Agenda and minutes

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

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Chris Price and Councillor Kennedy-Brooks attended as substitute.

Apologies for absence were also received from Councillor Jessica Arnold, Mr Lee Kings, Mr Arvinder Nandra and Dr Omar Taha.

The Chairman noted that, following the death of Mrs Jan Thompson, and Reverend Rachel Archer’s move to Liverpool, there were currently three vacancies for Church of England representatives. It was proposed that one of the vacancies be filled by Mr Lee Kings, moving from the teacher group to the Church of England group, which had been agreed by the Diocesan Board of Education. The Chairman was still seeking to fill the remaining vacancies and welcomed any suggestions as to whom he may approach.

The Chairman welcomed Ms Alex Hamill and Ms Cilla Larbi to the meeting and introductions took place. SACRE Members were informed that it was proposed for both Ms Hamill and Ms Larbi to be appointed as new secondary Teacher Representatives on the SACRE.

Following a brief discussion, SACRE Members agreed that Mr Lee Kings be appointed as a Church of England representative, and Ms Hamill and Ms Larbi be appointed as secondary Teacher Representatives.

The Chairman informed SACRE Members that Ms Vicki Ashmore, representative of the Jewish faith, had advised that she was unable to continue in her role on the SACRE due to other work commitments. A request had been made via her synagogue to identify a replacement representative. The Chairman extended his thanks to Ms Ashmore for the work undertaken during her time on the SACRE.

RESOLVED that:

i.)  Mr Lee Kings be appointed as a Church of England representative on the Bromley SACRE;

ii.)  Ms Alex Hamill, Bishop Justus Church of England School, join the Bromley SACRE as secondary Teacher Representative; and,

iii.)  Ms Cilla Larbi, Hayes School, join the Bromley SACRE as secondary Teacher Representative.

There were no declarations of interest.

No breaches of the GDPR were reported.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 23^rd November 2022 be confirmed as a correct record.

B) MATTERS ARISING

With regards to the matters arising related to Minute 21: ‘REal’ Resources: Interfaith Dialogue Conferences and Minute 22: Inter-faith Calendar Competition, the Chairman noted that these would be discussed later in the meeting.

Minute 24: SACRE Annual Report

The Chairman advised that the final version of the Bromley SACRE Annual Report 2021-2022 had been submitted to NASACRE and the Department for Education (DfE). Councillor Jefferys advised that the report had also been presented to Full Council on 27^th February 2023.

A SACRE Member noted the reference made to holding an in-person Primary RE Network meeting in June 2023 and enquired if the SACRE RE Adviser would like SACRE Members to attend. The SACRE RE Adviser advised that it was intended for this Network meeting to now be held in-person on 14^th June 2023 – any SACRE Members would be welcome to attend, and an invite could be circulated.  ACTION: SACRE RE Adviser

The Chairman advised SACRE Members that the date of the next SACRE meeting would be moved from 7^th June, to take place on 14^th June 2023. It was intended that this meeting would be held in-person at Bromley Civic Centre. A Member requested that the opportunity to join the meeting remotely also be provided.

No determinations had been received.

The SACRE RE Adviser advised that some SACRE Members, from the other faiths and Church of England groups, had been involved in creating short video clips that could be used as classroom learning tools. The videos had now been recorded, and were currently being reviewed as part of a robust quality assurance process to ensure that they fitted with the agreed syllabus. The intention was that schools would then be given access to these video clips to use as a resource in the classroom.

The LBB Head of School Standards advised that all of the video clips had been uploaded on to a SharePoint page – this was primarily for LBB staff, but a ‘Knowledge Hub’ had been created in order to share the resources with external colleagues. In order to view the videos, a link needed to be requested from the School Standards Team and a process then needed to be followed to access the Knowledge Hub. A SACRE Member said that the link had been received, however the process to access the video was found to be complex, and it had not been possible for him to view the clips. It was agreed that the LBB Head of School Standards would contact the SACRE Member following the meeting and run through the process.

  ACTION: LBB Head of School Standards

The Vice-Chairman highlighted that, as there had been some technical issues, the link to review the resources had only recently been received. The SACRE RE Adviser suggested that further time be allowed to review the video resources, and proposed a deadline of the end of April 2023. This would allow access for the schools to be arranged for the summer term.

On a related note, the SACRE RE Adviser reminded SACRE Members that Bromley had been invited by NASACRE to present the learning from this project at an online workshop in the summer term. It was proposed that they would showcase an example video and share the experiences of participants as part of the workshop. The SACRE RE Adviser said she would be looking to arrange a meeting in April 2023 for those SACRE Members who had volunteered to be involved to discuss the best way to present the project.

The SACRE RE Adviser informed SACRE Members that, each year, an inter-faith calendar competition was held for all primary schools across the borough, which had different themes for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. It was noted that a Key Stage 3 competition had previously been held, but there had not been sufficient interest.

Pupils created artwork based on the particular themes and winners were then selected for inclusion in the calendar, which contained the dates of festivals for a range of religions and worldviews. A PDF version of the calendar was then sent to all schools, which could be printed, and used when delivering assemblies to teach awareness of different religions and celebrations.

The calendar competition had been launched, and schools had been advised that the deadline for entries was Friday 24^th March 2023. It had been requested that original copies be sent directly to the School Standards Team at Bromley Civic Centre, and the SACRE RE Adviser would make the final selection of artwork in June 2023.

