Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead approves an extra 8,900 school places

An extra 8,900 school places has been approved for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM).

A £244m expansion programme aims to provide the extra places across all age groups by 2032.

The plan, approved at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, is based on a projected housing and population growth.

Councillor Natasha Airey, cabinet member for children's services, said: "We want parents to have a preferential choice of where to send their child."

'Act now'

A report commissioned by the Conservative-led RBWM looked at a "worst case scenario of high birth rates" coupled with a planned 14,000 extra properties.

It calculated a potential need for 661 places per primary year group and an extra 592 places per secondary group.

It also factored in 5% more places than required to allow parents more scope to choose a preferred school and to provide spare capacity for children moving into the area.

Ms Airey said: "We need to act now to secure school places for the borough's children and ensure we have the right infrastructure in the right place at the right time."

The council will look at five new sites - four in Maidenhead and one in Datchet - and plans to expand existing school sites.

It is also planning for additional early years and childcare places and estimates spending an extra £30m on special educational needs provision.

Details of the report can be found here.