Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education
Monday 10 June 2013 6.00 pm
i
ROYAL BOROUGH OF WINDSOR AND MAIDENHEAD
STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE)
ROYAL BOROUGH OF WINDSOR AND MAIDENHEAD
STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE)
10 JUNE 2013
PRESENT: Councillor Natasha Airey (acting Chairman), Dalwyn Attwell (NAHT), Jasvinder Bhogal (Sikh Temple), Louise Ceska (BASH), Melody Erasmus (Free Churches, Kings Church Int), Ila Gangotra (Hindu Society of Maidenhead), Hilary Harris (Judaism Representative), Joan Hicks (Church of England), Nick Lowe (Free Churches) and Councillor Eileen Quick.
Officers in attendance: Simon Evry, Jo Fageant and Liz Hornby.
 | | ACTION |
| 1 | Appointment of Chairman and Vice Chairman | |
| Due to the absence of Michael Gammage, it was agreed that the appointment of the Chairman and Vice Chairman for the academic year would therefore take place at the next meeting following the resolution of the constitution by the Forum. It was agreed that Councillor Mrs Airey would Chair this meeting.
| |
| 2 | Apologies for Absence & Declarations of Interest | |
| Apologies for absence were received from Karen Butler, Michael Gammage, Felicity Gunn, Caroline Johnson and Fiona Smith. | |
| 3 | Minutes | |
| Members approved the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 February 2013. | |
| 4 | Matters Arising | |
| The Chairman outlined the actions arising from the previous meeting and sought an update in respect of progress: Minute No. 5 - It was confirmed that responses were still awaited in respect of representation on SACRE from the Hindu community, Methodist Church, NASUWT, Catholic Church and Church of England. It was noted that interest had been expressed by the Kings Church International, Windsor to be a Free Churches representative. It was agreed that the Clerk would co-ordinate interest and write to the relevant individuals and organisations. In the absence of Simon Wright, the clerk agreed to investigate whether this had taken place. Jo Fageant advised that she would forward details of forthcoming courses to Karen Butler to forward to RBWM RE Co-ordinators. Jo Fageant advised this had been carried out, the courses had been run and were successful. Minute No. 10 – Jo Fageant reported that work on the contact list was ongoing. She stated that a list was being circulated at the meeting and would be grateful for any amendments. It was agreed to include Church of England places of worship which would be done through the Churches Together network. Nick Lowe and Jo Fageant agreed to action. | Liz Hornby Jo Fageant / Nick Lowe |
| 5 | Constitution/Membership Update | |
| Member noted that some mistakes had been rectified, form instance the Education Reform Act was 1988 not 1998. Jo Fageant raised the question of religions that were represented in Group A and asked why some others were not listed, for instance Buddhism. The law requires that the proportions of representatives in Group A on SACRE should reflect the proportions of the minority faiths and Christian denominations (other than the Church of England) in the borough. However, the law also makes it clear that that SACRE needs to be able to support the RE syllabus and the religions it requires to be taught in RBWM schools. Jo Fageant explained that the LA needed to make a decision about which of these two perspectives should be used to draw up the membership profile of the SACRE. If the latter was selected then as Buddhism was part of the syllabus to be taught in schools so logically there should be a place for a Buddhist member in Group A. As the Baha’i faith is also included in the syllabus, albeit as an optional religion, the inclusion of a Baha’i representative would legitimise the place of Mike Gammage on the SACRE. If any changes were recommended they would have to be approved by Council. After a short discussion it was agreed that the inclusion of Buddhist and Baha’i representation in Group A should be recommended to RBWM Council as an amendment to the current constitution of the SACRE. Jo Fageant and Simon Evry would make the necessary arrangements for the change to be presented to the Council. | Jo Fageant/ Simon Evry |
| 6 | Budget Update | |
| Members received details of the latest budget position. Simon Evry reported that the Budget for 2013/14 was £6,280 and explained that the budget could not be carried forward to 2014/15. He also explained that there was a requirement to provide monthly budget reports. It was agreed that if SACRE was to undertake a project it should be recorded. It was also noted that payment for Jo Fageant’s services was paid out of this budget as well as subs to NASACRE and representations at the annual conference. The Forum agreed that membership of NASACRE should continue. | |
