Issue - meetings

Item ED15170315

A) LETTER FROM LORD NASH

Lord Nash, the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Schools, had sent a letter to all local authorities outlining the workings of SACRE and discussing a number of items regarding Religious Education. SACRE Members considered the letter and noted that it had been forwarded to all schools in Bromley. NASACRE had suggested that SACREs respond to the letter and had issued guidance for doing so. It was also suggested that Lord Nash’s letter and SACREs response be copied to the Director of Children’s Services and the appropriate Portfolio Holder.

The various points raised in Lord Nash’s letter were discussed. Whilst some SACRE members considered it was not necessary to respond to the letter, it was agreed by a majority that a reply should be sent. The Chairman and RE Consultant agreed to prepare an appropriate response.

RESOLVED that the Chairman send a response to Lord Nash’s letter on behalf of Bromley SACRE.

B) SACRE SELF EVALUATION

(This item was considered at the beginning of the meeting when all SACRE Members were present.)

  The Annual Report of Bromley SACRE contains a self-evaluation of SACRE which is updated each year. Previously it was agreed that the RE Consultant should carry out the self-evaluation and report as necessary. However, this means that the members do not have an input into the document and might not have knowledge of the categories which lead to a successful SACRE committee.

SACRE Members were asked to consider the top 3 priorities decided for Bromley SACRE in response to the NASACRE survey carried out in December 2014 (see minute 7 of minutes dated 2^nd December 2014), and to discuss the self-evaluation of Bromley SACRE.

The SACRE Reporting & Evaluation Toolkit was used and SACRE Members spent time at the meeting within their groups discussing the self-evaluation.

Teachers were asked to focus on Section 1

(Standards and Quality of Provision of RE)

Representatives from the Church of England were asked to focus on Section 3 (Collective Worship) (They had also met prior to the meeting.)

Councillors were asked to focus on Section 4

(Management of SACRE)

Other faiths were asked to focus on Section 5

(Contribution of SACRE to promoting cohesion across the community).

Members could comment on other sections if they wished.

The RE Consultant would complete Section 2 (The effectiveness of the locally agreed syllabus).

Results of the self-evaluation can be seen in the table appended to these minutes. Members commented on the reasons for making their decisions.

Additional points arising from the discussions are listed below.

Section 1 - Standards and Quality of Provision of RE

The teaching group on SACRE considered it was a good idea for schools to “cluster” and commented that more input from different faith groups would be greatly appreciated. The RE Consultant referred to the support given through the RE Advisers network meetings which were organised for non-specialist primary school co-ordinators. The teaching group said it would be useful for them to be able to share  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17