Minutes:
The LBB Head of School Standards presented the new ‘Bromley Education Matters’ website to the SACRE. It was noted that there had been a soft launch of the website at the beginning of the week, and a wider launch expected to take place in the near future.
The ‘About us’ section provided information on what the website offered, and listed the details of Education Planning for any queries to be sent on to. The ‘Services’ tab provided links to a number of sections and included the area for School Standards, which it was noted would increase rapidly in size over the next few weeks. The ‘Resources’ tab provided the link to the SACRE page, which included an introductory statement that had been agreed by the Chairman and SACRE RE Advisor. The SACRE page provided links to the Ramadan Guide for Schools, Bromley Agreed Syllabus, Religious Education and Collective Worship Self-Review and Reflective Pools Refreshing Collective Worship in Bromley schools documents.
The Chairman noted that the SACRE page also had a ‘Useful links’ section, which referenced external links, such as ‘Exploring the Holocaust: UK Residential Course - 14 February 2020 to 18 February 2020’. It had been requested that a disclaimer be added to make it clear that the items listed were not endorsed by the SACRE, but that schools may find them useful.
The LBB Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education advised Members that the Bromley Education Matters website had replaced the Fronter system. Over the coming weeks and months the website would be developed further – more information would be added, and it would be open to all. In response to a question, the LBB Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education said that the Bromley Education Matters website was separate from the London Borough of Bromley website. It had been purchased as a template, and was hosted by a third party.
The LBB Head of School Standards informed Members that the website could be found by typing ‘BromleyEducationMatters.uk’ into a search engine. It was currently being negotiated for the website to be moved up in the search lists, and key words could be provided. Members suggested that it would be important to include the phrase ‘Bromley RE’ on this list, and for the Bromley Education Matters and London Borough of Bromley websites to provide links to each other. It was also requested that the SACRE resources page include a link to the NASACRE website, and a ‘Contact us’ section to provide details of the Clerk to the Bromley SACRE.
ACTION: LBB Head of School Standards
In response to a question, the Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education confirmed that the Bromley Education Matters website could be accessed now, but at present, teachers were unable to sign up for any courses. This was the only section that required a log-in, and they were in the process of providing these details to all Headteachers.
Members noted that they were very impressed with the Bromley Education Matters website.
Councillor Pierce left the meeting following the consideration of this item.