Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Fourth Floor, Easthampstead House, Bracknell. View directions

Contact: Priya Patel  01344 352233

Items
No. Item

23.

Welcome and Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Anne Andrews to the meeting who had been nominated by the Oxford Diocese to be appointed as the Church of England representative for Bracknell Forest. It was noted that Anne Andrews would be formally appointed by the local authority by the next meeting and would be an observer at this meeting.

24.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 68 KB

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the meeting held on 7 November 2013.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2013 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to the date for the primary and secondary training day being corrected to 31 March 2013 under Minute 20.

25.

Matters Arising pdf icon PDF 33 KB

Minute 17: Draft Questionnaire to be circulated to all schools. SACRE is asked to feed in any suggested comments or amendments to Jo Fageant.

Minutes:

Minute 15: Representative from the Humanist Association

Martin Surrell reported that he had contacted Mr Reid to thank him for his attendance at the last meeting and to inform him that the SACRE did not wish to appoint a co-opted Humanist representative at this time.

 

Minute 21: Responsibilities of Governors for R.E in their Schools

Anne Andrews reported that a session had now been arranged within the governor training programme on 13 May 2014 between 7-9pm.

 

Minute 21: Annual SACRE Report 2012-13

Martin Surrell reported that the report had not yet been sent through from Jo Fageant.

(Action: Martin Surrell/ Priya Patel)

 

SACRE Questionnaire about RE in Bracknell Forest Primary Schools

 

It was agreed that the questionnaire should be sent to all primary, infant and junior schools by email.

 

Questions to be added to the questionnaire:

i)                    Is there a RE specialist in your school?

ii)                   What wider activity if any, do you undertake outside of the curriculum for RE?

iii)                 Do you attend the RE Subject Leader meetings? If not, why not?

 

Responses would be submitted to the Oxford Diocese; an analysis of the results would be undertaken and presented to the SACRE at the July 2014 meeting. One response per school was expected, reminders would also be sent as appropriate.

 

It was agreed that Martin Surrell would distribute the email to schools, the content of the email and the finalised questionnaire would be provided by Anne Andrews.

(Action: Anne Andrews)

26.

Examination Results and Curriculum Update

Martin Surrell to provide an update.

Minutes:

Martin Surrell reported that following an update to the curriculum the GCSE RE short course would be discontinued in the 2014-15 academic year. All schools in the borough are planning to teach the full GCSE RE course either from this September or from September 2015.

 

Students who opted to do the GCSE would have the usual time allocation to complete the course however those that did not choose it, may have less time and it was possible that not all students would be entered for the exam. It was noted that whilst some students may have the aptitude and keenness to enter the exam having completed the course in reduced time, not all would.

 

SACRE members asked if the schools had considered offering additional lessons out of normal hours.  There is some evidence of faith groups contributing to this. Martin Surrell agreed to discuss this with schools. Martin Surrell agreed to update SACRE on this.

  

(Action: Martin Surrell)

27.

The Artefacts Collection

Martin Surrell to provide an update.

Minutes:

Martin Surrell reported that loans had been fairly scant; the Hindu collection had been loaned twice.

 

He reported that the Easthampstead Education Centre had recently employed a member of staff to increase the use of the Education Centre. This had led to a greater number of courses being run from the Centre as well as broader access to courses. The use of the artefacts remained limited by Bracknell Forest schools and he asked if SACRE members would consider extending the invitation of loaning the artefacts to Wokingham schools. This could be undertaken on a chargeable basis, a nominal fee which would cover administration costs and fund any necessary replacement/repair costs. Wokingham did not currently have their own collection of artefacts.

 

SACRE members agreed that this would work well. Members also asked that reminders be sent to all schools about the artefacts to ensure that if staff had changed, the information about the artefacts was readily available. It was confirmed that the catalogue for the artefacts should include pictures and a description of each artefact. Martin Surrell agreed to ensure that the catalogue contained all this information in full.

(Action: Martin Surrell)

 

It was noted that the Council ran couriers on a weekly basis to schools and so the possibility of delivering artefacts to schools could be explored through the Council’s courier service.

 

It was noted that Jo Fageant sat on the Wokingham SACRE and so could raise the use of the artefacts at their next meeting.   

(Action: Jo Fageant)

28.

NASACRE Briefing (March 2014) pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Members to note the attached briefing from NASACRE.

Minutes:

Madeline Diver reported that Interfaith Week would take place between 16-22 November 2014; details would appear on the interfaith website.

29.

NASACRE AGM pdf icon PDF 69 KB

SACRE to agree a member to attend the NASACRE AGM on 22 May 2014.

Minutes:

It was agreed that Anne Andrews would attend the NASACRE AGM on 22 May 2014.

30.

Feedback from RE Subject Leader's Meeting

Anne Andrews to feedback.

Minutes:

Anne Andrews reported that the meeting had been attended by nine schools, which had included eight primary schools and one infant school. They had considered assessment and activities to assess achievement and progress.

 

SACRE members noted that some schools didn’t attend these meetings due to budget restraints. In addition, it was likely that communication was sometimes lost as emails were sent to school secretaries and did not always get directed to RE staff.

 

Anne Andrews reported that they had considered holding these meetings in a local place of worship and using these sessions also to ask schools to consider how they could use places of worship in their teaching. It was noted that the cost to schools for these sessions was solely, the cost of the venue.

 

Anne Andrews indicated that the Diocese may be able to assist in the following year by offering the use of their booking system for the sessions.

 

It was noted that if a future session was held at the Easthampstead Education Centre, teachers would also be able to view the artefacts collection and consider their use in their teaching.

31.

Joint SACRE's Conference

A discussion around what the Joint SACRE Conference will look like this year.

Minutes:

Anne Andrews reported that instead of a keynote speaker this year, it was proposed that Jo Fageant and Jon Lever would deliver the keynote speech. There would be an emphasis on whether SACRE’s wished to work in the future on a pan Berkshire basis and how they would interact together if they did so.

 

SACRE’s would also need to start considering their approach to feeding into the 2017 curriculum review and start planning this work now.

 

It was anticipated that the Joint SACRE’s Conference would be held towards the end of June or beginning of July 2014.

32.

SACRE Development Plan

A discussion around the SACRE’s current position and activity for the next financial year.

Minutes:

Martin Surrell reported that in terms of activity for the coming year:

 

  • Edgbarrow students would be invited to attend the July 2014 meeting.
  • Collective Worship guidance for schools, this was currently included in the Development Plan.
  • Anne Andrews would be taking on the co-ordination and running of the RE Subject Leader’s meetings.
  • It was agreed that the Oxford Diocese would undertake an analysis of the results of the RE questionnaire and submit this to the SACRE to consider.
  • In previous years, Jo Fageant had produced the SACRE annual report. Jo would be retiring in the summer 2015 and so it was suggested that a working group be formed to deliver this work.

 

The Chairman suggested that it would be useful to form a small working group to consider collective worship and what was currently being offered by schools. A short questionnaire could be prepared and sent to schools. It was agreed that Priya Patel would contact all SACRE members to request whether they would like to participate in this group.

(Action: Priya Patel)

 

Martin Surrell agreed to update the Development Plan as appropriate.

(Action: Martin Surrell)

33.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

  • Madeline Diver reported that the Faith & Belief Forum would be holding their AGM on 10 June 2014 and their speaker would be Dr Lisa McNally, Public Health Consultant.

34.

Dates of Future Meetings

10 July 2014

13 November 2014

Minutes:

10 July 2014

13 November 2014

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk