History

Images captions:

1. The site of the new Harrogate specialist school. (Image: North Yorkshire Council)

 

Lighthouse Education Trust has been approved by North Yorkshire Council to open a new special free school in Harrogate, known as Lighthouse School, Harrogate.

The school will be located on the site of the former Woodfield Primary School in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, postcode HG1 4HZ, which is being fitted out for our new cohort.

Lighthouse School, Harrogate will be a provision serving up to 80 autistic children and young people aged 11-19 who are able to access a KS3, KS4 or KS5 curriculum at or around the corresponding age range for that curriculum. The school will deliver community-driven, student-centred, and destination-focused nurture and support to children and young people in Harrogate. It will build on Lighthouse Education Trust’s successful curriculum, staffing structure, and operational model, ensuring pupils can thrive academically, socially, and emotionally while preparing them for adulthood.

The school will adopt a curriculum built on four cornerstones:

• Curriculum: built on ambition, versatility, and innovation, delivering learning ambitious in breadth and depth. It will offer all subjects one would expect at a mainstream school, as well as those delivered to support the needs of students. Modules will be tailored to suit different abilities and interests, for the promotion of individual ambition.
• Wellbeing: We will provide holistic, student-centred interventions to enable engagement in learning and support students to understand their diagnosis. Students will learn to manage their emotions, advocate for themselves, and promote positive mental health. All staff will be trained in wellbeing strategies to ensure integration with the provision.
• Speech and Language Therapy and Communication: As experienced providers, we recognise that fundamental skills in communication and expression are vital for accessing education, both academic and vocational training, as well as developing important social and emotional skills and habits.
• Skills and Experience: Our students will receive tailored support in developing the skills, knowledge, and experience needed to go on to access vocational training, employment, and active participation in daily life.

Admissions to Lighthouse School, Harrogate will be managed through North Yorkshire Council, who will allocate places via EHCPs.

The Admissions Policy for Harrogate is here:

Lighthouse School Harrogate Admissions Policy 2026-2027

The statement of Provision is here:

Lighthouse School, Harrogate - Statement of Provision

The formal public consultation has now closed.

The public consultation for Lighthouse School, Harrogate ran from 12pm on Friday 5th December 2025 until 12pm on Tuesday 3rd February 2026.

A summary of the Section 10 consultation can be found by clicking on the button below: Section 10 Consultation summary

Kind regards,

Emma Sullivan

Executive Principal

Lighthouse Education Trust

---------------------------------------------------------

Historic announcements:

Exciting new chapter for Lighthouse School following appointment to run Harrogate SEN Facility

We are delighted to announce that Lighthouse School has been selected to run a new specialist school in Harrogate.

The Department for Education confirmed this week that our Trust will oversee the new Harrogate facility once it opens, providing greater support for more children with special educational needs (SEN) and expanding opportunities for autistic children in the local community.

Lighthouse School opened in September 2012 with a vision to support autistic young people in having brighter futures. The demand for places at Lighthouse from across Yorkshire is significant, so this development will help many more young people and their families.

The announcement comes after a £2.4 million investment by North Yorkshire Council in the new school, which will offer specialist classrooms, teaching spaces, and facilities that cater for the special educational needs and academic aspirations of children in the area.

The new Harrogate school will provide education for up to 80 pupils aged 11-19 who have been diagnosed with autism or have identified communication and interaction needs. The facility will offer a broad curriculum for children who require a specialised learning environment with a more formal academic pathways and qualifications.

Lighthouse School Principal, Emma Sullivan, said:

“We’re thrilled to be confirmed as the Academy Trust for the new Harrogate Special School, which will bring vital support to autistic young people and their families. This new facility strengthens our mission to deliver outstanding destination led education for a growing number of autistic students.

“Our ambition is to be a national leader in destination-led education for our exceptional students and a Centre of Excellence for Autism education. As a trust dedicated solely to SEND provision, this announcement is another step forward in unlocking the incredible potential of even more children across the region.”

Lighthouse School Founder and Chair of Trustees, Katie Parlett, added:

“We are looking forward to working in partnership with the local authority, families, and stakeholders to create a school that meets needs of autistic young people and inspire the brightest of futures.”

North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education, learning and skills, Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, said:

“We want to provide the very best education for all children in North Yorkshire. We have a coordinated strategy across the whole county to meet the special educational needs of children. This includes strengthening practice in mainstream schools, developing SEN resource bases and investing in fabulous new facilities such as this one where they are needed.

“The Trust’s existing work gives us real confidence in its ability to deliver high-quality specialist education and will be a welcome addition to our community of schools in North Yorkshire.”

Lighthouse School will now work with the Department for Education to convert to a multi-academy trust while liaising with the council to agree a robust plan that fully satisfies all the technical elements required.

