Funding has been granted to a North East school which will soon open in its recently refurbished building.

River Tees Multi-Academy Trust (RTMAT) has been awarded £80,000 by the Wolfson foundation to be used for the new River Tees Hospital School.

The school is set to open in the refurbished two-storey Sandringham House, located on Overdale Road in Middlesbrough.

A spokesperson for the trust said the funding will be used to equip vocational classrooms at the new building.

Headteacher Adam Burns said: “We are extremely proud of the commitment and dedication that our learners demonstrate so admirably on a day-to-day basis.

“Learners are able to achieve astonishing grades at GCSE in spite of the significant challenges they face.

“Learners, their families and our partners value the work we do and we vow to continue our journey to ‘change the lives’ of the learners who attend our school.

“Our current aim is to extend and improve our facilities from September so learners can access a broad range of experiences including wider personal development opportunities, life skills, vocational and employability experiences and this grant will certainly help us do that.”

The Wolfson Foundation aims to support civil society by investing in projects in science, health, heritage, humanities and the arts. Since it was established in 1955, around £1bn has been awarded to more than 14,000 projects throughout the UK.

River Tees Multi-Academy Trust was established in 2014 and runs academies that serve some of the most vulnerable communities in the country.

Learners at the school include pupils who have been excluded, close to exclusion, have special educational needs or medical conditions, both physical and mental health, which prevents them from attending their usual school.

A spokesperson for the trust said: “The Hospital School team works with learners who have significant mental and physical health needs so learners can still access an ambitious curriculum and achieve their full potential in spite of their conditions.

“Every year it supports learners to gain GCSEs and equivalent qualifications so they can move to successful post-16 destinations in education, employment or training.

“The current River Tees Hospital School operates from a building that is in need of significant repair due to subsidence and does not have capacity to meet the level of demand for places.

“Middlesbrough Council agreed to lease Sandringham House to the trust, a building which is undergoing a whole scale refurbishment, including a complete electrical refit, remodelling of rooms and decoration, at a cost of around £1.3m.”

The new facilities will include an art room, cookery classroom, a suite to support independent living and preparation for adulthood, horticultural areas, a digital suit, a garage workshop, and community kitchen.

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To support these costs the River Tees Grangetown special school will also occupy some of the building for the first year, while other expenses will be covered by the River Tees Multi-Academy Trust, the Department for Education and Middlesbrough Council.

Mr Burns said: “The facilities at Sandringham House will provide a stimulating and inspiring learning environment to help every learner re-engage with education and develop life skills that will support their future employability and quality of life.”

There are currently around 20 staff providing education for 60 learners, with this expected to double over the next two to three years.