Agenda and minutes

Contact: Jo Partridge  020 8461 7694

Items
No. Item

26.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Members to the meeting of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education, which was held virtually via Webex.

 

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Robert Evans and Daniel Coleman.

 

The Chairman welcomed Ms Vicki Ashmore to the meeting and introductions took place. The Chairman advised Members that, following the resignation of Mrs Donna Gold, Ms Ashmore wished to join the SACRE as a representative of the Reformed Jewish faith.

 

Following a brief discussion, SACRE Members agreed that Ms Ashmore be appointed to the other faiths group as a representative of the Reformed Jewish faith.

 

RESOLVED that Ms Vicki Ashmore join the Bromley SACRE as a representative of the Reformed Jewish faith.

 

27.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

None.

28.

COMPLIANCE OF THE GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR)

Minutes:

No breaches of the GDPR were reported.

29.

A) MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 1ST DECEMBER 2021 pdf icon PDF 538 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 1st December 2021 be confirmed as a correct record.

 

  B) MATTERS ARISING

 

Minute 20: SACRE Self-Evaluation

The Chairman noted that, as agreed, email addresses had been circulated to allow Members to look at the relevant sections of the SACRE self-evaluation in their representative groups. A copy of the collated responses had been provided to SACRE Members as part of the draft SACRE Annual Report 2020-2021.

 

Minute 24: SACRE Action Plan (including relationships with schools)

The Chairman advised that initial information regarding the Bromley Schools Festival had been provided for inclusion in the next issue of the Bromley Religious Education newsletter.

 

The Chairman noted that Members had provided feedback to the SACRE RE Adviser in relation to the best practice paper for guest speakers visiting schools, and this would be discussed later in the meeting.

 

A Member noted that the secondary network meeting scheduled in October 2021 had been cancelled due to poor take-up, which was thought to be due to an issue with communication. It was enquired if the meeting arranged for the spring term had taken place, and if so, had engagement improved. The LBB Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education confirmed that the secondary network had taken place, and it was agreed that information on attendance could be circulated to SACRE Members following the meeting.    ACTION: SACRE RE Adviser

30.

REVIEW DETERMINATIONS

Minutes:

No determinations had been received.

31.

RESOURCES FOR SCHOOLS

-  'REal' Resources

-  Inter-faith Dialogue Conference

Minutes:

REal Resources’

 

The SACRE RE Adviser said that, since the last SACRE meeting, some additional ‘REal’ resources had been received from SACRE Members. It was noted that Ms Ashmore had also agreed to create resources for the Jewish faith. The SACRE RE Adviser said that they would like to receive as many contributions as possible. Once a fairer representation of worldviews and religions was compiled, the resources would be shared with teachers to be used when the relevant units were delivered in schools.

 

Inter-faith Dialogue

 

The SACRE RE Adviser said that progress had been made in relation to the inter-faith dialogue project. It had been proposed that the dialogue between faith representative would take place via an online platform and a date for when this could take place had been identified

 

The SACRE RE Adviser informed SACRE Members that she would be attending a meeting with the LBB Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education and LBB Head of School Standards in the coming weeks to discuss the best way for this project to proceed. Following the outcome of this meeting, faith representative would be advised if the initial meeting planned for Thursday 17th March 2022 would go ahead. The SACRE RE Adviser emphasised that they fully intended to proceed with this project, however the plan may need to be revised. The format would remain the same, with a list of questions provided and response prepared by the faith representatives in advance of the meeting, but consideration may be given to holding the dialogue in person during the summer term.

32.

INTER-FAITH COMPETITION

Minutes:

The SACRE RE Adviser confirmed that the three themes for this year’s calendar had been included in the Bromley Religious Education newsletter to schools. Schools had been notified that the competition had launched, but a further reminder would be sent the following week. The deadline for entries to be submitted was Friday 25th March 2022 and the procurement process for the design of the calendar was underway. The SACRE RE Adviser said that she would circulate a list of dates for religious events and festivals to faith representative so they could be double-checked before the calendar was finalised.    ACTION: SACRE RE Adviser

 

In response to a question, the SACRE RE Adviser said that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the teacher networks had been held in person and competition entries had been judged during the meeting by all teachers present. Last year, the judging process had been completed online – the SACRE RE Adviser had shortlisted the entries in three stages, with input from a different teacher at each stage. Either option could be used this year, depending on the timing and format of the teacher network meetings. It was considered that an additional meeting with teachers could be arranged if required.