 

 

Images captions:

1. Photo (L-R) North Yorkshire Council’s Assistant Director for inclusion Amanda Fielding, Lighthouse School Principal Emma Sullivan, Department for Education Jordan Ingram, North Yorkshire Council Head of SEND strategic planning resources Chris Reynolds, Department for Education Joanne Finney, Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, Katherine Atkinson and Katie Parlett from Lighthouse School. (Image: North Yorkshire Council)

---------------------------------------------------------

The passion behind our story

Lighthouse School Leeds was born from the specialist needs of our children and others like them as they progressed through the education system.

“We first began exploring the Robert Arthington building’s potential about three years ago, when it was just a derelict shell, and we immediately knew it could become a wonderful home for the school. We were very fortunate to be guided through the whole construction process by a hugely experienced development team which has enabled us to translate our initial vision into a superb school that is specifically designed to suit our individual requirements.”
Katie Parlett, chair of Trustees and Governors at Lighthouse School

Our goal was to create a beacon school that would not only support families with autistic children across West Yorkshire but also build strong ties with the local community and Leeds City Council children’s services to complement existing provision.

As a team we have made full use of our shared extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of education, finance, business and management, construction and development to create this school. Over the years we looked at many different options, but the introduction of free schools by the Government gave us the opportunity we needed to make our dream a reality.

After delivering our proposal to the Department of Education we were invited to the next stage of the process, an in-depth interview at Westminster before a panel of eight education experts and government advisors. That was followed up with the submission of a financial plan including full budgets and benchmarked costs.

“This building had sat empty for many years so it was in really bad condition, which made it a challenging project from an engineering perspective. However, it immediately became apparent that we were creating something very special which reinforced the decision to restore the existing building because it offers so much character and an endless range of features that all contribute to what the school offers its students.”
Richard Parker, a Director at Adept Civil and Structural Consulting Engineers

When word finally came through that Lighthouse School Leeds could go ahead we were overjoyed. Finally we were on our way to building a school which the whole community can be proud of.

“Every aspect of this school was designed with its students in mind and we invited teachers to contribute to key rooms such as the science, well-being and food technology departments to ensure they are highly functional throughout.”
Mark Henderson, a director at Brewster Bye Architects

Arthington House

In 1886, John North gifted £6,000 to open a convalescent home in memory of his daughter Ida. Chorley and Connon of Leeds were the architects (they were responsible for building some of the most iconic buildings in Leeds including the Hotel Metropole). The hospital opened on 10th May 1888.

Robert Arthington of Leeds financed a second hospital - known as “the ‘Robert Arthington’ semi-convalescent hospital” - on the adjacent site. The new hospital was opened by the Lord Mayor of Leeds on 18th May 1905.

In the later years of the nineteenth century an odd, gloomy figure was to be seen from time to time in Headingley village, buying a few necessities of life, dressed in old clothes green with age and an ancient stovepipe hat passed down from his father. This was Robert Arthington, often called ‘the Headingley miser’, the subject of much talk and speculation in his lifetime and legendary after his death for his legacies of over a million pounds.

Cookridge Convalescent Hospital provided a place for patients who had been treated at Leeds General Infirmary to continue their recovery. Patients paid for their own care if they could afford it but there were free places available as a result of donations from benefactors – three weeks convalescence cost around 8 shillings a week.

The story of Cookridge Hospital as a cancer treatment centre began in 1952 when it was acquired by the Leeds Regional Hospital Board. The hospital was developed as a Regional Radiotherapy Centre using the latest technology. This required considerable adaptation of the original convalescent hospital plus a number of new buildings which were constructed on the site in the 1950s and 1960s.

The NHS After the creation of the NHS in 1948, the relatively remote location of Cookridge was an advantage when the site was chosen to house an advanced radiocobalt unit which could utilise radiotherapy to treat cancer patients. After the terror of aerial bombing in World War Two, there were concerns that the nuclear material needed in this fast-developing science which required heavily shielded rooms to keep people safe from radiation, would be a risk to the local population should the country once again come under air attack. Basing the facility in an area of low population density was therefore a priority.

With the creation of the NHS, voluntary and municipal hospitals were to be transferred to state ownership and administered by Regional Hospital Boards. Thus, the Leeds General Infirmary became part of the United Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, with the Women’s Hospital, the Leeds Maternity Hospital, the Dental Hospital and the Ida and Robert Arthington Hospital.

In 1998, this group then merged with the St James’s & Seacroft University Hospitals NHS Trust to form the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

But by the 1990’s the buildings at Cookridge had become old and unsuitable and its remote location meant that it was too distant from other specialities and equipment that cancer patients needed. The Hospital closed in 2008 when patient services were transferred to the brand new Bexley Wing facility at St James’s Hospital in Leeds.

Over the years the convalescent hospital was gradually extended, and during the First World War the building was requisitioned to care for wounded servicemen, resuming its civilian role after 1919. In 1939 when it was again taken over by the Government and briefly housed the Leeds Maternity Hospital.