Harrogate MP says parents should not have been 'left in limbo' over SEND provision
The opening date has finally been confirmed for a long-awaited new school in Harrogate to meet the rising demand for specialist education.
Lighthouse School Harrogate will open this November for autistic children and young people aged 11–19 following the signing of its funding agreement with the Department for Education.
The news has been welcomed by Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon who has been pressing for Bilton Woodfield School to be upgraded for SEND pupils for almost two years now.
But the town’s Lib Dem MP said it was wrong that parents were left in limbo so long.
“It's disappointing that families who were expecting the school to open in September will now have to wait until November but the important thing is after two years of waiting, SEND families finally have a concrete step forward,” said Mr Gordon..
"With several special school projects elsewhere being cancelled following the Government's recent decisions, it's a good job we got Bilton Woodfield across the line when we did.”
Recent years have seen North Yorkshire Council facing rising demand for specialist education in the county with the number of children with Educational Health Care Plans (EHCPs) rising from 1,700 in 2015 to more than 6,000 in 2025.
The repurposing for SEND pupils of Woodfield Community Primary School, which closed in 2022 after years of falling pupil numbers, seemed an ideal next step and in 2023 county councillors agreed a £3.5 million redevelopment to do just that.
The new specialist school was meant to open in September 2024.
Following further delays caused primarily by the search for an academy trust to run the new school, the opening was then pushed back to September 2025.
Harrogate MP Tom Gordon said there were lessons to be learned from the saga.
"Parents have shown incredible patience while a brand-new, multi-million-pound school sat empty during a SEND crisis,” said Mr Gordon.
"We should never allow families to be put through that uncertainty again.
"Let's celebrate getting the school's opening secured, while keeping the momentum going to ensure every child with SEND gets the education and support they deserve."