Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from:

·  Raymond Hagley

·  Cllr Keith Onslow

·  Cllr David Jefferys

·  Hannah Arnold

·  Sanjay Gupta

·  Sue Polydorou

·  Mr S Riat

·  Edlene Whitman

·  Mrs P Colling

·  Julia Waldman

Notification was received in advance of the meeting from Cllr Sarah Phillips that she would be arriving around 6.20pm. 

It was noted at the commencement of the meeting that three of the Councillors present would have to leave the SACRE meeting at 7.00pm to attend a meeting of the Care Services PDS Committee that was set for the same evening. 

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 1^st July 2015 were agreed.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on the 1st July 2015, be agreed and confirmed as a correct record of the meeting.

Updates on previous Matters Arising:

Cllr Mary Cooke referred to a previous matter, where it was noted that arrangements were being made for the SACRE Chairman to meet with the Chairman of Croydon SACRE. It was noted that this meeting had not taken place as yet. However, the Chairman was now in possession of the email contact details for the Croydon SACRE Chairman, and it was anticipated that a meeting would be arranged for the near future. Members would be updated in due course.   

The Chairman updated Members concerning the attempts that had been made by the Archdeacon’s Office to email incumbents on behalf of SACRE in an attempt to gain details of small religious groups that were meeting in the Borough. It had been agreed previously that churchwardens should be copied into the email sent to incumbents. This was done, and seven responses were received, but they were not particularly helpful. The Chairman was grateful for the responses that had been received, and it was noted that at least on this occasion, some responses had been generated, and this was an improvement on the last exercise.

The RE Consultant informed SACRE Members that she had recently met the Archdeacon at Scotland Yard. The Archdeacon had noted that inter faith meetings had been established in the borough of Croydon, and he was interested in doing the same in Bromley. A meeting would be set up soon to look at this, and SACRE Members would be updated in the near future.  

It was also noted that it had been agreed to purchase the document on “British Values”, and that this would soon be distributed to all maintained schools in Bromley; these were mainly primary schools. 

Islamic Competition:

SACRE Members were reminded that the prize giving for the Islamic Competition had taken place at Darul Uloom on 12^th November 2015. The competition had been set around the concept of “The True Meaning of Islam”. Pupils had been required to explain what they considered to be the essential teachings of Islam, and to discuss the implications of these teachings for contemporary issues. They also had to finish with a statement to explain what they had gained from their work.  Forty students had competed from five different schools.

A document was tabled at the meeting that highlighted extracts from some of the entries submitted. The extracts tabled looked at various themes such as:

·  The perception of Islam in the Media

·  Jannah and Jahnnam

·  The Shariah Law

·  The Teachings of the Prophet Muhammad

Mr Jed Stone remarked that the event had been a very interesting and enjoyable evening, and that he was impressed by the projects and the extracts. He stated that both pupils and parents were impressed, felt welcome and enjoyed the experience. He felt that new friendships had been made, and that those in attendance would have gained a greater understanding of Islam.  Mr Mahmood stated that the extracts had been displayed to show the quality of the entries, and that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

(a)  SACRE Analysis of Top Challenges for SACREs

(b)  Teaching and Learning of British Values

(c)  Bromley SACRE Teachers Survey

(d) School Visits

SACRE Analysis of Top Challenges for SACREs.

SACRE Members heard that the Chairman and the RE Consultant attended the NASACRE AGM in May 2015, at which there was a discussion concerning the top challenges facing SACREs.

The challenges that were discussed were:

·  Problems encountered when trying to engage with schools

·  Problems with a lack of consistency in RE teaching across schools

·  Confusion around the role of SACREs in relation to Academies and Free Schools

·  The perceived decline of RE in Academies and Free Schools

·  Problems encountered in engaging with Academies to develop better working relationships

·  Problems encountered in sharing good practice across SACREs

·  Sharing of resources with neighbouring SACREs

·  Challenges faced in promoting the importance of RE in schools, and also with local authorities and with the Department for Education 

The RE Consultant had noted on the SACRE Discussion Support Sheet (Appendix A) that OFSTED were looking at British Values, and that SMSC (spiritual, moral, social and cultural values) would help to highlight the importance of RE. The RE Consultant had sent a survey to all schools in Bromley, and one of the aims of this was to collate email addresses for RE teachers and Co-ordinators. This would help with the process of engaging with schools.

The RE Consultant noted on Appendix A that there was not much evidence of the decline of the teaching of RE in Bromley, although it may the case that collective worship was in decline. The RE Consultant noted that there was a need to try and get into more schools, and that new ways of being invited into schools should be investigated.

The RE Consultant asked the SACRE Members if they would like to comment further on the problems facing SACREs.   

A Member expressed the view that it was difficult to know what to do as the SACRE had no powers to go into a school and investigate—they had to wait to be invited. Not much information was coming from schools, and there was only a network meeting once a year--and that was just with primary schools. A Member expressed the view that the matter of network meetings should be revisited, and possibly expanded. Perhaps it would be possible to include secondary schools as well, if they were open to dialogue with Bromley SACRE.

The RE Consultant asked if Councillors visited schools, and that if they did, perhaps they could start talking about the importance of RE in schools. The Chairman felt that the Bromley situation was more difficult because SACRE was dealing mainly with Academies. He felt that grant maintained schools were generally more open to engaging with SACREs.   Cllr Kevin Brooks suggested that it may be a good idea if the Leader of the Council, or the Portfolio Holder for Education sent a letter to Academies to encourage engagement with SACREs. Cllr Mary Cooke suggested that it may be a good idea to draw up a draft letter as a guide.

Samantha Barnett, informed SACRE Members that she was trying to arrange  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

The revised SACRE DEVELOPMENT PLAN was tabled for the attention of the SACRE Members. The RE Consultant asked Members to go away and consider the document. Mr Mahmood expressed the view that the Councillors that had left for the PDS Committee should be included in the consideration of the document.

RESOLVED that Members of the SACRE consider the revised Sacre Development Plan, and that the Plan be discussed at the next meeting        

Wednesday 9^th March 2016

Wednesday 29^th June 2016

All meetings to start at 6pm

The next SACRE meeting is scheduled for 9^th March 2016.