PLANS to federate a York special school with a primary school have won the backing of councillors.

Parents were already supporting plans to allow Hob Moor Primary School and Hob Moor Oaks School to come under the same umbrella. Now councillors have backed the scheme and federation will begin with a new governing body in the New Year.

The move means the two schools, which are in Green Lane, Acomb, will have a principal responsible for overall management and then individual headteachers responsible for the day-to-day running of the schools.

Coun Carol Runciman is City of York Council’s executive member for children and young people’s services.

She said: “We were very pleased to hear that it had the overwhelming support of the governors and that people felt the new management structures were the right structures.

“We knew there had been some anxiety felt by the special school and we wanted to reassure them that we were not looking for a merger and that we felt that it should retain a separate existence as it provides such specialist care.”

But Coun Runciman said councillors agreed that overall management and strategy would be better placed with a federation and would be better able to bring out the best of the children in both schools.

She added that parents probably would not notice much of a difference.

She said: “Although the parents won’t notice anything radically different, the co-operation between the schools which already happens will become closer and there may be more of an exchange of expertise between staff members and more interaction between the children.”

City of York Council has said pupils are set to benefit from increased opportunities, sharing resources like computer equipment, libraries, classrooms and play equipment and having greater support from all staff across both schools.

The current headteacher of Hob Moor Primary School, Angela Charlton, is set to become the principal of both schools.