The Chair decided to combine Item 6 (Membership) with Item 12 (Membership update and proposed constitutional revision).

Looking at the SACRE membership list in the report, there were 2 vacancies for the Free Churches as well as vacancies for a Headteacher and Academy representative. There had been a proposal that two headteachers should share the Headteacher representative role to increase the chances that a headteacher would be free to attend each SACRE meeting.

Another proposal was to revise SACRE’s constitution to make the Humanism representative role a full member in Group A rather than a co-optee.

Anthony Lewis, the Humanist representative, temporarily left the room while the meeting discussed the proposal.

David Saunders asked if this was a set precedent for all SACREs across the country. Anne Andrews replied that around half of SACREs across the UK had a full Humanist representative.

Thomas Kingsley-Jones asked what SACRE was supposed to be. He explained that if it was supposed to represent the faiths of the students being taught in school, then he would support this proposal as he had non-religious students in his classes. Anne Andrews replied that SACRE membership, particularly in Group A, should be representative of the local area. She added that, according to the latest Census, the number of non-religious people was lower than the number of Christians but higher than other religions. She also stated that Humanists likely represented a third of non-religious people. She explained that Humanists were the only organised group which were categorised under the non-religious umbrella other than the National Secular Society (NSS), though the latter included religious members who believed in separating church and state.

Anne Andrews argued that making the Humanist representative a full member would pre-empt any rear-guard actions in response to the Census data, adding that some SACREs had been taken to court over a lack of non-religious representatives.

Thomas Kingsley-Jones suggested that the title of the position should perhaps be ‘non-religious representative’, stating that students who identify as non-religious may not identify as Humanists or have ever heard of Humanism. Based on this, the Chair suggested the post be titled: ‘non-religious worldviews representative’ and then ask the Local Authority to agree to the change.

Anne Andrews then asked the meeting if they would support the proposal of a new permanent position within Group A which would be titled as ‘non-religious worldview representative’ rather than Humanist. The majority voted in favour. Saghir Ahmed abstained because he believed that the post should be Humanist as it was an organised group.

RESOLVED: Establish a new permanent position of ‘non-religious worldviews representative’ within Group A of SACRE.

Based on this, SACRE would convey the proposal to the Local Authority for a permanent post of ‘non-religious worldviews representative’ within Group A. The proposal would also go through legal review.

ACTION: SACRE to forward the proposal to the Local Authority for a permanent post of ‘non-religious worldviews representative’ within Group A.

Anthony Lewis returned to the meeting; the proposition was explained to him to which he accepted.