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 Educational Advisor 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 Educational Advisor considered that Key Area 1F – Relations with academies and other non-LA maintained schools met the advanced criteria and was evidenced by his meetings with Headteachers and their willingness to agree school visits. It was felt the SACRE’s main successes were visits to schools and establishing communications and relationships with school leaders and the barrier to success was the shortage of RE specialists in some schools. Suggested areas for development included a survey of schools to inform the SACRE and for the Local Authority to collect KS4 outcomes.

Section 2 – The effectiveness of the locally agreed syllabus

The teaching group highlighted that for Key Area 2C – Launching and implementing the Agreed Syllabus, only the developing criteria could be met due to the SACRE having ‘little training provision for implementing the revised syllabus’. Key Area 2E – Developing the revised Agreed Syllabus, was considered to just meet the established criteria, and it was noted that this was an area that could be worked on.

Section 3 – Collective worship

The Church of England group advised that for Section 3 – Collective worship, the self-evaluation criteria met was considered to be the same as 2016. It was however considered that some of the Key Areas would fit between the established and advanced criteria.

Section 4 – Management of SACRE

The Councillors group considered the SACREs successes and barriers to success. They felt the main successes were visits to schools and lively discussions, and the barrier to success was the general view of RE. A wider awareness of the SACRE within schools was felt to be an area for development for the Local Authority.

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 this was evidenced by membership lists and attendance at meetings, which was provided in the SACRE Annual report.

The group felt that Key Area 5B – SACRE’s understanding of the local community, could only meet the established criteria. This was due to there being no capacity for the SACRE to ‘take active steps to inform itself further about the distinctive needs and opportunities’ created by the ‘religious, ethnic and cultural diversity in the local area’, or ‘develop initiatives with local Inter Faith groups’. Key Area 5C – SACRE’s engagement with the community cohesion agenda could only be rated as developing because it was felt there was an individual grasp of ‘what community cohesion means’, but not a collective one. It was also believed that the SACRE was struggling to ‘promote RE’s contribution to schools of faith communities’. Key Area 5D – SACRE’s role within wider LA initiatives on community cohesion was also thought to only meet the developing criteria as this was not considered to be a priority for the Local Authority.

Further discussion took place regarding Section 5 – Contribution of SACRE to promoting cohesion across the community, with members feeling that it was difficult to do anything with regards to this as it was not currently on the agendas of Ofsted, the Government or the Local Authority. The Chairman advised the group that Birmingham SACRE apparently had a budget of £35K to promote community cohesion, which had been allocated as a direct response following the ‘Trojan Horse’ investigation in Birmingham schools. Members considered that this was retrospective budgeting, with investment only happening once something had gone wrong, and asked if there was any evidence that anything had improved. It was suggested that documents and minutes of Birmingham SACRE meetings could be sourced from the internet, and that a direct question could be posed with regards to the sharing of best practice.

ACTION POINT: Chairman / LBB Educational Advisor / Clerk

Other members said that they would prefer to see what SACREs without any budget were doing, as it was felt that Bromley SACRE was doing as well as could be expected with the resources available, and that if good ideas were sourced there would be no capacity to deliver them anyway. Members queried if an average had been indicated for the budget that SACREs were allocated across the country. The Chairman said that had not been provided, but there were lots of SACREs with no actual budget that just requested money needed for specific tasks, and some with a definite budget, but much fewer than previously. A similar self-evaluation exercise had been carried out at the NASACRE Conference and AGM, with the consensus being that SACREs were rated as ‘established’, and not ‘advanced’, due to lack of resources.

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