Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and in particular pupils and staff from the ‘RE/Philosophy, Ethics, Belief’ class at Garth Hill College who were in attendance to receive the Bracknell Forest SACRE R.E. Prize and certificates. The Chairman thanked Paula Ridgway, Samantha Hunt and the pupils and commended their work on promoting community cohesion. In addition, the Chairman welcomed back Dan Archer, Principal Advisor in Social Care and Learning at Bracknell Forest Council.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the SACRE meeting held on 10 March 2009 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Minute 93: Artefacts Update and Review

It was reported that the artefact loan scheme was working well and there was an opportunity to look at SACRE artefacts displayed in the cabinets at the Education Centre. Sikhism and Hinduism artefacts continued to be most frequently loaned out. Schools needed to collect artefacts but artefacts could be reserved before collection.

The Chairman presented Joel Roszykiewicz with a certificate for participation in SACRE training held on 20 April 2009.

The Chairman reported that Louise Birley, Roman Catholic Church, had submitted her resignation from SACRE and had been thanked for her contribution as Vice-Chair of SACRE. Also, Gill Ledsham, Quaker, had submitted her resignation and there were now five vacancies to be filled.

The SHA would be reminded that a nomination was needed from them and would be appointed by Bracknell Forest Council. Dan Archer would speak to Martin Surrell regarding new members for SACRE.

It was reported that there was an award of £100, instead of £250, for the Bracknell Forest SACRE Prize Competition as there was only one entry. The project work for future competitions could be set for during the summer term after SATs for Year 5 pupils and could act as a good transition project.

It was felt that the competition could be held every two years to provide a long lead in for planning, marketing and possible links with organisations such as Unicef. The competition could raise awareness of what could be achieved through R.E. Sam Hunt would inform the Chairman of the date for the next R.E. co-ordinators’ meeting to be held in the autumn term of 2009.

The Chairman thanked Paula Ridgway, Sam Hunt, Kusum Trikha and everyone who had helped with the competition.

Julie Mintern reported that the NASACRE AGM was very useful and information booklets on SACRE were available for attendees. Training materials were available on the NASACRE website www.nasacre.org.uk and there was a wide range of views and opinions raised at the AGM.

Geoff Teece, University of Birmingham, gave a keynote address on ‘Why we need good RE’ which could also be found on the NASACRE website and could possibly be used as a discussion topic in schools. The possible formation of a Youth SACRE was raised at the AGM. Julie Mintern would forward her report of the AGM onto the Chairman to circulate to SACRE members.

Joel Roszykiewicz reported that Berkshire SACREs’ conference was informative on identifying issues surrounding gifted and talented children in the context of R.E. and children with special needs. Teachers would find the conference very useful and could take ideas back to their R.E. departments.

Dan Archer reported that the Pan-Berkshire CPD Group were planning a series of subject specific conferences and that one could be for RE. Jo Fageant pointed out that she was also planning a Pan-Berkshire RE Conference and expressed her concern that two such conferences would draw on the same audience. It was agreed that the Pan-Berkshire Group would support Jo Fageant in promoting just one RE Conference.

Jo Fageant reported that the QCA/DCSF Curriculum Consultation would continue until 5pm on 24 July 2009. There were four parts to the consultation including non-statutory guidance on R.E. and primary curriculum.

The new non-statutory guidance would replace the R.E. and SACRE elements of Circular 194 but not the elements relating to collective worship. The consultation included an independent review of primary curriculum but not the National Curriculum as a whole. It was noted that there was more emphasis on historical and geographical elements in the consultation than R.E.

A corporate response to the consultation from Bracknell Forest Council would be useful but individual responses from SACRE members via the online questionnaire were considered to be possibly more practical given the time constraints. Jo Fageant had been gathering views on the consultation and would give Mark Chater’s e-mail address at QCA to the Chairman to circulate to SACRE members if they would like to e-mail Mr Chater directly.

The Chairman thanked Jo Fageant for her work on reviewing the consultation.

Martin Surrell and Joel Roszykiewicz met with the Chairman to draft a SACRE Development Plan for 2009-2012 which was partly based on the original format. The Chairman welcomed comments from SACRE members on the five objectives identified as part of the plan. The main points arising from the discussion were:

• Objective 1: information passed from SACRE to the Local Education Authority and then distributed to schools could show how SACRE provided high quality advice and guidance. Objective 1: Action 4: ‘Establish Working Groups to develop ideas and make recommendations’ could be moved to Objective 3.

• Objective 2: the effectiveness of the present syllabus could also be monitored and reviewed within this objective. Objective 2 could be linked with ‘quality of teaching’ in Objective 4.

• Objective 3: Action 1: ‘Consider reports and initiatives from QCA and other relevant bodies. Make recommendations to the LA’ to be moved to Objective 1.

• Objective 4: Action 3: ‘Monitor the use of RE artefacts’ to be moved to Objective 3. Objective 4 could provide an opportunity to engage through RE co-ordinator meetings regarding monitoring standards and the syllabus.

Dan Archer would look into the issue of the professional associations’ membership of SACRE. The Chairman would write to the Director of Social Care and Learning at Bracknell Forest Council and Councillor Alan Kendall, Executive Member for Community Cohesion, to find out how R.E. was being delivered in schools.

The election results of the South East England Faith Forum (SEEFF) for 2009 were noted.

• The third SACRE conference in London took place on 3 July 2009. Communication was a possible idea for a future SACRE conference where representatives from six local authorities and teacher representatives could discuss how SACRE was organised in different areas. It was felt that there should be a post conference meeting to cascade information on to SACRE members.
• Dan Archer reported that of the schools which had SIAS inspections recently Ranelagh was reported to be ‘outstanding’ and Crowthorne was reported to be ‘good’.
• Jo Fageant reported that SIAS inspection reports of the Diocese could be found on their website.
• Jo Fageant would produce an RE update newsletter at the beginning of every school term. Items should be forwarded to Jo at the end of the previous school holidays for inclusion in the newsletter the following term.

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Tuesday 10 March 2010

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Tuesday 10 November 2009

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Wednesday 7 July 2010