Ripon’s Moorside infant and junior schools to be amalgamated in bid to create new special education spaces

The decision, made by executive members for North Yorkshire's Children and Young People’s Service on Tuesday, will enable special school provision for the area to be created on the site.

Moorside will now become an all-through 3-11 primary school on the junior school site with a single headteacher and governing body.

The vacant infant site will be used for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision as a satellite of Mowbray School, a County Council special school in Bedale.

Mowbray caters for a wide range of complex needs, with the creation of a satellite school in Ripon forming part of the county council’s strategic plan for more local special educational needs and disability provision.

The initial phase from 2020 will provide up to 30 places in the satellite school which will rise to 60 places in a second phase.

"This is good news for families in the Ripon area,” County Councillor Patrick Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s executive member for education and skills, said.

Over the past five years the requests for special educational needs places for pupils from the Ripon and Harrogate areas has risen significantly and Mowbray has struggled to meet this demand at the school in Bedale.