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21
Mar
Will Harrogate special school be ready for autumn opening?
North Yorkshire Council has yet to find an academy trust to sponsor a new school in Harrogate that is due to open in September this year.
The council’s Conservative-run executive approved plans to expand Woodfield Community Primary School, which closed in December 2022, in August 2023.
The school will cater for up to 80 pupils, aged between 11 and 19, with autism and communicative and interactive needs.
Work started on the £2 million project in November 2024. At the time, the council said it hoped to complete the work in time for September this year.
However, Jon Holden, the council’s strategic planning officer, told councillors on the Harrogate and Knaresborough area committee that an academy sponsor had yet to be confirmed for the school.
He said:
We are working with the Department for Education at the moment to secure a sponsor for the school and we will work with that sponsor once identified.
Cllr Paul Haslam, an independent who represents Bilton and Nidd Gorge, asked Mr Holden whether this meant the school would not open in September.
Mr Holden said:
It’s intended that it will be, but we continue to work with the Department for Education to appoint a sponsor.
The council initially planned for the school to open in September 2024, but this was delayed by a year.
The authority began looking for an academy sponsor for the Woodfield school in January last year when it published an invitation on its website.
Since 2016, the number of children in North Yorkshire with identified special educational needs and disability and a legally-binding education, health and care plan has increased by more than 110%, leading to a shortage of special school places and numerous children being taught by independent providers.
The council hopes the new school will help to meeting soaring demand for SEND places.
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