Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ascot and Bray - Town Hall

Contact: Nabihah Hassan-Farooq  01628796345

Items
No. Item

150.

Welcome

Minutes:

Democratic Services Officer, Nabihah Hassan-Farooq welcomed all members to the meeting of the SACRE.

151.

Election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2018-2019

Minutes:

It was proposed by Councillor Kellaway and seconded by Reverend Sally Lynch that Michael Gammage be nominated as Chair.

 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That Michael Gammage be appointed as Chairman of the SACRE group for the year.

 

It was proposed by Louise Ceska and seconded by Michael Gammage that Karen Butler be nominated as Vice Chair.

 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That Karen Butler be appointed as Vice-Chair of the SACRE group.

152.

Reflection

Reflection to be led by Mrs Barbara Meaney.

Minutes:

The meetings reflection was led by Councillor Kellaway which reflected upon the ‘Into the battle’ poem by Julian Grenfell which was an ode to remembrance and the losses suffered after the world wars and consequent modern day conflicts

153.

Apologies For Absence

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr N Airey, Cllr Ilyas, Deborah Firth, Ravinder Zandu, Hilary Haris, Clive Haines and Saghir Ahmed.

154.

Minutes Of Meeting on 6th June 2018 pdf icon PDF 56 KB

Minutes:

Printed copies of the minutes were circulated as they had not been attached to the agenda. Minutes relating to the ASC meeting, held at the conclusion of the SACRE group had been attached in an administration error.

 

The following amendments were raised;

 

·         Amend attendance to include full names for Reverend Margaret Dudley and Reverend Sally Lynch.

·         Under Hub management proposal, delete text from second line to end of paragraph.

·         To delete all text under any other business.

·         To include reflection as an agenda item and who has led the reflection moving forward.

 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That the minutes be approved subject to the amendments made above.

 

 

155.

Membership Update

Minutes:

Karen Butler informed the SACRE group that a new member- Clare Theobalds of the Kings Church would be representing the free Churches. The Forum were told that she would be attending the next meeting.

156.

Annual Report 2017-2018

Minutes:

Anne Andrews outlined the above titled item. It was highlighted that the report would remain in draft form until the exam results for schools had been ratified and that it would not be submitted to the Department for Education or NASACRE until then. Councillor Kellaway queried when the exam results would be submitted, and it was confirmed that the results would be validated in February for publication. It was noted that the Local Authority would provide a comparator between this year’s published exam results and last years. Members were told that the national deadline for submission would be in December. It was also highlighted that NATRE had carried out a survey to understand how many teachers were currently teaching RE, how many hours were dedicated to teaching the subject and whether the teacher had been qualified to teach RE specifically.

 

Members were told that the Chair and vice chair had tried to engage with local secondary schools to understand and support the teaching of RE. It was noted that there were no responses and that the decision to not carry on with this project was made. The Vice Chair felt that the Annual Report was a succinct report and that the foreword from Michael Gammage was a welcomed addition to the report.

 

ACTION- That Anne Andrews omits the last line within the Annual Report which relates to the NATRE survey

 

It was highlighted that the issue of vacancies on the SACRE would be raised at the next subject leaders meeting. Members queries how many vacancies there were and it was confirmed that were three serving vacancies and one for a headteacher. Reverend Sally Lynch wished to place on record that the workload of teachers and pressures they face would be a contributing factor for the limited uptake for the vacancies.

 

ACTION- That Anne Andrews request exam results data from Clive Haines and submit to the Department for Education.

 

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That Anne Andrews submits the Annual report with amendments to the Department for Education and NASACRE.

 

157.

SACRE Budget 2018-2019 update

Minutes:

MicMichael Gammage outlined the above item on behalf of Clive Haines, Schools Leadership Development Manager (RBWM). It was noted that the SACRE had a budget of £4000 for the year and that the group had spent £4432 with £2000 carried forward. Members queried why the budget had been reduced by £2250 and that in meetings held earlier in the year, the budget had been estimated as approximately £6000.

 

ACTION- That the Chair and Cllr Kellaway communicate with Clive Haines directly with  regard to the apparent decrease in budget.

 

Members were informed that there were £1600 left in the budget, based on the figures provided. Members queried whether budget money acquired from the council could be carried forward.

 

ACTION- That Clive Haines provides a budget update at the next SACRE meeting.

 

Councillor Kellaway noted his disappointment and was keen to gain clarity relating to the budget moving forward. Members queried whether the 2017 conference had been included and whether the costs of the hub set up and development had been included.

 

hael Gammage outlined the above item on behalf of Clive Haines, Schools Leadership Development Manager(RBWM). It was noted that the SACRE had a budget of £4000 for the year and that the group had spent £4432 with £2000 carried forward. Members queried why the budget had been reduced by £2250 and that in meetings held earlier in the year, the budget had been estimated as approximately £6000.

 

ACTION- That the Chair and Cllr Kellaway communicate with Clive Haines directly in regards to the decrease in budget.

 

Members were informed that there were £1600 left in the budget, based on the figures provided. Members queried whether budget money acquired from the council could be carried forward.

 

ACTION- That Clive Haines provides a budget update at the next SACRE meeting.

 

Councillor Kellaway noted his disappointment and was keen to gain clarity relating to the budget moving forward. Members queried whether the 2017 conference had been included and whether the costs of the hub set up and development had been included.

 

 

158.

Update on the Pan Berkshire Hub plan for 2018-2019

·         Agreed Syllabus guidance materials development

·         Crossing the Bridges project: Westhill Award

Minutes:

Anne Andrews updated the advisory council on the above titled item. It was highlighted that Anne had been working on draft guidance to support and facilitate the agreed syllabus and crossing bridges project. It was noted that the objectives had remained the same and that the Hub would provide reasonable resources and guidance for the syllabus.  SACREs had been tasked with identifying practitioners (ideally one individual to cover each key stage from each SACRE). Louise Ceska, head teacher of Newlands School queried the reference to ‘places to visit a world view” and it was agreed that this wording would be amended.

