Maiden Erlegh Trust is delighted to announce that the Department for Education (DfE) has approved our application to open a new special free school for Reading and Wokingham.

Oak Tree School is an exciting collaborative project which will provide a safe and happy learning environment for 150 learners with complex needs, including Social, Emotional and Mental Health and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses, from Year 1 to Year 13.

These children and young people have boundless potential so, at the heart of Oak Tree School’s provision, will be a rich and stimulating curriculum, specialist personal development education and targeted therapeutic programmes delivered by talented and specialist staff.

The impetus for this project has been a partnership between Brighter Futures for Children, Reading Borough Council and Wokingham Borough Council as part of their commitment to providing additional special school places for local children close to their own communities. We are proud to lead on this project on their behalf and should like to congratulate all those Trust colleagues and partners who contributed to the application, and will be instrumental to making vision a reality.

Community, inclusion and respect are key Maiden Erlegh Trust values and they underpin our vision for Oak Tree School. As the project progresses, we will continue work with our partners and listen to parents and children to realise our vision. Only in this way can we meet the needs of every child and help each one to reach their potential.

Linked to our community values, the school will also offer a range of outreach programmes to support SEND pupils in mainstream schools and also to provide professional development through our Teaching School.

Mary Davies, CEO of Maiden Erlegh Trust, said “This project is extremely exciting and one that we know is much needed in the local area. We are delighted to be working with so many talented people on developing this school. All those involved with the school will embrace the potential of the pupils, nurture their talents and aspirations and help them thrive. We will support pupils to achieve their very best, move on to meaningful destinations and to take their places in the wider community as happy, confident and independent young adults.”

Chair of Maiden Erlegh Trust, Nick Jones added “We understand that taking on such a project is both a privilege and a responsibility and we are immensely proud to be given this great opportunity to develop a high-quality free school to provide very valuable and much needed additional places for children with SEND.”

Maiden Erlegh Trust would like to thank all those who have worked tirelessly on this application.  We look forward to welcoming the parents and students of Oak Tree School into the Maiden Erlegh community.

20 July 2020

Media enquiries:

Alison Hobby – Head of Marketing and Administration
0118 926 2467
OTS@maidenerleghtrust.org

You can visit the Oak Tree School website here.