APPENDIX 5:

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

(Form updated April 2019)

Proposal to amalgamate Wavell Community Junior School and Catterick Garrison, Wavell Community Infant School to create a single 3-11 primary school across both school sites

If you would like this information in another language or format such as Braille, large print or audio, please contact the Communications Unit on 01609 53 2013 or email communications@northyorks.gov.uk.

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?)

The proposal is to amalgamate Catterick Garrison, Wavell Community Infant School and Wavell Community Junior School.

This would result in the technical closure of Wavell Community Junior School as a separate entity and the enlargement and change of age range of Catterick Garrison, Wavell Infant School (to be known as Wavell Community Primary School), with effect from 8 April 2024.

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.)

On 30 May 2023, at a meeting of the Executive Members for the Children and Young People’s Service, approval was given to consult on amalgamating Catterick Garrison, Wavell Community Infant School and Wavell Community Junior School to create a single 3-11 primary school across both school sites.

The Wavell Community Schools Federation brings together the governance of the two schools in a single federated governing body. The Wavell Community Schools Federation governing board asked the Local Authority to amalgamate the two schools because they are satisfied it will benefit pupils by building on the work of the Federation.

The consultation paper sets out two linked factors as the reasons for the proposal to amalgamate Wavell Community Infant and Junior Schools: learning and transition.  These are set out below.  

Learning: It is considered that learning and progress can be even better if the two schools come together as a single school.  The expertise of staff currently in the schools could be better targeted across the full age range and across all key stages to raise standards, and the single school would have integrated assessment. Currently each school has a separate Ofsted inspection, but the single school would have a single Ofsted inspection allowing a judgement for all through the primary age range. The career opportunities offered in an 3-11 school would be more attractive to applicants when staffing vacancies arise in the future which should aid recruitment and retention and parents would be able to see the whole school offer through to age 11 when they are making their decision for primary school. 

Transition: Children who transfer between the infant and junior schools and then a secondary school (such as Risedale) experience two transition points. Creating an all-through primary school would reduce the number of school transfers. It is recognised that the hiatus in children’s progress at times of transition between Key Stages is even more marked in infant and junior schools, when the transition between Key Stages 1 and 2 coincides with a transition between two different schools.  An amalgamated school would deliver a smoother transition between Key Stages and help to ensure that the good progress made by children at Key Stage 1 is maintained and built upon at Key Stage 2. 

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

The Infant and Junior schools both serve the same catchment area in the north of Catterick Garrison.  Should the amalgamation proceed, the single school’s catchment area around Hipswell would remain the same as would eligibility for home to school transport.  Most pupils in both schools come from service families and the single primary school would continue to have strong ties to the military community on Catterick Garrison and to serve service families.

The single school would not have so many transition points which can slow down children’s progress.  The single school would have fully integrated arrangements for assessment of learning, including recording of progress.  Parents would be able to see the whole school offer through to age 11 when they are making their decision to express a preference for primary school and so be able to make a more informed decision. 

The single school would have a single Ofsted inspection, rather than the current separate inspections. Wavell Community Infant School was judged to be Good when recently inspected by Ofsted in July 2022. Wavell Community Junior School was judged Requires Improvement (RI) by Ofsted in 2018 and again following their inspection in 2021.  Closing the Junior School would remove the DfE’s increased powers of intervention, as a consequence of being judged RI on two successive occasions, and help to ensure that the good progress made by children at Key Stage 1 is maintained and built upon at Key Stage 2.

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?

On 30 May 2023 the Executive Member for Education, Learning and Skills approved a public consultation on the proposal to create a single 3-11 primary school across both school sites.

During the six week period running from 8 June 2023 to 20 July 2023, NYC have undertaken the non-statutory consultation period as recommended by the Statutory Guidance.

A consultation document was distributed to the list of consultees. The document was also published on the consultation section of the NYC website.

A public meeting was held at Wavell Community Junior School on 22 June 2023. A record of the meeting was taken.

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 11 September and 9 October 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.

The implications for schools revenue and capital funding were set out in the report to Executive Members on 30 May 2023 and in the report to the Executive on 22 August 2023.

Capital Position: No capital works are needed for this proposal. The buildings are already connected for pupils by a corridor and there is a single reception point for parents.

Revenue Position: School budgets are funded largely by pupil numbers so amalgamating the schools would not lead to an increase in revenue funding.  The combined revenue funding would be smaller because the lump-sum would cease for the Junior School on amalgamation, although transitional funding protection arrangements allow for both lump-sums to be retained from the point of amalgamation for the remainder of the financial year that amalgamation takes place and provide 85% of the two lump-sums received in the next financial year.

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			Across the Wavell Community Schools Federation the schools currently provide education provision for pupils ages 3-11. The proposal allows for a continuation for provision of that age range.
Disability	x			Pupils – The schools in the Wavell Community Schools Federation are currently mainstream offering universal provision. As is the case for all schools, the amalgamated school would be required to follow the statutory requirements set out in the 2014 SEND code of practice, which promotes inclusive opportunities. Expertise will be 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 school buildings are designed 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			This proposal allows for sufficient capacity at the school to accommodate all pupils living within the catchment area.
…have a low income?	X			No impact is anticipated
…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	X
Ryedale district
Scarborough district
Selby district
If you have ticked one or more districts, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
Hipswell parish and northern areas of Catterick Garrison.

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 schools in the Wavell Community Schools Federation to ensure quality primary education provision is provided in the Hipswell area of Catterick Garrison.

Section 14. Sign off section

This full EIA was completed by:

Name:             Mark Ashton

Job title:         Strategic Planning Officer

Directorate:    CYPS

Completion date: 17/07/23

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature):  Amanda Newbold

Date: 20/07/23