A Harrogate district school has apologised after admitting five claims of discrimination against a disabled child.

Birstwith Church of England Primary School was taken to a special educational needs and disability tribunal by a parent of a child at the school.

The parent claimed the nine-year-old, who was recognised as disabled, was subject to five claims of discrimination between January 2022 and January 2023.

The tribunal was told that this included being excluded from the dining room and humiliated by a teacher, being humiliated by a teacher in class and being verbally abused by a teacher.

A further two claims included being verbally and physically threatened by a teacher in a church event and being harassed by a teacher.

The school, which was represented by a solicitor from North Yorkshire Council, admitted the claims, which were made in a case management order on February 13, 2023.

It offered to make an official apology to the parent in a letter and “set out measures in place concerning the teacher as far as is practicable”.

The letter, which was signed by the school’s chair of governors, Linda Turvey, and has been seen by the Stray Ferret, said:

“The school, represented by me, as chair of governors, apologises for the behaviour suffered by [named child] on 25th Jan 2022, 10th June 2022, 17th November 2022, 14th December 2022 and 16th Jan 2023. 

“These isolated incidents do not reflect the culture and inclusivity of Birstwith School, therefore swift and firm action has been taken to avoid repetition. 

“Again, this does not in any way reflect the ethos or history of the school as echoed in our recent Ofsted report.”

The Stray Ferret approached Birstwith Church of England Primary School for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Council, which represented the school at the tribunal, said it did not comment on individual cases.

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Turkish Baths Harrogate has been accused of discriminating against women by halving the number of single-sex sessions.

From May, the baths will reduce the number of women-only and men-only weekly sessions from two each to one.

Staff have said in emails to customers it is a business decision based on low numbers at one of the men-only sessions.

They say the decision to cut one of the men-only sessions means it’s necessary to do the same with one women-only session to maintain fairness.

Consequently, the daytime session devoted exclusively to females will no longer exist — even though it is popular.

Regular customer Francine Holroyd said the decision was “fundamentally wrong” and unfair on women.

She said female-only sessions were consistently well attended and provided a safe space for women of all backgrounds.

Ms Holroyd said:

“I’m very worried for a lot of Muslim ladies and others like myself who go on their own and would not go to a mixed session. It is fundamentally wrong.

“I do believe it is discriminatory as it means there will only be an evening session available to women.  The Turkish Baths offers a safe place for women of all ethnic backgrounds to meet together and relax.

“If one of these sessions is removed it means that it reduces by 50% women’s access to spaces for women only. Women travel from all over Yorkshire to enjoy the Turkish Baths in a safe, female friendly environment.”

The Turkish baths on Parliament Street

Ms Holroyd, who is chair of governors at Harrogate Ladies’ College, said the loss of the daytime single-sex session would particularly affect women because, as they provide most childcare, they had more free time during the day to attend such things before school pick-up rather than in the evening. She added:

“Surely the decision should be a commercial one — i.e. the two ladies-only sessions are full so keep them.”

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Katie Summersall, Turkish Baths manager, said:

“Following a successful trial, a new operational model is set to be introduced at Turkish Baths Harrogate.

“From May 1, guests will be able to book a timeslot set for every 30 minutes and will be able to spend up to two hours in the baths. This will mean there will be less of a wait at the start and end of each session as guests will no longer all need to arrive and leave at the same time.

“Two single-sex sessions will also be removed (on Thursday and Friday), meaning more customers will be able to access the baths throughout the week.”

Nude ban remains

Ms Summersall also said the baths had “decided that swimwear will remain compulsory at all public sessions”.

Clothing-optional sessions ended last month after a complaint was made to police about “inappropriate behaviour”. No further details were released.

North Yorkshire Police said at the time enquiries were at an early stage and ongoing.

The Stray Ferret asked for an update. A police spokesperson said:

“There’s no update, enquiries are ongoing.”

A disabled Harrogate man has won a settlement against Nuffield Health after the gym allegedly discriminated against him when trying to renew his membership.

Andrew Gray, a lawyer and founder of Truth Legal, was a member of his local Nuffield health and fitness centre until his health deteriorated.

Mr Gray was a keen marathon runner and played football until April 2021.

Side effects attributed to treatment following a prescribed course of the antibiotic fluoroquinolone led to him developing chronic fatigue, fainting episodes and numerous other symptoms due to heart, blood pressure and prostate problems.

Now disabled, he enquired with his local gym in Harrogate in February last year about reduced rates due to being physically unable to use the equipment and attend the facilities.

He was a keen user of the swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi which helped relieve muscle and joint pain resulting from his condition.

However, Mr Gray was told that no adjustments in the membership pricing structure for disabled people were available.

Mr Gray argued that as his health condition varies unpredictably, sometimes he would not be well enough to use the pool and jacuzzi despite his desire to do so for the benefits it would afford him, further justifying his request for a reasonably lowered membership fee. 

He said:

“All I wanted to do was to enhance my chance to get well again. Many disabled people would benefit from fairer access to such facilities.

“People with chronic conditions are put off joining such places because of the unfair pricing.”

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Acting on behalf of Mr Gray, Katherine Swinn, a senior associate solicitor at Truth Legal also based in Harrogate, issued a disability discrimination claim for breach of the 2010 Equality Act. 

The outcome saw Nuffield agreeing to settle the claim, establishing an independent committee, comprising a team of medical experts to look at all future memberships for disabled members. 

Moving forward, people with disabilities will be able to apply for reduced membership rates after submitting medical evidence of their disability. The committee will consider applications on a case by case basis.

‘Positive outcome for disabled people’

Ms Swinn said:

“This is a very positive outcome for Mr Gray and for disabled people in general, who have been unfairly discriminated against purely for wanting to go to the gym and only pay for the equipment and facilities that they are physically capable of using.

“As this was already in place for pensioners using this particular gym, there was no fair or reasonable explanation why a similar reduced fee membership policy didn’t exist for people with disabilities who also wanted to attend.

“It is completely pointless to have legislation in place such as the Equality Act 2010 if nobody really uses it outside of the workplace. It is applicable to services, as well as employment.

“We are fully supportive of Nuffield’s decision to provide people with disabilities with an opportunity to apply for a reduced fee and hopefully this will establish a fair precedent for other similar leisure facilities to introduce policies that will include rather than exclude disabled members.”

Mr Gray welcomed the settlement and said he hoped other gym chains would follow suit and implement similar membership policies.

He said:

“My hope is that other gym chains follow suit. If they did, they would be opening themselves up to many with disabilities who are put off by the unfair pricing policies. And use of gym facilities could help hundreds of thousands of people to improve their health.”

A spokesperson for Nuffield Health said:

“We are committed to improving the health and wellbeing of the nation and are always looking at ways to widen access to our services.

“As part of this we continually consider new ways to support people with different needs.”

Details, including a timeframe, for the introduction of the policy has yet to be confirmed.