Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Samantha Barnett, Ray Hagley, Mr Mahmood and Sue Polydorou.

Councillor David Jefferys and Councillor Keith Onslow apologised for having to leave the meeting early due to other commitments.

The Chairman welcomed Carol Arnfield, LBB Head of Service – Education and Kieran Osborne, LBB Educational Advisor to the meeting.

None.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 29^th June 2016 be confirmed as a correct record.

B) MATTERS ARISING:

Minute 9: SACRE Draft Action Plan

The Chairman noted that Julia Waldman had been unable to draft the SACRE Annual Report before leaving her post at the Local Authority. This was currently in hand, but members were advised that it would not be published before the end of December 2016.

At the NASACRE AGM on 17^th May 2016, it was agreed that NASACRE had a constitution that was no longer fit for purpose. Their executive had worked to produce a new proposed constitution which would enable them to continue to serve members by representing their interests at a national level and supporting the work carried out by local SACREs. It was suggested that an electronic vote be conducted to ascertain that member SACREs agreed to the new constitution.

Members of the SACRE were provided with a copy of the proposed NASACRE Constitution 2016 prior to the meeting. A member enquired as to how the NASACRE subscription would be paid due to there no longer being a budget assigned to the SACRE. The Chairman said that although there was no specific budget for the SACRE, money could be requested to pay for certain things that were required. Councillor Jefferys advised members that this had been confirmed by Councillor Peter Fortune, Portfolio Holder for Education when the SACRE Councillor representatives had met with him.

The Chairman notified members that NASACRE just wanted confirmation that the Bromley SACRE agreed the proposed constitution and had not requested any comments or feedback. A discussion took place and SACRE members voted to agree the new constitution and the clerk to the meeting would inform NASACRE of the decision.

ACTION: Clerk

RESOLVED that the proposed NASACRE Constitution 2016 be agreed by the Bromley SACRE.

SACRE members were provided with a copy of the Commission on RE. An independent Commission had been established by the Religious Education Council (REC) to make wide-ranging recommendations in relation to RE in schools. The Commission had been asked by the REC to review the legal, education and policy frameworks for RE in all primary schools, secondary schools and further education colleges in England.

NASACRE had requested that SACREs make their members aware of the Commission and advised that any recommendations or suggestions could be sent to the Chair of NASACRE.

The Tell MAMA Annual Report was launched in Parliament on 29^th June 2016, and highlighted hate crime against Muslims in the UK. NASACRE advised that SACREs may wish to look at the report in full and ask their Local Authority what it is doing in light of the report.

Mr Kieran Osborne informed members that he had been asked by Jane Bailey, LBB Director of Education, to act as an Educational Advisor for a number of areas including the Schools Partnership Board and SACRE. He had been an RE teacher throughout his career and up until September 2016 had been Principal at Hayes School, where he was now acting as CEO. It was noted that the SACRE no longer had the budget and post associated with an RE Advisor, whose role would be more involved with aspects of the RE syllabus, but there was a commitment that funds needed by the SACRE would be met if justified.

Prior to the meeting, the Educational Advisor had met with Councillors and the SACRE Chairman. They had passed on concerns and questions raised at an additional meeting of the SACRE on 27^th September 2016, where some members had met to consider further the priorities and potential for Bromley SACRE’s future. The Educational Advisor had responded with his thoughts and observations and these had been distributed to members with his introductory letter. Councillor representatives confirmed that as a result of the internal meeting members were less anxious about the continuation of support for SACRE. They also agreed that they had found the letter from the Education Advisor to be reassuring.

A discussion took place to consider what the role of the SACRE should be with all schools. Academies were not required to deliver the agreed syllabus, but an understanding with the schools needed to be re-established to allow the SACRE to meet its remit to enhance and develop collective worship and spirituality. Members agreed that the activities of the SACRE should continue as the message coming from Central Government was for ‘business as usual’, but that it needed to take a step back and consider its prime aim and how that was to be fulfilled.

Members felt the main aim of the SACRE was to spread good practice, but appreciated that its approach needed to recognise academisation. It was believed that most primary and secondary schools in the borough would be delivering RE, but not necessarily collective worship. Some members felt that schools saw the SACRE as holding them to account, and if they were not delivering certain aspects would avoid interaction by putting up barriers to external groups. The schools that wanted to engage with the SACRE were likely to be those that were proud and active in delivering RE and collective worship, and were the schools that tended to request visits.

A member enquired whether the SACRE could find out what Academy Trusts were doing to support RE, as it was noted that they tended to all vary. The Education Advisor suggested that it would be a useful project to produce a map of RE provision across the schools in the borough. This could include what the schools did in regards to dedicated time, the use of specialists in the school, the delivery of collective worship and / or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16.

School visits were considered to be a focal point to affirm and inform the schools of what the SACRE did. It was proposed that a bid to support three school visits for the spring or summer term 2017 should be written. Funding would be needed for someone to lead on this project, to setup, guide and write up the reports of these visits. Members of the SACRE expressed that they were willing to take part in the school visits if their diaries permitted.

RESOLVED that three school visits be undertaken by the SACRE during the spring or summer term 2017.

Islamic Competition

Islamic Competition

In Mr Mahmood’s absence, SACRE members were advised by the Chairman that the prize giving for the Islamic Competition had taken place at Darul Uloom on Thursday 10^th November 2016 and he had attended the ceremony on behalf of the SACRE.

Members were informed that this competition was run annually by Mr Mahmood and was open to all Bromley schools. The school projects were based on the concept of ‘The True Meaning of Islam’. The Chairman said that he had been astonished by the quality of the projects and that it had been a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Mr Mahmood had produced a report on the project which would be circulated to SACRE members.

ACTION: Clerk

The Chairman noted that it was a pity that there was only one school faith event that took place across the borough. It was suggested that at a future SACRE meeting thought could be put into how the SACRE could facilitate other faith events.

(Councillor Jefferys returned to the meeting after consideration of this item.)

Reverend Varney informed SACRE members of some initiatives that he was involved with. The first of these was the Three Faiths Forum in Bromley. Representatives from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths met regularly to gain an understanding and fellowship. During the autumn, they had worked together to raise money to send to ‘The Jungle’ in Calais which was an example of their positive outreach work.

The second initiative was through the Bromley Police and the Safer Bromley Partnership. They were looking to launch an ambitious programme with faith leaders to support the local community and build community cohesion. This would include mentoring, youth projects and police activities, and would be amazing if it all came together. SACRE members were urged to respond positively to this if contacted by faith leaders in their community. Preliminary meetings for the project were currently taking place and it was scheduled for an official launch in February / March 2017.

Wednesday 8^th March 2017

All meetings to start at 6pm

Wednesday 8^th March 2017

All meetings to start at 6pm