In September, the Harrogate district will have a new secondary school — but it won’t be anything like the current ones.

Strive for Education‘s roll will have just 33 students who struggle in mainstream schools and require additional support. Many will have been referred for two or three days a week by other schools in the district.

Strive was set up three years ago by former Harrogate Grammar School assistant headteacher Andy Brown and his wife Sonja, who felt students requiring additional support were under-served locally.

Education inspector Ofsted paved the way for it to transition from an alternative education provider to an independent school, and potentially expand its provision, when inspectors published a report this year concluding it “is likely to meet all the independent school standards”.

Ofsted recognition means Strive will be able to provide a full-time curriculum from September and be eligible to take on students who receive education, health and care plans from local authorities full-time.

Based on North Park Road in Harrogate and with a workshop in Starbeck, Strive classes have no more than six pupils to ensure students get enough support.

The hairdressing area

There is a hairdressing studio and a calm room with bean bags where students can relax, as well as a kitchen and a pool table.

Mr Brown says:

“I identified a huge gap that wasn’t being met locally. A lot of kids were travelling out of the area for this kind of provision.

“Put kids in the right environment with the right support and they feel safe. The big difference is they know we care. Of course all schools care – but it’s different level here.”

Students, who stay for between 12 weeks and two years, have special educational needs, including social, emotional and mental health issues. Autism and ADHD are common.

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Mr Brown admits it can be difficult to pitch the teaching given the wide range of needs and abilities. But he adds:

“If anyone asks me what the greatest challenge has been it’s not the kids — it’s getting the right staff in. They have to be able to relate and provide the right education.”

If the school expands, its main Harrogate site on a residential street might not be able to cope and the Browns are keeping an eye out for a new school – although they have ruled out Woodfield Community Primary School in Bilton, which closed last year. But change isn’t imminent. Mr Brown says:

“The plan is that next year we will be open as an independent school and see how it goes for the first year and take stock.”

Andy Brown

For now though, the timetable and staffing are in place for September.

Mr Brown says his education background and his wife’s business and HR experience makes them a “perfect combination”.

But such specialist education isn’t cheap. Annual fees for full-time places start at £27,000 and vary depending on the needs of the young person, the extra support they require, and any additional professional services needed such as speech and language therapists and educational psychologists.

Strive’s educational offer also depends on whether young people are placed as part of alternative provision or full-time on-roll places.

The school will be holding a drop-in open day on April 28 at which people can meet staff and look round.

The leaders of opposition political groups on North Yorkshire County Council have criticised plans to fill the void left by the abolition of seven district councils by launching 30 unelected and unfunded “community networks”.

A series of concerns have been raised ahead of the council’s executive next Tuesday, which will consider establishing community networks to act as the “engine rooms” for social and economic change.

The leaders of the Liberal Democrat, Labour, Green and Independent groups, which collectively secured 59% of the votes at last May’s election, said both they and some members of the ruling Conservative group, which has a two-seat majority, had significant reservations over the move.

A statement issued by the council on Tuesday, said the networks, which it is hoped will include representatives of organisations, such as parish councils, police and the NHS, were being seen as “a hugely important element of the new North Yorkshire Council”, which will be launched on April 1.

It is hoped the networks will build on existing relationships and partnerships between the public, private and community and voluntary sectors, including the close working arrangements that were developed during the covid pandemic.

Cllr Carl Les, leader of North Yorkshire County Council.

The statement highlighted how the networks would include councillors and receive support from senior council officers, but would be independent of the new authority and be responsible for driving forward action plans centred on a specific area’s priorities.

County council leader, Cllr Carl Les, said: 

“While North Yorkshire Council will cover the largest geographical area of any local authority in the country, we are committed to being the most local too.

“The community networks will be invaluable to ensuring that the voices of communities across North Yorkshire are heard, and that local needs and priorities can be addressed.”

‘Don’t seem to make much sense’

Labour group leader Cllr Steve Shaw Wright said while the proposed organisations were “a start”, due to their lack of powers the networks would “end up like talking shops where people come and tub thump” and feature parishes with vastly different budgets and priorities.

He said: 

“They don’t seem to make much sense at the moment. My patch is so diverse, trying to get something that works for everybody is going to be difficult.”

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Cllr Andy Brown, leader of the Green group, said he did not understand how community networks would help and that there was a risk of confusion between the roles of parish and town councils, the county authority’s area constituency committees and the unitary council and mayoral combined authority.

He said: 

“I don’t understand when they were approved or how their geography was determined. My biggest concern is nobody consulted the local councillors about the geography of these networks.

“If you are going to have community networks they have to be communities.”

Independent group leader Cllr Stuart Parsons said the community networks would have “no power to make decisions or determine anything”.

He said: 

“How these organisations are supposed to have any impact is beyond me. 

“For example, if a Community Network was to make a recommendation to increase bus services the unitary council’s executive could just turn round and say it can’t afford it. There’s nothing for these networks to have any bite.”

Cllr Bryn Griffiths, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said although it was positive that members of communities would be working together to achieve a common goal, there were issues over the networks’ governance, accountability and how they would be financed.

He said: 

“There is potential for these networks to be hijacked by individuals for their own purposes and the role of elected members could be circumvented. I also have concerns they will go their own way and do their own thing.”

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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