33.

DRAFT BROMLEY SACRE ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021 (INCLUDING SACRE SELF-EVALUATION) pdf icon PDF 437 KB

Minutes:

SACRE Members had been provided with a copy of the draft Bromley SACRE Annual Report 2020-2021.

 

Following a brief discussion, SACRE Members agreed that they were happy with the content of the SACRE Annual Report 2020-2021 and, subject to a further check of spelling and grammar, agreed that it be approved. The SACRE RE Adviser would provide the clerk with the finalised version to be submitted to the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE), Department for Education (DfE) and published on the Council’s website.  ACTION: SACRE RE Adviser / Clerk

 

In relation to the SACRE self-evaluation, a Member highlighted that ‘Section 2: standards and quality of provision of RE’ made reference to how the SACRE used information about standards and examinations to target support and training for schools. It was noted that Church of England schools would receive a Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS), and an element of this looked at Collective Worship. It was considered that it may be beneficial to collate any gradings received by schools in the borough as this could allow targeted support to be provided to schools that required it. The SACRE RE Adviser said that the SIAMS reports were not provided directly to the Local Authority and therefore the best way of accessing this information to inform future work would need to be considered. It was noted that recently, the main focus had been on the implementation of the Agreed Syllabus, however providing support for schools to deliver Collective Worship was something that had previously been raised as an area of future focus.

 

A Member noted that the report provided a list of six areas to which funding had been allocated and enquired if the spend against each could be provided to SACRE Members following the meeting. The LBB Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education confirmed that the expenditure against each area could be calculated at the end of the financial year and provided to SACRE Members.

ACTION: LBB Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education

 

The SACRE RE Adviser informed Members that NASACRE had been working with the DfE to look at the sourcing and funding of SACREs, and a report had been published the previous year. The DfE recommended that 2% of the Central Services School Block (CSSB) funding received by Local Authorities be allocated to SACRE in order for their statutory duties to be carried out, and 1% as a minimum. It was highlighted that although the Bromley SACRE did not have its own budget, the Local Authority was providing funding for the work that was being undertaken.

 

RESOLVED that the SACRE Annual Report 2020-2021 be approved.

34.

SACRE ACTION PLAN (INCLUDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH SCHOOLS) pdf icon PDF 127 KB

Minutes:

The SACRE RE Adviser had provided Members with an updated SACRE Action Plan for the period September 2021-September 2022. The SACRE RE Adviser highlighted that the majority of actions were marked in green as ‘complete’.

 

RESOLVED that the SACRE Action Plan be noted.

35.

BEST PRACTICE PAPER FOR GUEST SPEAKERS pdf icon PDF 153 KB

Minutes:

The SACRE RE Adviser thanked Members for the additional comments that had been received in relation to the best practice paper for guest speakers visiting schools. A revised version of the document is attached at Appendix A.

Overall, the feedback received had noted that the guidance was clear and helpful, and highlighted that the focus of a visit should relate to an area of the curriculum.

 

Following a brief discussion, SACRE Members approved the best practice guidance, which would be uploaded to the Bromley Education Matters website.  ACTION: SACRE RE Adviser / LBB Head of School Standards

 

RESOLVED that the best practice paper for guest speakers be approved.

36.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

6.00pm, Wednesday 13th July 2022

6.00pm, Wednesday 9th November 2022

6.00pm, Wednesday 1st March 2023

Minutes:

6.00pm, Wednesday 13th July 2022

6.00pm, Wednesday 9th November 2022

6.00pm, Wednesday 1st March 2023

APPENDIX A pdf icon PDF 154 KB