The meeting took the self-assessment tool and looked at each area of the first section of the tool, which considered SACRE’s relationship with the local authority. For each section of the tool, Members could rate SACRE as either requiring improvement, developing, established or advanced.

 

 

How well supported and resourced is SACRE, by the LA exercising its statutory responsibilities?

 

Michael Gammage felt that SACRE was somewhere between developing and established.

 

Barbara Meaney said that the score should be between established and advanced. She felt that SACRE was well supported by a subject specialist, representatives and an officer from the local authority attended meetings.

 

Ravinder Singh said that he felt SACRE was established in this area, however funds were an issue as had been highlighted as part of the forward plan.

 

The Chairman agreed that she believed SACRE was more established than advanced, she was aware that the local authority officer had a number of responsibilities and commitments which meant that he could not always attend every meeting. Ofsted reports were now a lot less detailed which made it difficult for SACRE to fulfil one of its functions, which was to advise the local authority. The Chairman therefore made the point that the relationship with the local authority was not as strong as it could be, there was room for improvement.

 

Barbara Meaney said that she had been in a meeting with Richard Kueh, who had mentioned that there had been very few ‘deep dives’ into RE from Ofsted reports as they did not have the staff available.

 

 

How purposeful, inclusive, representative and effective are SACRE meetings?

 

Michael Gammage judged SACRE to be established in this area, although there had been little focus on the quality of collective worship being offered.

 

The Chairman added that it came back to the core issue of SACRE not being aware of what was happening in schools. She had read Buckinghamshire’s syllabus and noted that they had made it very clear what the priorities were for schools in the area in relation to RE and collective worship.

 

 

To what extent is the membership of SACRE able to fulfil SACRE’s purpose?

 

Ravinder Singh suggested that SACRE was established, there was a good and diverse membership although there had been some difficulties in recruiting representatives for some vacancies.

 

Anne Andrews picked up on the comments in the tool document around induction training for new SACRE Members, this was something which could be added to the forward plan for consideration. Alternatively, the training could be something for the Hub to consider as the turnover of Members each year was not usually significant.

 

 

How effective are the priorities and actions identified by SACRE in improving the experience of pupils in schools?

 

Ravinder Singh said that SACRE was between developing and established. The forward plan developed had linked in with the priorities and actions which SACRE had identified, although the funding that was available was not used.

 

The Chairman felt that Anne Andrews had summarised the issue well in the annual report, there was no link between the work of SACRE and the local authority’s improvement plan. She did not recall the development plan of the authority being brought to SACRE, it was therefore fair to say that SACRE should be rated as developing in this area.

 

ACTION – Mark Beeley to link the RBWM Corporate Plan in the minutes of the meeting.

 

The RBWM Corporate Plan had been adopted in November 2021 and set out the priorities and objectives of the council over the next five years.

 

Anne Andrews suggested that the development plan could be formed around each of the five sections of the self-assessment tool, SACRE could then determine which one should be considered at the next meeting in December.

 

 

How well informed is SACRE in order to be able to advise the LA appropriately?

 

The Chairman said that there was some exam data and information on national initiatives, but there was limited exam data provided.

 

Ravinder Singh agreed with these comments, he felt that the rating should be developing as the information which SACRE received was limited and therefore it was unable to act as the ‘critical friend’.

 

Michael Gammage said that this was particularly the case with collective worship, where there was a significant blind spot.

 

 

What partnerships does the SACRE have with key local and national stakeholders, and what quality are these?

 

Ravinder Singh suggested that SACRE was developing, there were links with local faith groups. However, there was still a limited ability for SACRE Members to get into schools and see how they were teaching RE.

 

The Chairman suggested that some Members of SACRE had attended the NASACRE AGM along with other training opportunities.

 

Michael Gammage said that collective worship was again the issue.

 

Anne Andrews commented on the premise that SACRE representatives were supported by their national body. She was not aware of how much support representatives actually received.

 

Hilary Harris said that she had been to meetings of the Jewish SACRE and that there were links and support available.

 

Michael Gammage shared a similar experience with the Bahai community.

 

Anthony Lewis said that Humanists UK organised a meeting twice a year for representatives on SACREs.

 

Barbara Meaney said that SACRE could run a competition for pupils, a previous example had been for pupils to submit a short film. Ideas like this could allow SACRE to gain a feel for what pupils experienced when learning about RE.

 

 

How effectively is SACRE encouraging academies etc to see themselves also as stakeholders in their local area, specifically by devising ways in which an academies presence is incorporated into SACRE itself?

 

The Chairman said that there was the opportunity to network with academies through Clive Haines.

 

Anne Andrews noted that SACRE was currently looking to recruit an academy representative, there had also been representatives from academies in the past.

 

Ravinder Singh said that SACRE was established in this area, there had been a good relationship with academies in the past.

 

 

The Chairman said that the points raised during the discussion on this item could be used to develop a forward plan, in a similar format to the last forward plan which had been developed.

 

Hilary Harris suggested that it could be raised at a Hub meeting, to see if there were other SACREs that were in a similar position.

 

The Chairman considered which area of the self-assessment tool SACRE could consider at its next meeting.

 

Anne Andrews said looking at the syllabus review section would help SACRE as it looked forward to the local agreed syllabus review, particularly with the document due to be circulated to faith representatives shortly.