Anne Andrews said that report card was a visual document of what had been found during research into RE. It covered interesting information on the value of RE and also the challenges that RE faced. Around 34% of academies had reported that there was no timetabled RE, while 500 schools reported 0 hours of RE being taught in Year 11. There was comparisons of the amount of money put into RE compared to other secondary school subjects. Anne Andrews felt that there was a huge mismatch between how RE was regarded in society and the extent to which it was prioritised by the government and local authorities. SACRE needed to consider what action was taken, using local MPs and the council.

Dai Prendiville said that it did make sense that it was a legal requirement to teach RE, yet many schools who taught no RE received good and outstanding Ofsted inspections.

Councillor Baldwin questioned these comments, he was surprised that Ofsted inspections were ignoring certain parts of the regulations.

Anne Andrews said that there was evidence at some schools that RE was not being taught. She had seen an example of where two different schools had received a good and a requires improvement score respectively, both had the same line about RE not being taught included from Ofsted in the report.

The Chairman added that in a number of Ofsted reports, RE was not mentioned at all.

Councillor Brar asked how SACRE could help encourage schools to teach RE.

Anne Andrews said that the local authority could help by letting SACRE know if they were aware of schools that were not teaching RE. A fresh website trawl could be needed to understand what was happening in schools post pandemic. It was important that a local authority officer was able to attend SACRE meetings so that Members could be updated.

The Chairman suggested that SACRE needed to be more assertive in advising the local authority and that SACRE needed more input from the local authority.

Anne Andrews asked if the Executive Director of Children’s Services received a copy of the SACRE minutes.

Mark Beeley said that they would receive an automated email informing them that the minutes had been published.

Councillor Brar suggested that Councillors could raise this with the Executive Director.

Councillor Sharpe said that the legal status of SACRE needed to be considered, he questioned whether SACRE was in the reporting line on things like Ofsted inspections or if it was only an advisory body.

The Chairman clarified that SACRE was a statutory advisory body, with the main role being to advise the local authority.

Councillor Sharpe said that because SACRE was an advisory body, there was no obligation for the local authority to inform them of which schools did not teach RE.

Anne Andrews added that part of SACREs role was to monitor the delivery and provision of RE. It was not just the negative parts, SACRE also wanted to hear what was going well.

Councillor Sharpe said that the problem should be escalated to NASACRE, who could raise it to the government as something that needed to be considered.

The Chairman asked what mechanism could be used to move things forward.

Anne Andrews said that she would need to consider what would be best. A good working relationship with the local authority was essential, SACRE needed to be informed about what was happening in schools. It was not a legal duty for the local authority to inform SACRE about what was happening, but there was no reason why they would not.

ACTION – Anne Andrews to consider what the best way forward for SACRE would be.