Appendix 1

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

(Form updated October 2023)

Statutory Proposal by North Yorkshire Council to change the age range at Kettlesing Felliscliffe Community Primary School by ceasing the Nursery  Provision

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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	Sue Turley, Strategic Planning Officer, CYPS  County Hall
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA	John Lee, Strategic Planning Officer, CYPS
How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual officer	School Governing Board and LA Officers
When did the due regard process start?	Consultation started on 29 January 2025

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?)

Proposal to change the age range at Kettlesing Feliiscliffe Community School, effective from 31 August 2025, by ceasing Nursery Provision.

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.)

Kettlesing Felliscliffe Community School is part of a federation with two other primary schools, Beckwithshaw Community Primary School and Ripley Endowed CoE Primary School.

A decision to temporarily close the nursery provision at Kettlesing Felliscliffe School was made by the Interim Executive Board from September 2023. This was based on the low take up of nursery provision, financial viability, and demographics in the area.

The governing body have considered a number of factors regarding reinstating nursery provision at the school. Based on this review the governing body is now proposing to permanently cease nursery provision at Kettlesing Felliscliffe School from 31 August 2025

Although the Governing Body recognise some shortfalls in nursery provision across the wards of Birtswith and Washburn, and is aware of the Government’s programme of childcare expansion for working parents and for school based nursery provision, there is a range of quality providers in the surrounding area. Within a five mile radius, there are 3 preschools, 9 private day nurseries, 10 childminders, 8 schools with nursery provision, 3 independent schools with nursery provision and 2 childcare providers on non-domestic premises.

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

If this proposal went ahead, the nursery provision at Kettlesing Felliscliffe Community School would close permanently from 31 August 2025, and the age range of the school would be 4-11.

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 29 January to 5 March 2025. A consultation paper setting out the proposal was sent to a wide range of stakeholders.

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

Cost neutral

Please explain briefly why this will be the result.

Under Local Management of Schools, schools are responsible for their own budgets. It is for heads and governors to determine at school or federation level how to optimise the use of resources and maximise value for money.

The Local Authority does not provide assistance for travel costs for early years provision.

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			Currently there are no pupils on roll in the nursery following the decision to temporarily suspend entries to the nursery provision for two years to take effect from September 2023.
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			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 may have an adverse impact for some living near the school that could previously attend the school nursery provision as they would have to travel further to alternative provision. As there are no current pupils this would only impact upon future nursery pupils.
…have a low income?	x			No impact is anticipated.
…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?	x			No impact is anticipated.
….. 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	x
Richmondshire
Ryedale
Scarborough
Selby
If you have ticked one or more areas, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
Settlements in Felliscliffe, Blubberhouses, Great Timble, Little Timble and Norwood Civil Parishes.

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.

Not applicable.

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.) Careful consideration to alternatives to permanent closure of the nursery provision has been given by the Governing Body of Kettlesing Felliscliffe School who have concluded that the case for permanent closure of the nursery provision is strong and in the best interests of wider 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 school standards will be carried out through the Council’s Education & Skills Team and through Ofsted inspections. Monitoring of sufficiency of nursery places in the area will be

undertaken by the CYPS Early Years 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 the nursery provision at Kettlesing Felliscliffe Community Primary School has been considered by the School’s Governing Board. Whilst it is recognised that there may be some adverse impact upon those living within the school’s catchment area in the future, as they would have to travel further to access alternative early years provision, as there are no current nursery pupils at the school, this would only impact upon future nursery-aged pupils.  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: Sue Turley and John Lee

Job title: Strategic Planning Officers

Directorate: CYPS

Completion date:  28/3/25

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): A Newbold

Date:  28/3/25