A Teacher Representative said that the calendar was extremely useful, and asked if it was available to use in secondary schools. The SACRE RE Adviser said that the calendar for the current academic year could be downloaded from the ‘Additional Resources’ section of the Bromley Education Matters – SACRE page: https://bromleyeducationmatters.uk/Page/15522

In response to a question from a Member, the SACRE RE Adviser said that text regarding the calendar competition could be provided to all SACRE Members following the meeting.

  ACTION: LBB Head of School Standards / Clerk

The SACRE RE Adviser had provided Members with an updated SACRE Action Plan for the period September 2022-September 2023. The SACRE RE Adviser highlighted that the actions were coloured coded and those marked in green were complete.

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that the first Primary and Secondary RE Network meetings for teachers had taken place, and the second meetings would be held the following week. The first of the bi-annual newsletters had been circulated to schools, and the second was due to be sent in May 2023. As previously mentioned, the information relating to the inter-faith competition had been sent to schools; the SACRE Annual Report 2021-2022 had been submitted to the relevant organisations; and the REal Resources were in the process of being reviewed.

At the last meeting, discussions had taken place about engaging with school Governors and supporting them in developing RE in their schools. As agreed, a Governor survey/questionnaire had been drafted and it was planned that it would be sent to schools for the Chair of Governors to complete. Questions would focus on what they knew about the RE delivered in their school and  what they would like further support with. It was noted that the Chairman would also be attending the Local Authority’s Governor Forum to introduce and explain the survey. The Chairman suggested that a further question could be added to the survey to ask if Governors were aware of what their school website said about RE – it was highlighted that, as a minimum, school websites should state which RE syllabus was being followed.

With regards to the Faith and Belief Forum (FBF) Project, the SACRE RE Adviser noted that she was involved in running a pilot programme with several schools, including two Bromley schools, to increase parental engagement with RE in schools. The pilot scheme would involve schools receiving five lesser-known artefacts from a religion or world view, which would not be holy or sacred, but were used for certain practices. The parents would be invited to host the artefacts in their own homes and, with the use of a questionnaire, be asked to reflect upon the concept to which items related and how they might be used. The responses would be collated and shared with participating parents at a school-based event, along with an explanation from the relevant worldview/religion. The project aimed to increase both inter-faith dialogue and parental engagement. An online CPD session would be held for teachers on 23^rd March 2023 to explain the project. In response to questions, the SACRE RE Adviser said that phase one of the project was only for primary schools but, if successful, it may be extended into a second phase which could include secondary schools. Once the pilot project was completed, a report could be provided.

A Member enquired if the project would be differentiated by the age range of pupils. The SACRE RE Adviser said that this would form part of the discussions at the teacher CPD session, considering how  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

A Teacher Representative advised that her primary school had received an Ofsted Inspection in December 2022. Although RE had not been chosen for a deep dive, it had been selected for a ‘subject sample’ – this involved most of the elements of a deep dive, with the exception of learning walks. There was no mention of RE within the judgement letter, however it was pleasing to know that this was an area that Ofsted had looked at during their visit. In response to a question from the SACRE RE Adviser, the Teacher Representative confirmed that the school were in the process of gathering evidence, including pupil voice and parental interactions, as part of the assessment for the RE Quality Mark which would be taking place in May 2023.

Another Teacher Representative informed SACRE Members that during the Ofsted Inspection at her secondary school, RE had been selected for a deep dive. During the process the Inspectors had really wanted to know her vision for the subject; where she wanted to take it; what she wanted the students to learn; and what she saw as good RE. They had looked at the curriculum maps and wanted to see the embedding of knowledge and making of links with the wider curriculum. Secondary to that was whether this was reiterated by students and other staff. It was felt that the importance of RE in schools was continuing to grow.

The SACRE RE Adviser reminded SACRE Members that a project to establish regional RE Hubs in every education region in England and Wales was underway. A website was being created in order to enable collaboration between everyone involved in RE, including schools, teachers, places of worship, SACREs and faith organisations. The RE Hubs would provide a platform to advertise and share knowledge, links and connections, and the finalised website would be launch later in the month. The RE Hubs would also offer a short online training session to enable individuals from places of interest or worship to gain kitemark accreditation to speak in schools. This would lead to an ‘approved’ list of speakers being made available on the website for schools.

A Member noted that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, SACRE Members had been given the opportunity to visit schools, which provided a good way for them “to see RE in action”. It was questioned whether these visits could be reinstated. The Chairman said that this was something that could be considered, however there were some logistical issues and they also needed to be sensitive as some schools were still wary of having external visitors. The SACRE RE Adviser said that in the interim they were looking at other ways to gather information about what schools did. The Member enquired if a school could be asked to deliver a presentation at the next meeting of the SACRE, providing an overview of RE at their school. The Chairman agreed that this was a good idea and could be considered. Mrs Angell, Teacher Representative, said she  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

6.00pm, Wednesday 7^th June 2023

6.00pm, Wednesday 1^st November 2023

6.00pm, Wednesday 28^th February 2024

6.00pm, Wednesday 14^th June 2023

6.00pm, Wednesday 1^st November 2023

6.00pm, Wednesday 28^th February 2024