 

ACTION- That Anne Andrews amends the document to reflect the discussion surrounding “places to visit a world view.”

 

The Vice-chair noted that she agreed with the plan to move the syllabus forward and that it was good. However, it was noted that there should be a focus on practitioners leading on the resources as they would be teaching the subject. It was anticipated that at the half day meeting with local teachers that this would be highlighted. The Vice-chair also notes that it felt like there was a reliance upon the SACRE group to carry out a significant amount of work and that there was higher accountability for teachers. Members discussed the Westhill Bid and that there were limited funds to resource an individual to carry out this work on behalf of the SACREs. Members were told that the bid had been written and that the deadline for submission would be the 31st March 2019. It was agreed that hub plan should include the wording “to make the Westhill bid” and that the impact should be evaluated of the approach. Members agreed that Anne Andrews should be commissioned to carry out the work on the bid and plan delivery. It was highlighted that the Jan Lever group would be withdrawing from working with the hub and that the money held by the Jan Lever Group could be transferred and held by the diocese.

 

Members discussed that the Westhill bid had been condensed and that teachers would be encouraged to attend a place of worship. It was noted that there were some concerns with teachers ability to commit time to visit places of worship. Reverend Sally Lynch highlighted that there would be a large of follow up work needed after the visit and members agreed that it would be difficult for teachers to commit to this. It was also noted that teachers would struggle to find cover for their lessons and that there would be a cost attached to this. Barbara Meaney suggested that teachers who had already attended places of worship share their ideas and planning for lessons with other teachers. Anne Andrews highlighted that some resources had been drafted such as the “guidance on planning” which had been well received by teachers at the BFC subject leaders meeting.

 

ACTION- That Anne Andrews distributes guidance before the Christmas break.

 

 

Karen Butler suggested that best practice be taken from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 158.

159.

SACRE RE Training programme for 2018-2019

Minutes:

Members were informed that training would be looked at on a term by term basis. It was highlighted that there would be a meeting taking place at Charters School on the 28th November to look at syllabus planning for RE lessons.

 

Termly subject leader meetings  for primary and secondary schools will continue next year. Dates will be issued termly.

160.

Supporting RBWM Teacher Attendance at RE Conferences

Minutes:

 The Chair proposed that the SACRE group use its budget to support local RE teachers in attending conferences related to the advancement of RE education in schools. It was proposed that the money could be used for fees or as a contribution where schools were unable to financially support their teachers in developing their understanding and wider scope of the subject.

 

Members were in agreement that this was a good idea and that they were aware of teachers who had paid for conferences out of their own funds. It was noted that there would be a benefit both professionally for the teachers and for the schools which were already under pressure financially. Members felt that a policy would need to be adopted to allow RE teachers a contribution of £100 ( if the funding was available) to attend an RE conference.

 

ACTION- That details of the pilot be launched in the January newsletter.

161.

Final Report of the Commission on RE and Clarke- Woodhead report: 'A New Settlement- Revised'

Minutes:

The Chair outlined that there had been two large strategic issues identified in the reports and that there had been conflicting opinions and approaches considered. It was highlighted that there would be a greater remit for SACRES if they were to take the recommendations of the reports into consideration. Members did not feel that the report reflected the views or ambition of the RBWM SACRE. Members felt strongly that the SACRE should remain as a statutory body as opposed to an advisory group. Members felt that the reports reflected two conflicting viewpoints and that they agreed with the NASACRE response which referenced the need for one report with one message. Barbara Meaney highlighted that whilst at a recent RE training conference that a vote had been taken on the reports and that there had been a demand for practioners to express their views. It was noted that out of the report, template letters had been written and could be downloaded. It was agreed that these would be forwarded to the chairs and clerk to store for future requests.

 

ACTION- That Barbara Meaney email the SACRE chairs and Clerk with the NATRE letter templates.  

 

Anne Andrews informed the Panel that the school improvement advisors, Derek Holloway and other C of E advisors had started re-writing the statement of entitlement for church schools. Members felt that “religion and world views” had not been explored correctly and had not advanced the discourse in a positive way. 

 

ACTION- That Councillor Kellaway write to the Prime Minister regarding the concerns raised with the report.

 

 

162.

Supporting RBWM Teacher Attendance at RE Conferences

Minutes:

The Chair discussed the need for circulation of the SACRE constitution drafts and that this should be discussed at the next SACRE meeting. It was agreed that these drafts would be sent out to all SACRE members for consideration ahead of the next meeting.

 

Anne Andrews highlighted the discussion around co-opted members and that there were two vacancies for this.

 

Anne Andrews discussed whether as part of the Ambassador Scheme that representatives from Churchwood and Altwood School should give a short presentation at the next meeting.

 

ACTION- That Anne Andrews check availability of Churchmead and Altwood Schools to hold the next meeting and to seek suitable ambassadors to present.

 

Reverend Margaret Dudley gave her apologies for the upcoming meetings as she would be on sabbatical leave. She informed the forum that a substitute would be unlikely as the Churches were under high demand and pressures.

 

Ila Gangotra asked whether there could be a shared directory of contact details for the SACRE group and it was advised that all details were held with the clerk, who could share the details if expressed permission had been given.

 

Barbara Meaney gave a reflection to end the meeting based on the experiences of modern day conflict and in memory of remembrance Sunday.

 

163.

Dates Of Future Meetings

·         5th March 2019 at 6pm-  Council Chamber, Town Hall, Maidenhead.

Minutes:

5th March 2019