APPENDIX 5:

Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics

(Form updated April 2019)

Proposal to Lower the Age Range of Overdale Community Primary School

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Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents.  EIAs accompanying reports going to Councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting.  To help people to find completed EIAs we also publish them in the Equality and Diversity section of our website.  This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements. 

Name of Directorate and Service Area	CYPS Strategic Planning Team
Lead Officer and contact details	Andrew Dixon, County Hall
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA	Mark Ashton, Strategic Planning Officer
How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual officer	LA Officers and School Governing Body
When did the due regard process start?	Non-statutory pre-consultation started in February 2023

Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (e.g. are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)

We are proposing to lower the age range of Overdale Community Primary School from 3-11 to 2-11.

Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (e.g. to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)

The Council has been asked by the Governing Body of Overdale Community Primary School to propose the lowering of their age range to provide places for 2 year olds.

The school has been relocated into the Middle Deepdale housing development and expanded to serve this and its existing catchment area.  Governors have been aware for some time that some of their children do not access nursery education and the new school building has a separate dedicated nursery block.

Although it will form part of the existing Foundation Stage provision for 3 year olds, the new provision for 2 year olds in this proposal will provide up to approximately 8 places. This would be arranged flexibly depending upon the needs of the family and current legislation.   This could include supervision during lunch-time although there will be an additional charge if lunch is provided.

Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?

Overdale Community Primary School is proposing to provide places for 2 year olds by the creation of an Early Years (Foundation Stage) Class from September 2023. Priority for admission to the provision will be determined by the Council’s Admissions Policy for Nurseries.  Admissions for the nursery children are separate from admissions to the school, which are determined by the Council’s policy for Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools. Attendance in Nursery does not provide any priority for admission to the Reception Year so parents who do not wish to use the nursery are not disadvantaged.

Section 4. Involvement and consultation (What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?)

During the six week period running from 6 February to 20 March 2023, the school have undertaken the non-statutory consultation period as recommended by the Statutory Guidance.

If permission is granted by the Executive to proceed to the statutory consultation stage, then Statutory Proposals will be published and there will be a further 4 week period of consultation between 4 May and 1 June 2023.

Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?

Please explain briefly why this will be the result.

It is envisaged that this proposal will be cost neutral as the Early Years funding will be received from means tested funding where children are eligible and by parental subscription where they are not.

There are no capital implications as a result of this proposal as the school would continue to run their education provision across the existing site and buildings.

Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics?	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
Age		x		Provision of additional nursery places where needed. Providing improved local choice for nursery places for families. Establishing nursery places in the school’s catchment area, including the new Middle Deepdale housing development, will increase the pupil’s access to same age peer group.
Disability	x			No impact is anticipated. Pupils – the school is mainstream, offering universal and appropriate educational provision for all learners for whom a mainstream placement is considered appropriate.  It promotes inclusive opportunities and expertise is utilised from the Council to provide appropriate SEN support. In addition, the School Admissions Code makes it unlawful to discriminate against or disadvantage disabled children or those with special educational needs. Staff – As an organisation NYC will continue to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 which obligates us to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled individuals as employees or service users. Buildings The design of the school is in accordance with equalities legislation so that the building is accessible for pupils.
Sex	x			No impact is anticipated.
Race	x			No impact is anticipated.
Gender reassignment	x			No impact is anticipated.
Sexual orientation	x			No impact is anticipated.
Religion or belief	x			No impact is anticipated.
Pregnancy or maternity	x			No impact is anticipated.
Marriage or civil partnership	x			No impact is anticipated.

Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who…	No impact	Make things better	Make things worse	Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
..live in a rural area?	X			No impact anticipated.
…have a low income?		x		The school is in a relatively deprived/ high free school meals area.  Without this provision some parents may need to drive, which may prohibit some families from being able to access early years education.
…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?	x			No impact is anticipated.

Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply)
North Yorkshire wide
Craven district
Hambleton district
Harrogate district
Richmondshire district
Ryedale district
Scarborough district	X
Selby district
If you have ticked one or more districts, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
Eastfield and Middle Deepdale areas of Scarborough.

Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (e.g. older women or young gay men) State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.

No

Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. (Remember: we have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access services and work for us)	Tick option chosen
1. No adverse impact - no major change needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified.	x
2. Adverse impact - adjust the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We will change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, or we will achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people.
3. Adverse impact - continue the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We cannot change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, nor can we achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. (There must be compelling reasons for continuing with proposals which will have the most adverse impacts. Get advice from Legal Services)
4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – The EIA identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped.
Explanation of why option has been chosen. (Include any advice given by Legal Services.) It is considered that this proposal will not affect any of the groups listed above.

Section 11. If the proposal is to be implemented how will you find out how it is really affecting people? (How will you monitor and review the changes?)

Monitoring will be carried out through the Council’s Education and Skills Team and through Ofsted inspections.

Section 12. Action plan. List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this EIA, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics.
Action	Lead	By when	Progress	Monitoring arrangements
Not applicable

Section 13. Summary

Summarise the findings of your EIA, including impacts, recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice, and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker.

The Council’s Officers feel that this decision is in the best interests of children and families served by the school to ensure quality early years education provision is provided in the area.

Section 14. Sign off section

This full EIA was completed by:

Name:             Mark Ashton

Job title:         Strategic Planning Officer

Directorate:    CYPS

Completion date: 14/3/23

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature):  Amanda Newbold

Date: 21/03/23