Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education
Wednesday 5 March 2014 6.30 pm
ROYAL BOROUGH OF WINDSOR AND MAIDENHEAD
STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE)
5 MARCH 2014
PRESENT: Councillor Richard Kellaway (acting chairman), Councillor Natasha Airey, Karen Butler (Church of England), Louise Ceska (BASH), Ila Gangotra (Hindu Society of Maidenhead), Nick Lowe (Baptist Church), Fiona Smith (NUT),
Officers in attendance: Rob Cowan, Simon Evry and Jo Fageant.
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| 1 | Appointment of Chairman and Vice Chairman | | |
| Due to the meeting not being quorate, it was agreed that the appointment of the Chairman and Vice Chairman for the academic year would therefore take place at the next meeting. It was agreed that Councillor Kellaway would Chair this meeting.
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| 2 | Apologies for Absence & Declarations of Interest | | |
| Apologies for absence were received from Dalwyn Atwell, Melody Erasmus, Mike Gammage, Felicity Gunn, Hilary Harris, Caroline Johnson and Councillor Eileen Quick. | | |
| 3 | Minutes | | |
| Members approved the minutes of the previous meeting held on 12 December 2013, subject to the following amendment:
Page iv, item 9, to read ‘attainment targets’ rather than ‘old pillar system’. The SACRE noted in relation to page v, item 11, that collective worship had not changed since 1989, and that no training was planned on this matter. The effectiveness of the requirement was questioned by the SACRE and Councillor Kellaway offered to write to Teresa May, the Home Secretary, and ask her to speak to the Secretary of State to clarify what had become a grey area. | Cllr Kellaway | |
| 4 | Matters Arising | | |
| The SACRE noted the following matters arising: Membership update The SACRE expressed concern that teachers were under-represented on the SACRE. The Clerk was to continue to contact the organisation who appointed representatives to the SACRE in order to fill the vacancies. The Membership of the SACRE was noted as the following: | Rob Cowan | |
| Group A: Free Churches Roman Catholic Church Hinduism: Islam Judaism Sikhhism Buddhist Baha’i Group B: Group C: NASUWT NAHT ATL VOICE BASH NUT Group D: Local Authority Officers: Professional Advisor: Clerk: | Christian Denominations and other religions Nick Lowe Melody Erasmus Dalwyn Attwell Mary Christie Ila Gongotra Saghir Ahmed Hilary Harris Jasvinder Bhogal Vacancy Mike Gammage The Church of England Felicity Gunn Rev Joan Hicks Karen Butler Associations representing teachers Vacancy Vacancy Vacancy Vacancy Mrs Louise Ceska Mrs Fiona Smith The Local Authority Cllr Dee Quick Cllr Natasha Airey Cllr Richard Kellaway Mr Simon Evry Jo Fageant Rob Cowan | |
| The SACRE also believed that the Clerk should also write to all organisations who appoint representatives every four years offering the opportunity to change or continue their appointments. Constitution The SACRE noted that the RBWM Constitution had updated the SACRE’s terms of reference to include within the membership representatives of the Buddhist and Baha’i faiths. Papers for Governors The SACRE noted that Simon Evry, Senior Adviser for Secondary Schools, would circulate guidance papers to governors which reported the outcome of the recent inquiry by the All Party Parliamentary Group for RE (APPG). NQT Package The SACRE suggested that the Borough offer NQTs support with religious education. The SACRE asked Jo Fageant to rectify the situation and include something. | Rob Cowan Simon Evry Jo Fageant | |
| 5 | NASACRE Briefing Paper and the AGM on 22 May 2014 | | |
| The SACRE noted the NASACRE Briefing Paper. The SACRE nominated Jo Fageant to attend the AGM on the 22 May 2014 on behalf of the SACRE and report back at the following meeting. | Jo Fageant | |
| 6 | Working with Academies Information Paper | | |
| The SACRE noted the Working with Academies Information Paper. It was noted that all of the Borough’s academies were the new type of the academy introduced by the coalition government. These academies do not have to provide RE in the curriculum or a daily act of collective worship for all pupils. The SACRE noted that Riverside school (Formerly Ellington) no longer administered collective worship through LA’s guidance, but through the DfE directly. That meant that the school still had to provide collective worship but it did not have to be wholly or mainly of Christian characteristics. The SACRE agreed that the Borough should approach education from the same approach, not differentiating between academies and non-academy schools, when dealing with its responsibility to the overall education of all children. | | |
| 7 | Budget Update | | |
| The SACRE received an update from Simon Evry. It was noted that the budget for the year was £6000. It was not known what the budget would be for the following year. The SACRE noted that that Conference, which had been planned to use most of the budget had in fact made money by selling tickets to teachers from outside the Borough. The money was therefore to be given to attendees from the Borough at the conference to purchase resources. | | |
| 8 | Conference Update | | |
| The SACRE received an update from Jo Fageant regarding the Conference entitled “Religious Education to Inspire and Make an Impact”. The SACRE noted the Conference was to take place on 31 March 2014. The deadline for booking a place at the Conference had now passed. However it was possible for secondary school teachers to get places, but the primary school teacher places were full. | | |
| 9 | Forward Plan | | |
| The SACRE noted the following forward plan items and they were agreed:
Young ambassadors Joint SACREs Conference 2014 Training plan for April 2014-March 2015 Advisory support post 2015 The SACRE also noted that Jo Fageant would be retiring from her position as professional adviser in a year. She advised that the SACRE start considering her replacement. The SACRE also questioned what the churches were doing. They had working groups on RE which focused on the last 2 Ofsted reports (2010 and 2013 reports) which discussed how poorly Christianity is taught. The idea of a locally agreed syllabus was raised by the SACRE, which would look at religion locally. This would involve locally focused teaching resources. The Young Ambassadors scheme was noted. The SACRE found that some schools did allow sixth form students to deliver a few lessons in PSHE and Citizenship. It was suggested that this be promoted with credit given to the students. The SACRE requested feedback from the AGM concerning best practice. | Jo Fageant | |
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| 10 | Dates of Future Meetings | | |
| The clerk agreed to send members of SACRE e-invites to the next meeting for their electronic diaries. Dates of future meetings are as follows – Monday 9 June 2014 The meeting, which began at 6.00pm, ended at 7.00pm | Rob Cowan | |