Builders are on site at The Emmbrook School for a £3.837m sixth form block opening September 2027. The school already has 1,354 pupils in space built for 1,219.

Building work has started on a new sixth form block at The Emmbrook School in Wokingham. It will take up to 60 more students, and it is due to open in September 2027 (Wokingham Borough Council, 18 September).

The contract has gone to Contract Trading Services, which the council calls a local construction company. Companies House records it at Unit 16, Metro Centre, Toutley Road, Wokingham, in the same north corner of the town as the school, and trading since September 1997 (Companies House).

The number the announcement leaves out

The Emmbrook is full, and has been for some time. Ofsted’s provider record puts 1,354 pupils in a school with a capacity of 1,219, an overshoot of 135 (Ofsted). It is an 11 to 18 academy on Emmbrook Road, rated Good across all five areas at its inspection on 17 October 2023, including sixth form provision.

That is the context for a new building rather than an extension. The existing sixth form moves into the new block, which frees its current space for the rest of the school.

What is being built

The council says the new block will contain:

  • classrooms
  • a social space
  • a study area
  • an administration area
  • toilets
  • accessibility ramps, for inclusive access

A new reception extension follows once the sixth form block is finished. The consultants are HLM Architects.

What it costs, and where the money sits

The council put £240,000 into preparatory work last year and agreed a further £3.837 million in February.

The capital programme agreed at that February Executive meeting carries the scheme as “Emmbrook Sixth Form” at £2.059 million in 2026/27 and £1.918 million in 2027/28, £3.977 million in total. The document notes that its figures include budgets carried forward from previous years, which is why the programme total and the £3.837 million in the announcement are not the same number (Capital Programme 2026/27 to 2028/29, Appendix B).

It is not the only post-16 line in that programme. The same table carries Sixth Form Expansion, Bohunt at £2.703 million, and Spencer’s Wood New School at £11.713 million.

Three school building schemes in Wokingham's capital programme Budgeted across 2026/27 to 2028/29, including budgets carried forward from previous years. Spencer's Wood new school £11.713m Emmbrook sixth form £3.977m Bohunt sixth form expansion £2.703m Bohunt's expansion is finished and opened this month. Emmbrook's has just started on site. Spencer's Wood is a new school, with nothing budgeted in 2026/27. Source: Wokingham Borough Council, Capital Programme 2026/27 to 2028/29 Detail, Appendix B. Graphic by Wokingham Online
What the borough has budgeted for three school building schemes.

Bohunt’s sixth form in Arborfield opened this month.

What the school and the council say

Nick McSweeney, headteacher of The Emmbrook School, said the school “has grown significantly over the past eight years and these new buildings will give our students outstanding new facilities”. He said the school’s results had gone “from strength to strength over the past four years”.

Cllr Prue Bray, executive member for children’s services, said meeting demand for post-16 education “is a priority for the council, which is why we’re investing in local schools to create the additional places young people need”.

The Emmbrook joined The Circle Trust, a multi-academy trust, in 2021. The trust also runs St Crispin’s School in Wokingham, Emmbrook Infant and Junior schools, Nine Mile Ride Primary and The Hawthorns Primary at Woosehill.

What it means for you

  • If your child is in Year 10 or 11 at The Emmbrook, the new sixth form opens in September 2027, so it will be there for pupils starting Year 12 that autumn. Anyone starting sixth form in 2026 will spend their time in the current buildings.
  • If you live near the school, there will be construction traffic on Emmbrook Road into 2027, followed by a second phase for the reception extension.
  • If you are choosing a school, the Ofsted record is the one to read, not the press release: Good overall and Good for sixth form provision, inspected in October 2023, with the roll already 135 above capacity.

Sources