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

(Form updated October 2023)

Proposal to close St Hilda’s Ampleforth CE VC Primary School from 31 August 2024

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Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents. EIAs accompanying reports going to County 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	Jon Holden, County Hall
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA	Matt George, Strategic Planning Officer
How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual officer	Council Officers and School Governing Body
When did the due regard process start?	Consultation started on 1 March 2024

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 close St Hilda’s Ampleforth CE VC Primary School from 31 August 2024. A period of consultation with the community has been carried out, including written consultation and an online public meeting. A statutory representation period will follow.

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.)

At the meeting of the Governing Board of the St Hilda’s Ampleforth Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School on 17 January 2024 it was reluctantly resolved, following a full discussion about pupil numbers, financial prospects and future sources of leadership, to invite North Yorkshire Council to commence a consultation on closure of this school

In January 2024 Governors brought forward this proposal to consult on the closure due to low pupil numbers and an expected Reception intake of 0 pupils in September 2024 leading to a decline in the overall number on roll. This has led to financial pressures, meaning that the school will have an in-year deficit in 2024/25 and a cumulative deficit by 2025/26. The school’s current leadership arrangement with leadership being provided by the Arete Learning Trust (formerly Ryedale Learning Trust) is only in place until the end of the summer term 2024. Governors have requested the consultation at this time as they have identified the importance of a decision on the school's future being made before the end of this academic year

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

If this proposal went ahead, St Hilda’s CE VC Primary School would close with effect from 31 August 2024. The Council would support parents to ensure that existing pupils are found school places in other local schools. If the decision is made to close, the catchment area of St Hilda’s Ampleforth CE Primary School is proposed to be split between three neighbouring schools and pupils within those areas would receive priority for those schools.

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?)

The consultation period ran from 1 March 2024 to 19 April 2024. Consultation documents were distributed to a wide range of stakeholders, and a public engagement meeting was held. The consultation document, responses, and notes of the public meetings are included in the report to the Executive on 7 May.

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

Should the closure go ahead from 31 August 2024, any deficit on the St Hilda’s Ampleforth CE School budget on that date would be absorbed by the Council.

Home to school travel assistance would be provided for entitled pupils in accordance with the Council’s home to school transport policy. Costs will depend on the individual choices of schools by parents, and may also depend on the circumstances of individual pupils.

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	X	Currently there are only 13 pupils on roll and four of those are currently in Year 6 and will leave in summer 2024 to transition to secondary provision. If the decision is taken to close the school this adversely affects the current cohort. Moving to an alternative school will increase the opportunities for pupils to work and play with children their own age.
Disability	X			Pupils – The school is mainstream offering universal provision. Expertise will be utilised from the Council to provide appropriate SEN support. 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
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	If the decision is taken to close the School, this will adversely impact upon those pupils who wish to be educated in a Church of England School. Parents can apply to another CE school and the Council will do its best to comply with their preference through the co-ordinated preference exercise.
Pregnancy or maternity	X			No impact anticipated.
Marriage or civil partnership	X			No impact 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 would have an adverse impact for those living within its catchment that attend the school as they would have to travel to alternative schools. The nearest school to St Hilda’s Ampleforth CE VC is St Benedict’s Catholic Primary School, which has places available in most year groups. The proposed catchment schools have a combined surplus of 100 places and all three have places available in most of their year groups.
…have a low income?			X	There may be adverse impact on those families with low incomes by the proposed closure of the school. However, this would be mitigated by the Council for those children from low income families who are eligible for transport assistance, in line with the Council’s Home to School Transport Policy
…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?			X	There may be adverse impact on those losing the school and the wrap around care provided there. However, this would be mitigated by other local schools which have wrap around care.
….. are from the Armed Forces Community	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
Hambleton
Harrogate
Richmondshire
Ryedale	X
Scarborough
Selby
If you have ticked one or more areas, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
Ampleforth, Oswaldkirk, Gilling East, Wass, Cawton and Stonegrave.

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.

All pupils and staff at the school would experience changes under these proposals that staff and governors would need to manage sensitively.

The Council’s Officers now feel that this decision is in the best interests of children and families served by the school.

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.
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)	X
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.) St Hilda’s Ampleforth CE VC Primary is designated as a rural school under the Designation of Rural Primary Schools (England) Order. The School Organisation regulations and guidance contain a presumption against closure of rural schools, and it is a requirement that proposers must consider the effect of the discontinuance of any rural primary school on the local community. The statutory guidance specifically states that ‘This does not mean that a rural school will never close, but the case for closure should be strong and a proposal must be clearly in the best interests of educational provision in the area.’ Careful consideration to alternatives to closure of the school, including transport implications and the impact on local people and the wider community has been given. A detailed analysis of these issues is contained in the Statutory Proposals and the report to Executive. It is concluded that the case for closure is strong and in the best interests of educational provision in the area.

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 of standards will be carried out through the Council’s Education & Skills Team and through Ofsted inspections. Monitoring of sufficiency of school places in the area will be undertaken by the CYPS Strategic Planning Team

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 purpose of the consultation and proposed decision is to ensure that the children are provided with the best education provision in the area in a sustainable, stable and effective manner. In order to achieve these aims the proposal to close St Hilda’s Ampleforth CE VC Primary School needs to be considered. Whilst it is recognised that there may be adverse impact upon those with protected characteristics of age and religion/belief, there are more positive impacts that will result if these proposals are implemented. As these proposals develop any adverse impacts will be carefully monitored, and all reasonable mitigations will be taken.

Section 14. Sign off section

This full EIA was completed by:

Name: Matt George

Job title: Strategic Planning Officer

Directorate: CYPS

Signature: Matt George

Completion date: 18/04/2024

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): A Newbold

Date: 24/4/24