(UK) Scarborough: School hopes to add 'much needed' SPED hub

Aug 13, 2025, Scarborough News: Scarborough school submits plan for ‘much-needed’ special educational needs hub

N. England

 A school in Scarborough could build a ‘desperately-needed’ special educational needs hub if plans are approved by North Yorkshire Council.

St Martin’s School at Holbeck Hill has submitted plans for the construction of an SEN Hub with the aim of opening it in September 2026.

The Church of England Aided School developed the proposal with North Yorkshire Council and the Diocese of York, and if plans are approved, the hub would “extend the main school facilities to provide additional teaching space for two classrooms that can be used independently from the rest of the school”.

 “This will mean that children with SEN will benefit from the knowledge, skills and expertise of the staff and this much-needed facility in the area will enhance the educational experience,” according to submitted plans.

It would consist of two classrooms, providing space for 16 children, as well as offices, a covered terrace, and a playground to the south side.

“St Martin’s School has the ideal site and this contemporary design and timber frame construction will enable this much-needed facility to be built speedily so that it will meet the deadline of opening in September 2026,” according to the planning application. . . .

The school has no catchment area of its own “in the usual sense”, and takes children from the Scarborough Deanery of the Church of England, with an area of more than 100 square miles. . . .