Plans for a new school for children with special educational needs have taken a major step forward.

The new free school will cater for pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs, and will be based on the site of Northallerton’s former Grammar School. It will be called Springwell Northallerton.

New of progress on the plans has been welcomed by Rishi Sunak, MP for Richmond and Prime Minister, who said it had been announced that the Wellspring Academy Trust would run the site.

The trust will work with North Yorkshire Council, the local education authority, to open the new school as soon as possible.

Mr Sunak said: “Demand for special school places is growing across the UK and I know from my own correspondence with constituents that it is a significant issue here.

Darlington and Stockton Times: The old Northallerton Grammar School building – empty since 2021

“The new school will mean 120 additional places for eight to 16-year-olds to meet this demand and deliver better outcomes for pupils who require this specialist provision.

“I also welcome the fact that the old Grammar School – an important part of the history of our county town – will have a new educational role.”

The announcement about the Wellspring Trust’s appointment was contained in a letter to Mr Sunak from Baroness Barran, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education.

She wrote: “The trust can now begin the task of converting its vision into reality, working with officials and North Yorkshire Council to deliver additional, specialist high-quality places in North Yorkshire.”

The Wellspring Academy Trust runs 31 academies in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, including the Harrogate and Knaresborough area.

The old Grammar School buildings on Grammar School Lane in Northallerton have been empty since 2021 when the town’s secondary school pupils moved to the old Allertonshire School site in Brompton Road. The rebuilding of the school was secured with a £8.7m grant from the Department for Education.

Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education, said: “The local authority welcomes the investment in specialist SEN education provision within North Yorkshire. The authority is working with the Department for Education (DfE) to prepare the site for the DfE-led project for this much-needed new free special school."