Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Stephen Carr, Councillor Gordon Norrie, Ray Hagley and Jackie Tranchina. Apologies for lateness had been received prior to the meeting from Fiona Hawkes and Jed Stone. The Chairman welcomed Sue Mordecai, Head of Learning who apologised for having to leave the meeting early.

None.

The Bromley Agreed Syllabus and scheme of work was being revised to bring them into line with current thinking on RE teaching. The RE Adviser circulated copies of the draft units of work which had been updated taking into account comments and amendments made by the various faith groups. Following considerable discussion SACRE Members were asked to contact the RE Adviser direct if they had any outstanding concerns. The item would be considered again at the next SACRE meeting.

Resolved that SACRE Members contact the RE Adviser with any outstanding concerns on the agreed syllabus update.

(Sue Mordecai and Arlene Fane left the meeting after consideration of this item.)

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting on 7^th November 2012 be confirmed subject to the following amendments:

Minute 5(e):

fifth line, amend “had been release from embargo” to “had been released from embargo”.

eleventh line, amend “encouraged them to respond” to “encourage them to respond”.

B) MATTERS ARISING:

Minute 4b: The RE Adviser had contacted the Governor Support Office who confirmed they would be happy to send out a mini questionnaire on behalf of SACRE to the Chairmen of School Governors. The RE Adviser would liaise with the SACRE Chairman regarding the questions to be asked. (Action PSO)

Minute 5e: re: Inter Faith Week. Patricia Colling, the Catholic Representative on SACRE reported that the project concerned had been “a suggestion” at an inter-faith meeting i.e. that different religions could produce a power point presentation which could be used as a teaching resource. It was noted that her church was preparing such a presentation.

Minute 6: The training session for Faith Directory volunteers would take place at the Civic Centre on Wednesday 20^th March 2013 from 7 – 9 pm.  The RE Adviser was aware of approximately 15 people who would be attending. SACRE Members were asked to notify the RE Adviser if they knew of any additional volunteer speakers who would be able to attend. When the Faith Directory was produced it was important to point out (with regard to child protection issues), that there was no endorsement implicit in the list of volunteers provided. It would be up to the individual schools concerned to implement their own child protection policy.

a)  National RE Update

b)  SACRE Annual Report for 2011-2012

c)  Islamic Competition

d)  Youth SACRE - update

a)  National RE Update

The Chairman reported that a communication had been received from the Department of Education on Religious Education and Collective Worship in Academies and Free Schools. This included clarification of the relationship between SACRE’s and Academies (see attached Appendix). It was suggested that this document should be sent to all Bromley Academy Head Teachers and in particular to the overarching federations for the academy trusts.

The Chairman commented that John Keast the Chairman of the RE Council had recently remarked that plans to introduce the E Bacc had damaged the status of RE in schools which was not likely to recover quickly. Plans to change the system of GCSEs and GCSE boards have now been abandoned which has relieved the pressure on RE slightly but the schools are still putting most of their resources into the EBacc subjects. The RE Adviser commented that although pupils were still being entered for the full GCSE course for RE, the number of pupils studying the short RE course had decreased. Fiona Hawkes commented that pupils at Coopers Technology College were no longer doing the short course and that next year all pupils in Year 9 at the College would be doing the full GCSE course for RE.

b)  SACRE Annual Report for 2011 – 2012

The annual report had been distributed to NASACRE, all Bromley schools, the Portfolio Holder for Education and Members of the Education Policy Development and Scrutiny Committee. It had also been sent to Michael Gove MP and other Members of Parliament (see item 5d of the SACRE minutes dated 7^th November 2012). (The Department of Education had indicated that they did not wish to see the report.)

c)   Islamic Competition

This very successful event had taken place at Darul Uloom on 15^th November 2012. The Islamic Competition was much appreciated and valued and the Chairman thanked Mr Mahmood for organising the event.

Mr Mahmood informed the meeting that four schools had participated in the event and it was hoped that five schools would be taking part in the next competition which would take place on 7^th November 2013. Further details would be circulated at a later date.

d)    Youth SACRE - update

Unfortunately it had not been possible to hold a meeting of the Youth SACRE during the previous term. However, Fiona Hawkes informed the meeting that the children at her school (Coopers Technology College) had expressed an interest in holding a Youth SACRE meeting on a Friday evening. Emma Honey from Kemnal Technology College was invited to bring pupils to the Youth SACRE meeting. Fiona Hawkes would contact the RE Adviser to make the necessary arrangements. (Action FH and PSO.)

