Agenda item

Members were provided with the revised Terms of Reference, which incorporated the amendments discussed at the SACRE meeting on 13^th November 2019.

A Member highlighted the use of the word ‘monitoring’ in clause 1.4, which may imply that the SACRE was inspecting schools. The Chairman noted that this was a valid concern, but the phrase ‘monitoring’ was being used in terms of seeing what was happening, and not to find faults. The SACRE RE Advisor informed Members that this was a phrase used by NASACRE, and one of the SACRE’s duties was to report annually to the Department for Education (DfE). This had been discussed by Members at the last meeting, and the clause had been moved further down the Terms of Reference to reduce the emphasis on it.

A Member suggested that in addition to ‘supporting the LA’, the Terms of Reference should also mention the support offered to schools and teachers. Members agreed that an additional clause be added to the document, at 1.3, to reflect this. It was suggested that the wording for this additional clause be agreed between the Chairman, SACRE RE Advisor, LBB Head of Service for Early Years, School Standards and Adult Education and LBB Head of School Standards.

In response to a question, the Chairman said that the SACRE was required to advise the LA and the Director of Education. The LBB Head of School Standards noted that items relating to the SACRE, such as the Bromley Agreed Syllabus and RE Network meetings, were included on the Bromley Education Matters website and therefore accessible by all schools, including academies.

A Member suggested that the wording ‘will remain in post’ used in clause 2.2 should be revised, in order to reflect that Members were voted on to the SACRE for an open term. It was further recommended that clause 2.5 be amended to state that the SACRE would ‘elect’ its own Chairman and Vice Chairman, rather than ‘appoint’. It was noted that advice on the wording used for these clauses be sought from the LBB Democratic Services Manager and LBB Director of Corporate Services.     ACTION: Clerk

In response to a question, the Chairman said that it was the statutory duty of the SACRE to be as aware as they were able to be, in relation to the delivery of RE and collective worship in schools. Schools were required to publish which RE syllabus they used on their websites. The SACRE could make them aware of this, and if they continued to be non-compliant it could be reported to the DfE – however as the SACRE had these responsibilities, but with little power, they would give positive encouragement to schools.

The SACRE RE Advisor noted that when they had become aware that a school was non-compliant, the issues had been brought to the SACRE for discussion, and actions had been carried out. There was not a policy on how all schools would be dealt with, as any school would instead be dealt with on an individual basis. It was stressed that there was now a much better picture in regards to RE and collective worship in Bromley’s schools than there had been a year ago.

In response to a question relating to the non-compliant school discussed at the last SACRE meeting, the Chairman advised Members that the LBB Director of Education had visited the school and a robust conversation had taken place with the Headteacher. The school were advised that the SACRE were aware of their non-compliance, and would be reviewing the situation. The SACRE did not have a lot of power, but would use what power it had in the best way it could.

The SACRE RE Advisor highlighted that the SACRE’s main source of information came from the teachers attending the RE Network meetings. If required, she could search the school websites for information relating to their RE syllabus, but it would be very time consuming to do so.

The LBB Head of School Standards advised Members that it was the responsibility of school Governors to check that information relating to the syllabus was provided on their school website, and this was covered in the training for Governors. It was noted that Ofsted would also check if this information was available prior to their visits. The Chairman informed Members that he was scheduled to speak at a future School Governor Forum, and would remind them of this requirement. A Member suggested that as Ofsted were already looking at this analysis, and every Ofsted report was provided to the LA, a digest of the feedback from the reports relating to RE and collective worship could be provided to the SACRE.         ACTION: LBB Head of School Standards

A Member noted that producing the revised Bromley Agreed Syllabus was the best way to provide support to schools. There would be new impetus and lots of interest. The SACRE RE Advisor emphasised that following the launch of the revised Bromley Agreed Syllabus, it was intended that strategies to review and measure its use would be looked at.

RESOLVED that the Bromley SACRE Terms of Reference be approved, subject to the suggested changes being made, and the final version appended to the minutes.