The council wants to consult on closing Alexander First School, Windsor, in summer 2028. It has 84 pupils, a £1.2m deficit and most come from Army families.
Alexander First School in Windsor could close at the end of the 2027/28 school year. The Royal Borough’s Cabinet will be asked on Tuesday 20 October to approve a public consultation on shutting it.
The school serves the Broom Farm estate in Oakley Green, on the western edge of town. The estate houses Army families from Victoria and Combermere barracks. The council announced the proposal on Monday 12 October, and the full reasoning is in the Cabinet report.
No decision has been made. If Cabinet agrees, consultation opens on 2 November and runs to 11 December.
The quick answer
- What: a proposal to close Alexander First School on 31 August 2028.
- Why: Windsor has too many first school places. About one Reception place in five is projected to sit empty from 2026 to 2029.
- The school’s position: 84 pupils on roll this autumn, in a building for 150, and a budget deficit of £1.2m at the end of March 2026.
- Next step: Cabinet votes on 20 October whether to consult. A final decision would come in March 2027.
- The site: it would stay in education, as special needs and alternative provision.
Why the council says places must go
Fewer children are being born in Windsor, and fewer families from outside the borough are applying. Schools are funded mainly per pupil, so empty desks mean less money for teachers.
The report’s own figures show the gap. Windsor’s 14 first schools offer 500 Reception places. In September 2025, 463 children started. This September the projection was 407, and next year it is 382.
The council says the newest birth data shows “no evidence yet of any uptick”. It wants to remove 45 Reception places in total. Closing Alexander would take out 30 from September 2028. A further 15 would follow in 2029, probably by a smaller intake at another school.
Doing nothing has a price too, according to the report. Eight first schools are expected to be in deficit by the end of this financial year, and twelve by 2033/34, with a combined shortfall of about £15m. From April 2028, deficits at council-run schools move onto the council’s own balance sheet.
How Alexander came top of the list
Officers scored all 14 first schools against the same criteria. Quality of education and finances counted most, at 22.5% each. Parental preference counted 15%. Alexander came first, meaning the most justifiable to close. The next two options were cutting places at St Edward’s Catholic First School and Oakfield First School, not closures.
The report gives these reasons for Alexander:
- Low demand. On average only about 10 families a year are expected to put it first for September 2028 to 2030, leaving 20 of its 30 Reception places spare.
- Money. It has run a deficit every year since 2018/19. Since June 2025 a council panel has had to approve any spend over £100.
- Numbers. Between 2018 and 2024 it never had more than 98 pupils on roll. It passed 100 in January 2025 and 2026, then fell back to 84 this autumn.
- Results. It scores below the Windsor average on attendance, phonics and the multiplication check, though phonics results for disadvantaged pupils are the best in town.
The council looked at alternatives: federation, merger, becoming an academy, or running with 15 pupils a year group. None fixed the finances, it says, because senior staff, utilities and administration cost much the same with fewer children.
Who it would affect most
The report is frank that closure scores worst of all 14 options on two counts.
In January 2026, 61 of the school’s 103 pupils were from service families. That is just over half of all service children in Windsor’s first schools. The school also had 18 children with Education, Health and Care Plans, up from two in 2022, the most of any first school in town. Eight of those 18 live in Maidenhead.
The council wrote to the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Education in December 2024 asking for extra money for the school. Neither committed any. The Army has been asked again this autumn and has not yet replied, the report says.
Staff have already been told. If the school closes, their last day would be 31 August 2028, and the council says it would try to redeploy them to other schools first.
What it means for you
- If your child is at Alexander: nothing changes this year or next. The council promises a co-ordinated admissions round so families can state preferences, siblings kept together where families want it, help for children with EHCPs, and money towards new uniforms. Its modelling says fewer than half of the borough’s children at the school would travel further, and it expects no more children to qualify for free school transport.
- If you are applying for Reception in September 2028: applications open in autumn 2027. The timetable is built so the decision is final before then.
- Anyone can respond. The consultation is open to parents, staff and residents, not just the school community. We will publish the link when it opens on 2 November.
The timetable
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Cabinet decides whether to consult | Tuesday 20 October 2026 |
| Public consultation | 2 November to 11 December 2026 |
| Cabinet decides whether to proceed | 26 January 2027 |
| Formal representation period | 4 February to 4 March 2027 |
| Cabinet final decision | 23 March 2027 |
| School would close | 31 August 2028 |
Cllr Amy Tisi, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Windsor, said in the council’s release: “Windsor’s first schools are at the heart of their communities, and this is not a proposal anyone would bring forward lightly.”
The proposal comes days after the government approved the borough’s SEND reform plan. The report says the work on that plan is what produced the idea of turning a vacated school into specialist places. Term dates for every Windsor school are on our school term dates page.
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