Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed all to the meeting and invited Kathy Hadfield to open the meeting with a prayer.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 8 November 2012.

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 November 2012 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Further to Minute 28, Locally Agreed Syllabus and Related Training, Martin Surrell reported that training dates had been circulated and that he would be requesting Governor Services to consider providing training on the new Locally Agreed Syllabus in the next academic year.

(Action Martin Surrell)

Further to Minute 30, School Examination Results 2011 Review, Martin Surrell reported that he would circulate the validated results.  He also reported that the Government had withdrawn its proposals for the new English Baccalaureate Certificates to replace GCSE in some subjects and was now consulting on school accountability.  Two key measures were proposed: the proportion achieving GCSE Grade C and above in English and Maths and the average points score in 8 subjects (English, Maths plus three subjects from the original list of baccalaureate subjects and 3 other subjects, one of which could be RE). It was agreed that the Chair write to the Chairs of Governors of Bracknell Secondary schools reminding them of the requirement to teach an accredited course as part of the Agreed Syllabus at Key Stage 4.  (See also item 40)

 (Action David Fawcett)

Further to Minute 31, SACRE Annual Report, Jo Fageant reported that she would be posting the Annual Report, as amended, on the NASACRE website.

(Action Jo Fageant)

Further to Minute 32, Practitioner Workshop – Religion and Belief, Discrimination and Equality, Madeline Diver reported that she had been informed that the outcomes of the workshop would not be published until June.

Abby Thomas, Head of Community Engagement and Equalities, Bracknell Forest Council, to attend.

a) Membership Update

The Clerk reported that the Reverend Ken Blanton had been appointed as a Free Churches representative.

b) Census Information

Abby Thomas, Head of Community Engagement and Equalities, Bracknell Forest Council, tabled a report detailing the results of the 2011 Census regarding religion in Bracknell Forest.

She reported that those affiliated with the Christian religion remained the largest group at 61% compared with 72% in 2001.  This was the only group to have experienced a major decrease in numbers since the last census.

The second largest group in 2011 was no religion/religion not stated which increased from 25% in 2011 to 35% in 2011.  All other religious groups in Bracknell Forest rose from a combined figure of 2.60% in 2001 to 4.46% in 2011.

The meeting noted the report and thanked Abby Thomas for her presentation.

c) Humanism

Martin Surrell reported on recent correspondence with a member of the public regarding humanist representation of Bracknell Forest SACRE. He had informed the correspondent that the matter had been considered in November 2011 and referred him to the minutes of that meeting on the Council website. However he did agree to raise the issue again.

A discussion took place during which some members expressed the view that, as SACRE was concerned with religious education and humanism was not a religion it should not be represented.  There were also concerns expressed that the co-option of a humanist representative might set a precedent, encouraging applications from a variety of beliefs and practices.  However other members noted that, according to the 2011 census, the second largest group in Bracknell Forest was no religion/religion not stated. It was also noted that a number of other SACREs had a humanist representative.

It was agreed to invite a representative of the Berkshire Humanists Association to the next meeting in order to outline what the Association felt it could contribute to the SACRE.

 (Action Martin Surrell)

Correspondence attached for information.

The correspondence with the Department for Education regarding the potential impact on RE on the Government’s proposal for the English Baccalaureate (now withdrawn) had been circulated and was noted.

The meeting discussed ideas for an RE event for pupils to be held in the next academic year.  It was agreed that a proposal be submitted to the next meeting.

(Action Jo Fageant)

It was also agreed to purchase 6 copies of the recently produced dvd by Wokingham SACRE for KS3 pupils and they be sent to Bracknell Forest secondary schools with a covering letter from the Chair requesting pupil feedback.

(Action Martin Surrell/David Fawcett)

Jo Fageant reported that a Joint Conference for Berkshire SACREs would be held on 5 June to coincide with the publication of an Ofsted report on the teaching of RE.

To consider the future work programme.

Further to Minute 33 a) of the meeting held on 8 November 2012 the meeting discussed its future work programme and suggested the following for inclusion:

• Establishment of a Working Party to co-ordinate an RE event for pupils (Minute40 refers).
• Leadership of primary school RE Co-ordinators.
• Monitoring standards in RE.
• Development of a toolkit for collective worship.

It was agreed that a draft work programme be submitted to the next meeting.

(Action Martin Surrell/Jo Fageant)

a)            NASACRE AGM 2013

Jo Fageant reported that 2013 NASACRE AGM would be held in Birmingham on May 23^rd and requested that any member interested in attending contact the Chair.

4 July 2013, Education Centre

7 November 2013, Council Chamber

4 July 2013, Education Centre

7 November 2013, Council Chamber