Education inspector Ofsted has given its seal of approval for the opening of a new school in Harrogate for pupils requiring additional support.
Strive for Education currently provides alternative provision to 28 students aged 14 to 19 from Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough for one to three days a week.
Many struggle in a mainstream school environment due to social, emotional or mental health issues and are at risk of exclusion. Often they are referred to Strive by local schools.
Strive now wants to open as an independent school catering for 18 pupils in September, with a view to expanding numbers. Most of the pupils would be on its roll full-time, rather than sent there part-time by other schools
As part of that process, it underwent a pre-registration inspection from Ofsted in November.
The inspector’s report, published last week, concluded the school “is likely to meet all the independent school standards when it opens”.
Andy Brown
Strive, which was set up by former Harrogate Grammar School assistant headteacher Andy Brown and his wife Sonja in 2020, is now awaiting confirmation from the Department for Education that it can open as an independent school in autumn. Mr Brown said:
“We’ve grown and grown and got to the point where we need to be an independent school. It will make a huge difference for students that require extra provision.
“There’s a huge lack of support for special education needs students who need extra support beyond what mainstream schools can offer.”
Local shortage
Mr Brown said local students requiring additional support currently often had to travel to places such as Leeds or Darlington because of a shortage of local provision.
Students with special educational needs can apply to their local education authority for an education, health and care plan, which identifies their needs and the additional support required.
Those assessed to have the greatest need receive personal budgets, which can be used to fund additional support such as that provided by Strive, which will charge annual fees starting from £25,000.
Strive is based on North Park Road in Harrogate and has a workshop in Starbeck.
It will continue to use these sites but Mr Brown said it was “definitely looking for a suitable venue to increase our size and additional numbers”.
If Strive’s plans are successful, it will initially have 12 full-time pupils on its own roll.
It also wants to maintain alternative provision for six pupils to fulfil demand for this from local schools.
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