| 7 | Forward Plan | |
| Jo Fageant asked members whether membership of NASACRE should be sustained. She explained that SACRE could continue to be represented at the NASACRE AGM. Jo Fageant also reported that Mike Gammage had emailed her with his thoughts on the Forward Plan, particularly that if members agreed that a film festival be undertaken again, that he would be happy to be involved although he stated that it would take a significant investment of time and money. Last time the majority of the work was undertaken by Karen Butler and Mike Gammage and that administration support would need to be provided by the Royal Borough. He also recommended that a steering group be set up to deal with the festival. Obviously there was the cost of hiring Norden Farm and Mike Gammage recommended a budget of at least £10,000. During the ensuing discussion it was suggested that liaison with Slough Borough Council to enable their budget to be added to the Royal Borough’s budget. Jo Fageant reported that Slough Borough Council had not set their budget as yet, and depending on which budget they agree, it would depend on whether the full £10k could be reached. The question of whether Academy schools could be included was raised; an initial thought was to charge them an entry fee. The question of where to hold the festival was raised; the possibility of using the Desborough Suite was mentioned, although it was not known whether the suite had the capacity to show films. Simon Evry commented that he was only taking over part of Karen Butler’s work not all of it so he was unsure how much time, if any, he could commit to a film festival. Jo Fageant stated that time was now the issue if a film festival was to be held next year. Because the next meeting of SACRE was in October, that would be about the time that schools would need to be notified to give them time to respond and organise. Jo Fageant suggested a sub-committee of Simon Evry, Mike Gammage and herself to produce a proposal so that by the 14 October a firm and detailed costed proposal could be presented. The members agreed with this recommendation. | Jo Fageant/ Mike Gammage/ Simon Evry |
| 8 | Joint SACRE Conference – Report and responses from those who attended on 5 June 2013. | |
| Natasha Airey reported that she had attended the Joint SACRE Conference recently. It had been well attended and she found it useful to hear what other SACRE’s across the county were doing. It was also useful to note that what national government was doing did not match up with anything else apart from the subject of RE still being compulsory. The speaker had presented a clear analogy comparing cattle, first well-fed, fat cattle compared to skinny cattle; the analogy was that some years ago there were times of plenty and that now times were more lean. Natasha Airey also reported that some SACRE’s had formed Youth SACRE’s who would meet 2/3 times a year. It had also been suggested that secondary schools might like to work with their post 16 students to enable them to visit primary schools to talk about their religions. Louise Ceska, representing the secondary schools expressed enthusiasm for this idea and it was agreed that the Royal Borough’s SACRE could try this too. Jo Fageant reported that there were no Youth SACRE’s in this area although it needed come careful consideration as it would involve slightly older children at secondary school level. She stated that with the new form of GSCE being brought in it was possible to include Year 10’s and recommended that this item be put in the Forward Plan. This was agreed by the members. After some discussion it was agreed to investigate the idea of asking various religious representatives to visit schools. It was agreed that Headteachers and Heads of RE would need to agree to this and that an email would be sent to Headteachers at the beginning of the new academic year in September 2013. Simon Evry agreed to implement this. | Simon Evry |
| 9 | NASACRE AGM Report | |
| Jo Fageant reported that the NASACRE AGM had taken place with two keynote speakers – Alan Brine and Mark Chater who was Director of The Culham St Gabriel’s Trust addressing whether SACRE’s were fit for purpose. A copy of their presentations were on the NASACRE website for information. The rest of the day was taken up with table discussions and that notes from each table would be collated and placed on the website so that feedback could be seen. It was noted that there were a lot of positives taken from the AGM. | |
| 10 | Dates of Future Meetings | |
| Dates of future meetings are as follows – Monday 14 October 2013 Monday 10 February 2014 Monday 9 June 2014 The Chairman wished thanks to be recorded to Jo Fageant for her organisation of the recent conference. The meeting, which began at 6.08pm, ended at 7.12pm | |