Expected opening date announced for new Hartlepool school

In 2019 The Secretary of State for Education approved Hartlepool Borough Council’s bid to establish a new special free school.

The school will be for children and young people with social and emotional mental health needs (SEMH) and land near Seaton Lane and Brenda Road, to the south of Golden Flatts Primary school, has been allocated.

At the latest meeting of Hartlepool Health and Wellbeing Board, council chiefs updated how they do not expect the building to be finished until around January 2024.

They added the works will be key to helping ensure they can educate more children with additional needs, including SEMH, in Hartlepool, instead of having to fund them being transported outside the borough.

Danielle Swainston, council assistant director for joint commissioning, said the new school would be “a lot better value for money than external provision”.

She said: “We don’t want children to have to go out of town.

“We’re hoping by September 2023 we’ll have some established provision for them, but the building probably won’t be finalised until January 2024.

“We had hoped with the trajectory in terms of the time scale of building it would be quicker than this, but we’re not the client, the Department for Education is the client, and there have been a few delays.”

Proposals were submitted earlier this year looking to secure outline planning permission for the school, with a decision expected in August.