Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education
Tuesday 19 June 2012 6.00 pm
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ROYAL BOROUGH OF WINDSOR AND MAIDENHEAD
STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE)
STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE)
19 JUNE 2012
PRESENT: Councillors: Councillor Natasha Airey and Councillor Dee Quick.
Other Members: Michael Gammage (Chairman) (Baha’i Community of Maidenhead), Dalwyn Attwell (NAHT Representative), Saghir Ahmed (Islamic Trust), Louise Ceska (BASH Representative), Mary Christie (Roman Catholic Church Representative), Hilary Harris (Judaism Representative), Joan Hicks (Church of England Representative), Fiona Smith (NUT Representative),
Officers in attendance: Laura Blumenthal, Karen Butler and Jo Fageant.
 | | ACTION |
| 1 | Apologies for Absence & Declarations of Interest | |
| Apologies for Absence were received from Kate Ground (Altwood School), Nick Lowe (Baptist Church), and Jagdish Varma (Hinduism). Apology for Lateness was received from Michael Gammage (Chairman) (Baha’i Community of Maidenhead). There were no Declarations of Interest. | - |
| 2 | Minutes of the previous meeting | |
| Members approved the minutes of the previous meeting held on 21 February 2012. | - |
| 3 | Matters Arising | |
| i) Places of Worship Information Phone numbers and contact details for places of worship were discussed and two were added: Sikh Temple at 31 Rutland Road 01628 623507 Maidenhead Mosque: 07427109007 iii) CPD News Jo Fageant reported that at the CPD twilight meetings had been well received and those attending had been keen to follow up further links between RE and global citizenship. It was agree that this would be built into 2012-2013 planning. Some teachers from RBWM attended the diocesan courses on Able, Gifted and Talented and, the final one in the series of three, on Assessment in RE. These had been very positively received with people going away to pilot new ideas iii) Membership Update Vacancies on the SACRE were discussed recognising that no new Methodist member had yet been appointed Fiona Smith agreed to follow this up. There was some discussion about what was meant by ‘Free Church’ and it was decided to adopt the understanding previously used. It was recognised that there would be value in having Buddhist and Baha’i members in Group A. To achieve this the Council would need to amend the SACRE’s constitution. There was also discussion about the period of service on the SACRE and it was decided that the Council should be asked to amend the constitution to enable each member to serve for a period of four years with no limit on the number of four year periods a member can serve. Jo Fageant agreed to locate the current constitution and include amendments reflecting these issues. The amended version would then go to the councillors on the SACRE for approval on behalf of RBWM Council. Cllr Airey asked about the possibility of members who are unable to attend meetings having substitutes. It was confirmed that his practice did happen in some SACREs but the most important factor remained that each of the four SACRE groups was represented at each meeting. | Jo Fageant |
| 4 | NASACRE AGM | |
| Jo Fageant reported that Professor Robert Jackson from the University of Warwick had given a presentation which would soon be available on the NASACRE website. He talked about several of his interesting research projects. Jo Fageant suggested that the most interesting idea to emerge was that the research clearly revealed young people were interested in religion and they wanted safe spaces in which they could explore religious ideas and the differences between the varied ways in which people respond to them . Fiona Smith reported on work she had done in her school which strongly reflected this finding. | |
| 5 | REC AGM | |
| Jo Fageant reported on the RE Council’s AGM where she represented NASACRE. Nick Gibb gave the keynote address and was clear that RE remains a statutory subject for all children in schools, even those who attend academies and free schools. However academies and free schools are not required to follow a local authority RE syllabus. It was recognised that the relationship between academies and SACREs was one that needs clarification. Members were also informed of changes to GCSE RS where students can no longer combine two short courses to obtain a full GCSE. A positive development in RE has been the establishment of an All-Party Parliamentary Group on RE. | |
| 6 | Budget Plan | |
| The plan for 2012-2013 was tabled. (PDF:16.8KB) | |
| 7 | Syllabus Publication and Launch | |
| It was agreed that Laura would use Doodle to identify a suitable date for this. | |
| 9 | Any Other Business and Date of next meeting | |
| There was no other business. The future meeting dates are as follows:
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| AGREED SYLLABUS CONFERENCE MEETING | |
| PRESENT: Councillors: Councillor Natasha Airey and Councillor Dee Quick. Other Members: Michael Gammage (Chairman) (Baha’i Community of Maidenhead), Dalwyn Attwell (NAHT Representative), Saghir Ahmed (Islamic Trust), Louise Ceska (BASH Representative), Mary Christie (Roman Catholic Church Representative), Hilary Harris (Judaism Representative), Joan Hicks (Church of England Representative), Fiona Smith (NUT Representative), Officers in attendance: Laura Blumenthal, Karen Butler and Jo Fageant. | |
| | ACTION |
| 1 | Apologies for Absence & Declarations of Interest | |
| Apologies for Absence were received from Kate Ground (Altwood School), Nick Lowe (Baptist Church), and Jagdish Varma (Hinduism). There were no Declarations of Interest. | |
| 2 | Minutes of the meeting held on 21 February 2012 | |
| The minutes were accepted as an accurate record of the meeting | |
| 3 | Matters arising to include brief report on the meeting of 19th March and its outcomes | |
| Jo Fageant reported on the very positive meeting of faith group members from all six participating SACREs. There had been lively and beneficial exchanges with the sections of the syllabus about each religion amended by those present. This work had informed the final draft of the completed syllabus. | |
| 4 | Presentation of the final draft of the revised RE syllabus | |
| Jo Fageant reported that the syllabus had now been completed and the Agreed Syllabus Conference had the responsibility to approve it and recommend it for acceptance by RBWM Council. She explained that the final draft was the result of teacher working parties and the input from faith community members all of whom were satisfied with the document being discussed. Jo acknowledged that the 8 level scale was likely to be removed from other curriculum areas in the curriculum review but the syllabus included the current scale in the absence of any indication of what else might be used. There might be opportunities to amend the syllabus to reflect these changes when more is known. Dalwyn Attwell suggested that the open nature of the questions at the heart of the syllabus might make some people feel vulnerable and confuse others. This was acknowledged but Jo explained that the questions had been designed to be open to a variety of answers and to promote debate. It was pointed out that in the appendices there was some inconsistency about whether the content lists were of suggested or compulsory content. Jo reported that these inconsistencies would be difficult to remedy because the designer had finished her work on the document. However, as this material was in the appendices rather than the syllabus, its advisory status should be clear. Louise Ceska said that the reception of the syllabus in her school had been very positive but that the recommendation of 45 hours per year was difficult to realise. Jo Fageant said this had only been a recommendation and some schools would make creative arrangements in relation to the time allocated to RE. All four committees voted to approve the syllabus and recommend its acceptance by RBWM Council. Mike Gammage asked about the launch date for the syllabus and Jo Fageant reported that no date had yet been agreed. Laura agreed to use Doodle to identify a suitable date. | Laura Blumenthal |
| There was no further business. The meeting closed at 8.00pm | |
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