Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting.  Apologies received were noted.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 November 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2014 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to Minute 51 being amended to read that Carol Nicholls would be retiring after the summer meeting and not next meeting and further amended to read Kathy Hadfield in place of Cathy Hatfield.

Note from Jo Fageant

Anne read an e-mail she had received from Jo who had sent her apologies for being unable to attend the meeting.  Cllr Andy Blatchford requested that the content should be inserted into the minutes:

“I’d like to thank all members, past and present, of the BF SACRE for their welcome and support over many years of us working together.  We have of course been disappointed by our reduced funding but we have had a good record of supporting schools – something to be proud of.  The thing I have been disappointed about is that Gordon Anderson was no longer with us when we published our current syllabus when all through he was such an active and committed Chair of both the SACRE and the Agreed Syllabus Conference.  As well as thanking all members for their support I should like especially to go on record as being enormously grateful to Gordon for his strong leadership and support over many years and more recently to David since he has taken over as Chair.

I’m leaving at a time of exciting development in partnership working with other Berkshire SACREs on projects I believe will make a positive impact on RE in schools.  I’ve long thought this would be valuable and it’s one of the reasons why I’ve run the joint SACREs conference for so many years and I thank you for being so supportive of these.

I apologise that I am unable to be with you for what should have been my final meeting because I’m inspecting in a school in central Leicester.

On an entirely personal note, I want to thank you all for your friendship – I shall miss working with you BUT I am looking forward to having a bit more time for relaxation and hobbies.

Best wishes to you all”.

Minute 50 – Anne Andrews reported that she did not have the contact details for Ben Britton in order to pass on to him the contact details for Sandy Lane Primary School.  Anne asked if any member could supply her with Ben’s details so she could complete the action.

To note the SACRE budget for 2015/16.

Chris Salt passed each member a copy of the 2014/15 budget.  It was noted that the budget for 2015/16 had been increased to £1,570.00 from £1,499.00 meaning that current expenditure could be sustained for the new financial year. 

Anne Andrews reported that she had not yet submitted her travel claim for £32.00 for attending the national conference.  Cllr Andy Blatchford requested that she do so before 31 March 2015 and to send her claim directly to Alan Nash.  It was noted that the under-spend for 2014/15 of £850.00 would not be carried over to 2015/16 though the cost of the annual report had yet to be deducted from the under-spend.

Anne Andrews volunteered to attend the next national conference on behalf of the Bracknell Forest SACRE and proposed she should also attend on behalf of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead so that attendance costs could be shared. 

(Action: Anne Andrews)

To consider Lord Nash’s letter to SACREs, the response to the letter from NASACRE and how this SACRE may wish to respond.

The Chairman reported that he was happy with the letter from Lord Nash and that he supported the proposal within the letter that the Department of Education intended to commission a review of SACRE annual reports.

The Chairman reported that his response to Lord Nash’s letter would point out that SACRE members were not volunteers but were appointed members of a statutory body who happened to be unpaid.  This was agreed by all.

(Action:Chairman)

To consider the responses to the Collective Worship survey.

Anne Andrew’s evaluation of the responses to the Collective Worship Survey was noted and it was observed that the number of responses was disappointingly low.  Responses had been received from 5 church schools (1 secondary, 4 primary) and 8 community schools (1 infant, 6 primary and 1 secondary).  It was noted that no response had been received from Garth Hill College where Ben Britton was Head of RE.

The meeting discussed possible reasons for the low level of responses and agreed that a misunderstanding of what was intended by collective worship and the fact that the survey took place during Holocaust week may have been contributing factors. 

The meeting discussed the meaning of collective worship and Anne Andrews summarised it as a daily act of worship that could take place at any time of day in any normal group of pupils.  Chris Salt reported that Edgbarrow School had worthwhile collective worship and stated he thought it was a shame that no response had been received from the school.  It was proposed that Chris Salt should liaise with the appropriate person at Edgbarrow School and invite them to come to a SACRE meeting to talk about the school’s understanding of collective worship.  In addition, Chris Salt agreed to identify a primary school that had meaningful collective worship and also invite their appropriate representative to attend a SACRE meeting.

(Action: Chris Salt)

It was proposed that the Chairman should write to all schools, including church schools, to find out why no response had been forthcoming or, in the case of some of those who had responded, why the results indicated that the statutory requirement for collective worship was not being fully complied with. 

It was proposed that Anne Andrew’s evaluation should be  included in the Chairman’s letter – excluding the second sentence of the first paragraph – with SACREs possible response prefaced with ‘SACRE could take any of the following actions and will advise the LA appropriately’ with points 3, 5, 6 and 9 being removed from the possible responses.

(Action: Chairman)

To undertake an ongoing review of SACRE using the self-evaluation document.  At this meeting, it is proposed to address Collective Worship.

