from 2.45pm to 4pm
Please report to the school reception when you arrive.
If you have any questions about the consultation, please email SENDengagement@westberks.gov.uk
What happens next
Your feedback will be analysed and summarised, and a recommendation will be put to elected Members at the Executive meeting on Thursday, 19 March 2026 .
All meetings will be open to the public, and residents can attend in person at the Market Street Offices. If you'd like to ask a West Berkshire Councillor a question at a public meeting, find out what can and can't be asked, and how to submit your question here.
If Members approve the project, we will begin work on the detailed design and procurement process and this phase of the project will follow the statutory planning process, which includes further public consultation. Construction and staff recruitment would potentially be in the summer of 2028, with the Resource Unit opening for the start of the school term in September 2028.
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