·         Syllabus Forward

·         Syllabus Publication

·         Revised Syllabus Launch Events

Anne Andrews gave a presentation to the SACRE which set out changes to the syllabus. The Pan-Berkshire Agreed Syllabus Review included the need to align with most recent national early years framework (2017) for early years along with the added expectation that schools were ensuring their EYFS RE was aligned with the most recent EYFS national framework.

The presentation highlighted the following points:

By the end of KS2, Christianity would be taught in every year group plus Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. Other religions could be included but were not compulsory. There was a new requirement to include a secular worldview at KS3.

Members also discussed ways in which the SACRE would make decisions on how to disseminate the revised syllabus to the schools in their locality. Members also discussed whether a data set had been used for the recommendation for inclusion of other faiths into earlier Key Stages, and it was confirmed that VA Schools as Church schools had freedom and did not need to follow the agreed syllabus. Members discussed the inclusion of Islam at KS1 and agreed that the inclusion of this religion was a positive move and reactive to the recent PREVENT guidance. It was clarified that Islam would be taught once in KS1 and once in KS3 and that Christianity would continue being taught in every year group. Councillor Airey asked for consistency around ‘secular world views’ within the syllabus as there had been some mention of ‘humanism,’ which could lead to a heavily weighted preference to teach humanism. Members also discussed whether the inclusion of chronology of religions should be included and it was clarified that children in classrooms do already receive support in understanding the chronology of religions.

ACTION- That the term ‘humanism’ be removed and replaced with a ‘secular world view’ or ‘non-religious worldview’ to allow freedom of choice for the ‘secular world/non-religious worldview’ to be taught and to help give clearer guidance for all teachers.

That an outline of all Key stages (1-3) questions overview was discussed, which included current key questions which would be amended to add clarity in light of consultation and feedback. The Chair suggested that any suggestions for the questions should be sent through to Anne Andrews by the 23^rd March 2018.  It was also agreed that at KS4, that all students would have a statutory entitlement to RE at KS4 and that they should all have access to an accredited course e.g. GCSE and that this expectation should be strengthened and that the expectation was that children at KS4 should have 40 hours of RE. Members discussed the requirement of GCSE RE examinations and that they included two religious worldview examinations and that some syllabus’ included philosophy and ethics.

ACTION- That Anne Andrew feeds back to Jan Lever regarding the previous requirement for KS4 and whether the original wording should be retained.

The SACRE discussed attainment targets 1 and 2, which included “learning about” and “learning from” religions and worldviews. Members disagreed with the “learning about” and “learning from” structure and would like to see this changed. Karen Butler stated that further consultations with teachers was needed to gain more insight into this.

ACTION- For All SACRE Members to email Jan Lever individually with their views and recommendations for “learning about” and “learning from”.

Members were also reminded that voluntary schools were free to depart from the agreed syllabus conference as they were governed by separate rules and guidance. The composite of religions being taught throughout the year were discussed, and it was noted that the addition of alternate religions would be taught within the smaller term of the school year. The enquiry approach had been retained and there had been more emphasis upon the 4-step teaching and learning process had been achieved. A decision had been made to work on making key concepts of each religion and worldview to be studied as mandatory and more explicit to help teachers focus on these. Teachers had advised that they did not understand the concepts and that there was a disconnect between the questions and listed key concepts. Members discussed the need for cohesive definitions to be embedded or to remove the key concepts.

Next steps included, discussions between the SACRES at the Spring term SACRE meetings and for further thoughts to be sent to Jan Lever by the 29^th March 2018. The final draft of the Pan-Berkshire Agreed Syllabus Review was to be discussed at the Hub meeting on the 24^th April at Shute End, Wokingham. Members were unhappy with the time slot given to discuss the syllabus and felt that more time should be given to this session. There was also an opportunity for all SACRE members to be walked through the revised syllabus and discuss it at the Pan-Berkshire SACRE ‘training’ event being held on the 24^th April, 2018 at Wokingham. The Teacher’s focus group and SACREs were to discuss final draft during May 2018 and for any members to send any comments to Jan Lever by the 25^th May 2018. The final version would be sent to all SACRE Hub Members in June for approval. It was agreed that each SACRE would need to write its own foreword for the revised syllabus and that this would be signed off by the relevant Chief Executive/Director of Education for each local authority and sent to Jan Lever by the 15^th June 2018.