Agenda item

Thursday 8 March 2012

Thursday 5 July 2012

Thursday 8 November 2012

BRACKNELL FOREST AGREED SYLLABUS CONFERENCE

Meeting to follow on immediately after the meeting of SACRE on 10 November 2011.

Agenda

1. Welcome

2. Confirmation of Nomination and Appointment of Members

3. Election of Chairman

4. Apologies for Absence

5. Coordinated Working Groups – Report on Progress

6. Meeting Schedule of the ASC

7. Confirmation of Approval Process and Timing

8. Date of Meeting for Final Approval of the New Agreed Syllabus (15 May 2012)

Thursday 8 March 2012 in the Council Chamber

Thursday 5 July 2012 in the Education Centre, Easthampstead Conference Centre

Thursday 8 November 2012 in the Council Chamber

Addendum

The Words of a Teacher – Clifford Jones

Though I speak with authority in the assembly hall and teach with skill in the classroom, though I lecture brilliantly on a wide variety of educational subjects, though I have appeared on a television panel of education and written a best selling textbook on the subject,  if I have no love for my pupils it is not enough.

If I have a first-class honours degree, a diploma in education, or a distinction in education in my college course, if I am in close touch with the latest trends in education and heartily approve the newest ideas, if I have no love for my pupils it is still not enough.

Love makes the teacher very patient,very kind; a teacher who loves his pupils is never sarcastic, never rude_, never bears a grudge, is never unfair. A teacher’s love never ends.

Teaching techniques will soon be out of date, for our present ideas on education are only partial and that which is only partial will vanish when all education is seen in its wholeness.

There are three things in education which endure - faith in the ultimate value of education, hope in the future of education, and the love of teachers for their pupils, and the greatest of these is the teacher’s love.

BRACKNELL FOREST AGREED SYLLABUS CONFERENCE (ASC)

1. Confirmation of Nomination and Appointment of Members

The clerk confirmed that letters had been sent to all nominating bodies to ask if they had any objection to SACRE members being appointed as members of the ASC. It was confirmed that no objections had been received. In addition, the Executive Member had agreed that elected members be appointed to the ASC.

2. Election of Chairman

It was agreed that Gordon Anderson chair the Agreed Syllabus Conference for 2011-12.

3. Coordinated Working Groups – Report on Progress

Jo Fageant reported that the current syllabus was being used as a basis for revisions. The meetings to date had generated lots of good ideas and there had been great enthusiasm from all involved. The quality of discussions had been very good, however it was noted that Bracknell Forest had only been represented at Key Stage 2.

Jo Fageant reported that at the last syllabus review, key parts of the syllabus were turned into questions. These questions would remain unchanged and would essentially become the syllabus and all the remaining detail would be put into appendices to the syllabus. This would address the request from teachers that the syllabus be thinner and clearer, yet the appendices would still provide the detail and support for those that needed it.   

Foundation Stage – the introduction and questions had been sharpened up. Requirements remained unchanged.

Key Stage 3 – had also been sharpened up.

Key Stage 4 – the requirement to sit an accredited exam had remained unchanged.

Jo Fageant reported that all changes to the syllabus had been around methodology and ways to make it clearer for teachers to plan RE. The content of the syllabus would be left unchanged, for faith groups to define.

Members thanked Jo for all the work she had undertaken to enthuse teachers and expressed disappointment that Bracknell Forest teachers were not represented except at Key Stage 2, despite being encouraged to attend and supply costs being reimbursed. 

4. Confirmation of Approval Process and Timing

There would need to be a meeting of the Agreed Syllabus Conference before the meeting of SACRE on 5 July 2012 to approve the revised syllabus being put forward for approval by the Executive Member at Bracknell Forest Council. It was hoped that this meeting could take place on 15 May 2012. The revised Agreed Syllabus would then go forward to be approved by the Executive Member in June 2012, allowing the Syllabus to be rolled out in schools in September 2012.

5. Date of Meeting for Final Approval of the New Agreed Syllabus

Agreed Syllabus Conference, Tuesday 15 May 2012 at 5pm in the Council Chamber.