Agenda and minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Advisory Committee held on 10 November 2010.

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 November were agreed as a correct record.

Minute 164: Bracknell Forest SACRE’s Annual Report 2009/10 – It was reported that this annual report had now been finalised.

Minute 165: Locally Agreed Syllabus Review Plan and Funding – Jo Fageant reported that a questionnaire had now been devised and would be sent out, requesting a response by the second week of May. An analysis would be created for each local authority and a joint document would be submitted at the Joint SACRE Conference. The analysis should provide a picture of what teachers would like the syllabus to look like.

In response to Jo Fageant’s request for any amendments to the questionnaire, members asked that;

i)                    In Question 1 – the ‘unsure’ category be deleted.

ii)                   That a return date for the questionnaire be added to the end of the questionnaire.

Jo Fageant reported that an analysis of responses would be brought to the Joint Conference for SACRE.

The Chairman formally welcomed John Baildam to his first meeting. He also announced that Irene Robinson would be leaving the membership of SACRE and thanked her for her valuable contribution over the years and wished her well for the future.

The Chairman reported that Kathleen Nugent had retired from teaching and was no longer a member of SACRE, NAHT would need to be approached to nominate a successor. Kusum Trikha advised that she was a member of NAHT and would provide contact details for the clerk/chairman.

Martin Surrell reported that there had been no loans since Christmas and that the artefacts remained in good condition.

Martin Surrell reported that he had a productive meeting with the RE Co-ordinator at Edgbarrow School. A session had been arranged to undertake some evaluation and monitoring of the quality of RE in secondary schools.  Secondary headteachers preferred a 2pm start for this. Supply cover would be offered for 1 period per teacher.

It was agreed to that Martin Surrell will ask Heads of RE to include comments about the quality of teaching in their feedback from the session.

Jo Fageant reported that the Secretary of State had announced that RE would not be included in the National Curriculum review. This would only be a concern if the position of RE was to be affected by changes made to other subjects.  Jo Fageant advised that she would remain in close contact with the Department for Education.

It was reported that RE would not be included in the English Ebacc.  The humanities subjects that students would be required to choose in order to qualify for the Ebacc were geography and history. Jo Fageant had made representations and received a response to say that as RE was included in the mainstream compulsory curriculum, it was not included in  the Ebacc, on the basis that students would have already done RE.

Martin Surrell clarified that geography and history remained optional subjects, although students who did not choose one of them would not be able to achieve the Ebacc. However, he advised that Ebacc was a performance measure, rather than a qualification and that schools had not yet shown interest in making significant changes to their curriculum offer to accommodate it.    

a)      Expenditure in current year

b)      Budget Allocation for 2011-12

Martin Surrell reported that there had been a slight overspend on the budget this year, but that this would be written off. SACRE had underspent in previous years. The budget allocation for 2011-12 would remain unchanged at £1,500, subject to approval from the Executive Member.  A further budget would be made available to finance the review of the locally agreed syllabus.

Jo Fageant reported that the Slough SACRE and the Reading SACRE still needed to confirm whether they would be participating. If there were fewer participants, this may affect costs.

Jo Fageant reported that she had put together a plan for the review based on the format used last time, as this had been successful. This would begin by looking at the responses to the questionnaire and any major influences from conferences. Following this, there would be workshops for each Key Stage, with one teacher involved in each workshop.

She reported that a document for the Joint SACRE’s would be made available after all workshops had taken place. She reported that if teachers did not want a great deal of change, this would reduce the cost of her time, as less work would be required on her part.  

The Chairman reported that whilst there had not been any activity in Bracknell Forest, there had been events around the Country. Jo Fageant reported that the Wokingham SACRE had launched their published RE trail and this had been displayed in the Council offices at Wokingham and distributed to schools. There had also been a Reception at the House of Commons on 1^st March.

Maureen Beadsley reported that this was a work in progress, as Bracknell Forest was a relatively new town, it wasn’t easy to establish the religious history of the area. It may be more effective to put together an on-line map of places of religious interest for Bracknell Forest that schools could perhaps navigate. She informed members that the working group still needed to carry out more research on this and that she would welcome any input from members about any local information that they may have.

Councillor Finch reported that the Wokingham RE trail made use of Google mapping and that it may be useful to use it for the Bracknell Forest one. He also suggested that some religious places of interest be left out, so that children can undertake their own research.

The Chairman thanked the working group for their work so far and suggested that places with a clear religious identity be used as a starting point. He also suggested that a virtual trail may work well for Bracknell Forest, given the distances between the places of interest.

Maureen Beadsley asked that if members had any information on local places of religious interest that they send her the information. The Chairman agreed to send all members, Maureen’s e-mail address.

Jo Fageant reported that this Conference would take place on either 21^st or 28^th June at Easthampstead Conference Centre between 6-9pm. Jo would confirm this to members through the Clerk or the Chairman.

Jo Fageant reported that her term of office would be coming to an end but that she hoped to be re-elected.

There would be a NASACRE Conference on 31^st March, this would be a free conference.

Thursday 7 July 2011

Thursday 10 November 2011

Thursday 7 July 2011

Thursday 10 November 2011