Agenda item

It was suggested that prior to the meeting, members look at the following sections of the SACRE Reporting and Evaluating Toolkit and come ready to discuss their thoughts:

Group A members (representatives of other faiths and Christian denominations) were asked to focus on Section 5 – Contribution of SACRE to promoting cohesion across the community.

Group B members (representatives from the Church of England) were asked to focus on Section 3 – Collective worship.

Group C members (teachers) were asked to focus on Section 2 – The effectiveness of the locally agreed syllabus.

Group D members (Councillors) were asked to focus on Section 4 – Management of SACRE.

The RE Consultant would complete Section 1 – Standards and Quality of Provision of RE.

At the meeting SACRE members were invited to divide into their membership groups to discuss and come to a consensus. Results of the self-evaluation can be seen in the table appended to these minutes.

Additional points arising from the discussion are listed below.

Section 1 – Standards and Quality of Provision of RE

The RE Consultant had considered the criteria from the perspective of answering up to this point in time. It was noted that Key Areas 1C – Quality of learning and teaching and 1E – Recruitment and retention of skilled specialist RE staff were felt to lie in between the established and advanced criteria. For Key Area 1F – Relations with academies and other non-LA maintained schools it was regarded to be an unusual situation in Bromley. Schools had been encouraged to become academies much earlier, but were still involved with each other and had a relationship with the Local Authority.

Section 2 – The effectiveness of the locally agreed syllabus

The teaching group had stressed the importance of the Primary Schools’ Forum, and the RE Consultant advised that this would no longer be funded by the Local Authority in line with other subject forums (this work was not part of SACRE). It was noted that church schools were involved in RE Connect which was arranged by Lee Kings, who would be happy for any other RE coordinators to attend. The teaching group also highlighted the diverse membership of the SACRE.

Section 3 – Collective worship

The Church of England group noted that for Key Area 3B – Enhancing the quality of provision of collective worship, SACRE members would only be able to have ‘hands-on’ experience of collective worship in schools if they were invited in. Key Area 3C – Responding to requests for determinations was considered to be in the established criteria, as although Bromley SACRE had not previously been asked, members felt that they would be able to put procedures in place if and when required.

The Church of England group also considered the SACREs successes and barriers to success. They felt the main success was visits to schools which were extremely positive, and the barrier to success was the changing local and national educational landscape. Areas for development were to keep up to date with what was happening locally and nationally, and for the Local Authority to maintain support for the SACRE within the current constraints.

Section 4 – Management of SACRE

The Councillors group felt that for Key Area 4A – SACRE meetings the SACRE could only meet the established criteria, as they did not agree with the final line of the advanced criteria, which stated that ‘meetings are held in a variety of venues, including local places of worship and schools’. In Key Area 4F – Partnerships with key stakeholders, Councillors recognised the effective and positive networks that had been created as a result of the SACRE.

Section 5 – Contribution of SACRE to promoting cohesion across the community

The other faiths group considered that for Key Area 5A – SACRE’s membership, Bromley SACRE met the advanced criteria. It was noted that there were no gaps in the membership, and the presence of Councillors allowed them to represent their communities. The group felt that further work could be carried out to look at the changes in communities with regards to the Community Cohesion and Prevent Agendas.

RESOLVED that the SACRE self-evaluation be agreed and SACRE members consider how to improve on the scores going forward.