Issue - meetings

Report No. ED12002

The priority of a SACRE is to monitor Religious Education and Collective Worship in schools and support schools in the provision of excellent RE.  The current Bromley Agreed syllabus and the units of work for Primary schools were due for a formal review.

The Chairman commented that the syllabus should be easy to use and workable and added that it needed to be more appropriate for today’s society. It was important that by the end of Key Stage 3 children had knowledge of other faiths. There were a lot of resources available which could be accessed through the use of white board technology. (Mr Mahmood later commented on the need to look at the resources available, but expressed caution as there was a huge amount of information about different religions which was incorrect. The RE Adviser agreed and emphasised the importance of only giving internet links to suitable sites.) The Chairman went on to say that that the quality not quantity of religious education was important. Clearly feedback from teachers on what was required for the RE syllabus was essential. The aim of the Agreed Syllabus Conference was to produce an excellent syllabus which could be commended to every school.

Discussion took place on the future syllabus requirements for Bromley schools, particularly the addition of a defined Foundation stage, and the addition of faiths during the Primary stages.

(Christine Duncan left the meeting at this point.)

It was noted that an RE Quality mark was to be introduced nationally which would be, “an accreditation system recognising good practice in religious education. Designed to be a mechanism for whole school improvement beyond religious education since its principle focus is enhanced pedagogy”.  This mark would only be available to schools which as well as teaching on the six major world faiths, also allowed the teaching of a secular world view. The RE Adviser informed the meeting that a pilot scheme was due to take place and confirmed that the scheme would not be compulsory. She was due to attend a day event about the Quality Mark in October 2012 and would report back to SACRE Members at their next meeting.

(The Head of Education Commissioning and Business Services left the meeting at this point.)

Virginia Corbyn commented on the need to ensure that the requirement of the law with regard to teaching RE was adhered to. The RE Adviser confirmed that when updating the RE syllabus the law would be followed and Christianity would still be taught as the main religion.

The Chairman in concluding the discussions asked the RE Adviser to continue to work with teachers and to progress the work in connection with the Bromley Agreed Syllabus.

RESOLVED that work on the Bromley Agreed Syllabus be progressed