New school operators hit by opening delay

Winifred Holtby School Technical College and Tweendykes Special School, which together cost £45.4m, was to have started taking pupils from yesterday, the second of the new schools to have opened in Hull under the £450m Building Schools for the Future programme.

Sam Whitaker, general manager of Hull Esteem Consortium, which has constructed the school and will operate and maintain it over the next 25 years, said the delays were caused by the company which was supplying them with over £1m worth of furniture, going into administration.

The company was now out of administration, but storage units and the remaining desks were still turning up yesterday.

Mr Whitaker said they wanted to give the pupils the best possible start.

He said: “It’s a tough call, it’s not ideal, but we need to get this right.”

Years 7, 8 and 9 will now return on Monday, with Years 10 and 11 and special school pupils coming back on Tuesday. The co-located school – with more than 1,400 places in total – allows pupils, parents and staff from both schools to learn, socialise and work together.