Parishioners may be aware of the ongoing discussions the Diocese/Parish are having with Strive Education for the potential lease of our former school building. Strive are a small local Special Education Needs (SEN) provider specialising in supporting pupils with an Educational Healthcare Plan (EHCP), through small class sizes, high staff to pupil ratios and high pastoral support. Strive have two existing provisions in the Harrogate area, one being a Vocational Construction Centre and another which provides accommodation for small groups who would fall into the category of Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) need, which would previously have been referred to as ‘behavioural needs’. Strives’ Ofsted report from November 2023 records ratings of ‘Good’ with elements of ‘Outstanding’ including the areas of Pupil Behaviour and Attitudes.
Our school building is intended to be in addition to, and separate from, Strives’ existing provisions, with the school building being used to help and support children who have Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC), are Neurodiverse or have Anxiety disorders. The calming environment of Bishop Thornton is an ideal location to nurture these children. There would be two classes of seven secondary school age children who will attend school between 9.30am to 2.15pm Monday to Friday. The children will be dropped off and collected by parents or local authority provided taxis so there will not be any children left in the vicinity of the school after home time. The front area of the school will be used as car park and drop off. The school is not intended to provide for children who might otherwise be placed in a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) by the local authority.
In the current proposal, the parish will retain use of the car park at weekends and have unrestricted access to refurbished parish toilets accessible from the graveyard. These toilets will be parish use only.