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29
Sept
New Bilton specialist school moves step closer to opening
The new specialist school planned for the former Woodfield Primary School site in Bilton has taken a step closer to opening, with the appointment of an academy trust to run it.
Following a long-awaited recommendation by North Yorkshire Council, the Department for Education (DfE) has engaged the Leeds-based Lighthouse School to run the new school, which is intended to cater for up to 80 pupils aged between 11 and 19 with autism and additional needs.
The school would reduce the huge backlog of demand for specialist school places in the area – the number of children with Educational Health Care Plans (EHCPs) in North Yorkshire has risen from 1,700 in 2015 to more than 6,000 in 2025.
Delays
The council has invested £2.4 million in the school, and originally hoped it would open in September 2024. But that was pushed back to a "phased basis from April 2025", and further delays saw it postponed further.
The lack of an academy trust to run the school has been a major stumbling block. According to a law introduced under the previous Conservative government, new schools may not be run directly by local authorities – they must be run by multi-academy trusts.
Lighthouse School, which is in Cookridge, is not yet a multi-academy trust – it is currently a standalone secondary school for autistic students – but North Yorkshire Council says the school will be working with the DfE to convert to a multi-academy trust. It will also be working with the council to agree a plan for satisfying all the technical elements the DfE require before the new school in Bilton can be opened.
The council said an opening date for the new school would be confirmed in the coming months.
North Yorkshire Council has invested £2.4 million in refitting the school for its new role.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education, learning and skills, Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, said:
We have a coordinated strategy across the whole county to meet the special educational needs of children. This includes strengthening practice in mainstream schools, developing SEN resource bases and investing in fabulous new facilities such as this one where they are needed.
Lighthouse School’s existing work gives us real confidence in its ability to deliver high-quality specialist education and will be a welcome addition to our community of schools in North Yorkshire.
The new facility will deliver a broad curriculum for children who need a specialist environment with a more formal academic curriculum.
Lighthouse School’s principal, Emma Sullivan, said:
We are delighted to be confirmed as the academy trust for the new Harrogate special school, bringing more specialist support to autistic young people and their families across the region.
Children 'left in limbo'
But Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon was more measured in his welcome of the news. Mr Gordon has repeatedly raised the the delay in the school's opening in Parliament, and pressed the new education minister to act following the recent reshuffle.
He said:
Families have been badly let down by repeated government delays and broken promises on Bilton Woodfield Specialist School. Children who desperately need specialist support have been left in limbo for far too long.
Having a provider finally appointed is welcome, but it should never have taken this much pressure to get here.
He added:
My focus now is on working with the provider and North Yorkshire Council to get the school open without further delay, so children across our area can access the support they need and deserve, and get the best possible start in life.
Correction
A previous version of this story referred to Lighthouse School as the Lighthouse Learning Trust. This was the name provided to us by North Yorkshire Council, which has now confirmed that it was incorrect. The school leaders were hoping to take the name Lighthouse Learning Trust upon the school's conversion to a multi-school academy trust, but found that this name had already been taken by a trust in Hampshire. An alternative name for the trust has yet to be agreed.
Main photo shows (left to right): North Yorkshire Council’s assistant director for inclusion, Amanda Fielding; Emma Sullivan, from the Lighthouse School; Jordan Ingram from the Department for Education; North Yorkshire Council’s head of SEND strategic planning resources, Chris Reynolds; Joanne Finney from the Department for Education; Cllr Annabel Wilkinson; Katherine Atkinson and Katie Parlett MBE from the Lighthouse School.
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