Published on
20 November 2024
New lease of life for old Wokingham Library
A Post-16 SEND hub is in the pipeline at the old site.
The old Wokingham Library on Denmark Street is set to get a new lease of life as Wokingham Borough Council reveals proposed plans for a Post-16 SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) Hub based at the site.
The site closed in September 2022 when the library moved to its new home at Carnival Place.
At a meeting next week, the council is set to take the next steps to opening a Post-16 SEND Hub at the site with spaces for 40 young people to continue their education and training within the borough, delivering better outcomes for young people and saving the council over £1 million a year
What it will offer
If agreed, the council will convert the first floor of the old library into a multi-purpose educational facility including four classrooms for students to learn core skills, and a range of specialist areas for vocational training such as a teaching kitchen or hair salon.
Teaching would include core foundation skills such as English and maths, access to work training, independent living skills and vocational courses, with a planned opening to the first cohort of students in 2026.
The focus of the hub would be for young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) and Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs (SEMH), but would be open to the full range of SEND needs.
Two routes would be on offer for young people, one providing supported internships with local employers with the aim of transitioning to apprenticeships or full-time employment and the other more traditional class-based core learning with some vocational training.
A post-16 partnership would see local education providers commissioned to deliver the service, which would support young people with SEND to become economically independent.
Local learning
There is an immediate and pressing need to create additional post-16 SEND spaces in the borough, with a growing number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) starting to transition to the next stage of their education with an anticipated increase of 22.4 per cent between the 2023/24 and 2028/29 school year.
The hub will offer young people opportunities to continue their education and build connections close to their homes and communities, with the town centre location offering good transport links and excellent access to local employers.
As well as being beneficial to the young people’s future, the hub will reduce the council’s current over-reliance on sending learners out of borough for their continued education and will save around £1.1 million a year once full.
Providing excellent local services
Cllr Prue Bray, executive member for children’s services, said: “The need for more SEND places in the borough is well documented and I am thrilled we are reaching the next milestone in providing a much-needed Post-16 SEND Hub.
“Using the old library means that it is ideally placed for transport links and for students to have access to a range of different employers, while at the same time maintaining the site for community use.
“The Post-16 SEND Hub will join other new and planned SEND provision in the borough including two new schools, offering children and young people of all ages access to education in their local communities. This means we can better manage the tricky balance of providing excellent local SEND services while at the same time address spiralling costs.”
