Issue - meetings

Training sessions are occasionally held during the meeting to enable members to understand and carry out the duties of SACRE.

The training session which took place at the meeting focussed on the impact of RE on pupils. The RE Adviser informed members that on a recent SACRE visit to Bullers Wood School (see minute 9 below), a series of talks had been given by pupils in each year group, who had prepared power point presentations on what they were doing in RE and what the impact of this was on their lives.

The RE Adviser had prepared a summary of the presentations which was shown to SACRE Members. This included

·  Why the pupils considered RE to be  important

·  Content of lessons

·  Opinions

·  Advantages of RE

·  Fast track RE

Comments from the students included the following:

“We have learnt invaluable information that we believe will stay with us for the rest of our lives”.

“We have a lifelong passion and we don’t just do it because it looks good on a CV, but because we really enjoy learning about religions and philosophy”.

Councillor Onslow asked if any of the pupils concerned already had a religious belief. Jed Stone from Bullers Wood School said he did not have detailed information available and that this was something he would have to check, although he knew some of the pupils in year 7 were Roman Catholic. Councillor Onslow suggested that it would be a good idea for the presentations to be made available on “Fronter”.

In response to a question from Mr Mahmood, Jed Stone said that the number of RE lessons per week at Bullers Wood School varied enormously between year groups. The younger year groups had one 50 minute lesson per week but some pupils at Key Stages 3 and 4 had up to five per week covering Religious Studies and Philosophy.

Councillor Jefferys considered that the views expressed by the pupils were very encouraging and that the study of RE and Philosophy helped to open students eyes to higher education and to develop wider knowledge and life experiences. The Chairman commented that on the visit to Bullers Wood School he had been impressed by a display of several well thought through pieces of work on science and ethics.

Jessica Toogood from True Tube remarked that it was part of her job to visit schools and focus on feedback from both pupils and teachers on what RE resources were needed. (Jessica had given a presentation to SACRE members at their meeting held on 12^th March 2014.)

In concluding the SACRE training session the RE Adviser informed members that she had received responses from several schools to say that the new Bromley RE Syllabus was making an impact and they had stated that it was more interesting and diverse.