Report No. ED13027

SACRE Members considered a report prepared by the RE Adviser together with a draft development plan for 2013-2014. The plan had been drawn up with due consideration to the statutory duties of SACRE.

The Chairman reported that a letter had been sent to him by the Assistant Director of Education which outlined that SACRE funding was secure for 2013-14, but that there were issues regarding future funding of SACRE for 2014-15. It also commented on the fact that due to budgetary restraints the Education Department would not be able to provide officer support for SACRE, (Sue Mordecai would be leaving the Authority at the end of March 2013). The Chairman proposed that he should write to the Assistant Director of Education as he was concerned about the level of support being given to SACRE which was a statutory body. In view of their position the Councillor Members on SACRE expressed concern about the nature of the letter to be sent and Councillor Mrs Manning as Vice-Chairman agreed to look at the draft letter before it was sent to the Assistant Director.

Resolved that

(i) the draft SACRE development plan for 2013 – 2014 be agreed;  and

(ii) the Chairman to write to the Assistant Director of Education regarding the level of support being given to SACRE.

(Mr Gupta and Mr Mahmood left the meeting after consideration of this item.)

Report No. ED13026

School visits during the Autumn term had been organised by the Chair of SACRE to allow the RE Adviser time to continue working on the Bromley RE Syllabus revision.

On 21^st November 2012 the Chairman, Councillor Charsley and Samantha Barnett visited Castlecombe Primary School, and on 3^rd December 2012 the Chairman, Councillor Mrs Manning and Mr Mahmood visited Hayes Secondary School. Reports of the visits were considered by SACRE Members.

Samantha Barnett commented that she had been impressed with the visit to Castlecombe School and that the children had been very engaged. She had found the visit very useful and it had been particularly interesting to see such diversity within a Bromley school. The Chairman drew SACRE Members attention to the key issues for SACRE outlined at the end of the report.

With regard to the visit to Hayes school Councillor Mrs Manning highlighted the fact that the school was very keen to work with “feeder” schools. She also suggested that perhaps the pupils at Hayes school could be encouraged to take part in the Youth SACRE. The RE Adviser said she had been in contact with the Head of the RE Department at the school about Youth SACRE, and would notify him when a meeting date had been arranged.

The Chairman commented on the excellent presentation given by year 9 students on the topic of “Religious Education, Social, Moral, Spiritual and Cultural Development at Hayes School” and remarked that perhaps the presentation could be shown to SACRE Members at a future meeting. Jed Stone and Emma Honey suggested that perhaps they could arrange for some of their pupils to attend a future SACRE meeting to give a similar presentation/talk. Members considered this to be a good idea. If possible arrangements would be made for pupils to attend the summer meeting of SACRE.

RESOLVED that

(i)  the reports of the school visits be noted and arrangements be made for visits to take place during the Spring term.

(ii)  If possible arrangements be made for students to attend the next meeting of SACRE to give a presentation to Members.

(Councillor Jefferys and Mr Town left the meeting after consideration of this item.)

(a) Rev Steve Varney asked about the current position regarding the Church of England Vacancy on SACRE and was told that the matter was currently being considered by the Diocese of Rochester.

(b) It was noted that the Chairman and RE Adviser would be attending the NASACRE AGM in Birmingham on 23^rd May 2013.

Wednesday 5^th June 2013

Wednesday 6th November 2013

Wednesday 5^th March 2014

All meetings to start at 6.30pm

Wednesday 5^th June 2013

Wednesday 6^th November 2013

Wednesday 5^th March 2014

All meetings to start at 6.30pm

Emma Honey asked if it would be possible for the next SACRE meeting to be changed from the 5^th to the 19^th June 2013 in order to fit in with school examination commitments. The SACRE Clerk would make enquiries to find out if this would be possible. (Following further consultation with the Chairman after the meeting it was agreed that the original date and time i.e. 5^th June 2013 at 6.30pm should stand).