The meeting considered section 3 of the SACRE Reporting and Evaluating Toolkit – Collective Worship. 

(a)  Key Area 3a – Supporting pupil entitlement: What strategies are in place to enable the SACRE to support the delivery of pupil entitlement in the LA’s schools?

All agreed this was a Developing practice.

(b)  Key Area 3b – Enhancing the quality of provision of collective worship: How does SACRE seek to influence the quality of collective worship in the LA’s schools?

All agreed this was a Developing practice and that there was a need for a better understanding by members of the meaning of ‘effective provision’.  It was hoped that attendance at a SACRE meeting by appropriate staff from Edgbarrow School and a primary school who facilitated worthwhile collective worship would clarify this point for members.

(c)  Key Area 3c – Responding to requests for determination:How robust are SACREs procedures for responding to requests from schools for a determination?

All agreed this was an Established practice.

To receive feedback from Anne Andrews on the RE Subject Leader training taking place on 10 March 2015.

Mark Olney reported the RE subject leader training had been very valuable and had included a worthwhile cross-section of views on places to visit to worship and discussion on what could be gained from those visits.  Mark explained that 9 teachers representing 8 schools had attended the training with a further 3 schools showing interest in the training day content after the training had taken place. 

Mark reported that the same people tended to be present at these training sessions which indicated the value of the training.  It was agreed that future RE subject leader training should take place at Easthampstead Park Conference Centre.

To review the SACRE Development Plan.

The meeting considered the SACRE Development Plan for 2013-15. 

(a)  Annual report on the work of the SACRE:  Anne said she would check with Jo Fageant when the final report would be ready and circulated to members.  Anne said she would ask Jo to ensure the cost of producing the report was invoiced before 31 March 2015. 

(Action: Anne Andrews)

(b)  Annual analysis of GCSE and A level entry and results statistics: The Chairman reported this had been carried out in the autumn term.

(c)  Review and amend/update a SACRE development plan: The Chairman said this should be the main focus of the summer meeting.

Members considered how the department for Children, Young People and Learning could be made aware of the work of the SACRE and discussed the production of a paper outlining its function at a scrutiny panel.

Members agreed that to support cohesion across the community, the annual report would be sent to Cllr Gill Birch with a request for her to take it to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel.  Anne Andrews volunteered to speak at a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel about the work undertaken and future plans of the SACRE and the Chairman said he would attend with Anne.  Cllr Mrs Dorothy Hayes said she would arrange for this to take place.

(Action: Cllr Dorothy Hayes)

It was proposed that the Development Plan should be amended to include a statement that the SACRE would promote itself across the community and attendance at the Overview and Scrutiny Panel would be part of that initiative.  Members discussed other initiatives for promotion of the SACRE and agreed to forward their ideas to Anne Andrews in time for inclusion in the July meeting agenda pack.

(Action: All)

To consider the expression of interest for developing a strategy for regional support for RE,

Anne Andrews explained the aim of the bid to Culham St Gabriel’s Trust was to fund a training seminar for volunteers from faith communities who hosted visits to places of worship.  The purpose of the training would be to increase confidence and expertise and raise standards in the teaching associated with the visits.  Anne said the bid would be considered on 27 March 2015 and reported it was currently progressing well.

To receive feedback from the meetings of SACRE chairs.

The members considered the report of the meetings of the Chairs of the six Berkshire SACREs.

The Chairman noted that the second meeting had been poorly attended. 

To consider a proposal for a joint SACREs conference in June 2015.

It was reported that Jo Fageant had agreed to run this year’s Joint SACREs Conference.  The date had been agreed as 15 June between 4.15pm – 7.30pm at Easthampstead Park Conference Centre.  It was proposed that members should advise Jo Fageant of their intention to attend.

(Action: All)

To consider any issues for NASACRE’s latest briefing which is attached.

SACRE noted the latest NASACRE Briefing.  Issues raised in the briefing had been discussed earlier.

Social and Cultural Association of Dastyar

Madeline Diver reported that a group called the Social and Cultural Association of Dastyar made up of English and Afghan individuals had registered with Involve.  The aim of the Association was to teach RE but it was not clear whether the teaching was aimed at everyone or just Afghans.  Madeline reported that the group are promoting themselves on Facebook and their registered address was Ivy Court on Harmans Water Road.  Madeline advised that she had given this information to Ian Boswell who was investigating what the group’s teaching syllabus was, who they were teaching and, in particular, if this involved young persons.  Madeline said she would update members on the outcome of Ian Boswell’s investigation.

(Action: Madeline Diver)

Further meetings of SACRE are scheduled at 5pm on 9 July and 12 November 2015.

SACRE is asked to consider what items should be prepared and discussed at the next meeting on 9 July and, in the longer term, at the meeting on 12 November 2015.

It was noted that future meetings would be held at 5pm on the following dates:

9 July 2015

12 November 2015