Agenda and draft minutes

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 9 November 2021

The minutes of the meeting held on 9 November 2021 were approved as a correct record.

There were no matters arising.

It was noted that Deborah Windsor had stepped down as a teacher representative, creating a second vacancy in Group C. It was suggested that these vacancies could be filled by an academy and KS1 teacher representative to represent all schools.

It was also noted that Ebrahim Walele was seeking a replacement for the Islamic representative role.

This item was deferred to the next meeting as Tracey Bradshaw had given her apologies.

Anne Andrews updated on SIAMs inspection plans (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools).

There had not been any SIAMs inspections in Bracknell Forest this year and only one was due in the academic year, at St Michael’s Sandhurst.

SIAMs had been suspended under COVID provisions and had restarted from 28 February. There had been no significant changes to the SIAMS inspection framework.

It was noted that there were separate inspection schedules for Catholic and Free Church schools.

SACRE received updates from the Group C teacher representatives.

Clare Hawkins, Garth Hill College reported that the College was currently reviewing every curriculum across the school. Clare hoped that RE teaching could be decoupled from PSHE teaching. While the school was going through an exciting time, there was lots of work to do to develop RE teaching and to create better links with local communities.

Clare encouraged SACRE members to come and observe an RE lesson on a Friday.

Clare also noted that Garth Hill College were working closely with Edgbarrow, Brakenhale, Sandhurst and King’s Academy Binfield to support each other’s RE teaching and curriculum.

Ruth Jackson, Crowthorne CE Primary School reported that RE had continued to be taught throughout the pandemic in different ways, and assessment data had showed that children were at the expected attainment level for RE. The move to home learning during the pandemic had meant that children had not been able to ask questions as usual.

Ruth reflected on the move back to collective worship times in the school day, which had been successful and meaningful post-COVID. Collective worship at Crowthorne CE Primary School included meeting as a whole school on most days, and also in class groups and Key Stage groups. A local church led collective worship sessions based on Christian bible stories, response, prayer and singing, however the school was also aware of the need to reflect the faith and belief of non-Christian children in the school population an aimed to do more of this.  Ruth invited SACRE members to observe a collective worship session at Crowthorne CE Primary.

Headteachers were concerned at the levels of COVID in primary schools, and Crowthorne had seen significant outbreaks in recent weeks to the point that the school was considering re-entering a bubbling arrangement.

Delivery of RE in non-church school was a mixed picture, and each school had done what felt right to them at the time through the pandemic.

Elaine White, Harmans Water Primary School advised that at Harmans Water, the curriciulum had continued through lockdown including RE however the ability to discuss and ask questions had been lost during lockdown learning.  Since lockdown had lifted, Harmans Water had moved back to a full curriculum including RE teaching, and gaps were being filled as they became evident.

There were no items of feedback from Group A & B members.

Local Authority representatives suggested that a written update for SACRE’s summer meeting on how schools are engaging with religious education would help to build a relationship between the Local Authority’s education team and SACRE.

It was noted that the Ofsted framework was clear on helping all children to reach their full potential, and Bracknell Forest had a high percentage of schools currently deemed Good or Outstanding.

·        Update from Madeline Diver

·        Results of website trawl

·        Collective Worship support discussion document

·        Additional ideas/proposals

Madeline Diver and the forward plan subgroup presented an update on their work.

The subgroup noted that school website content varied across the borough, and it had been difficult to find all the relevant information on all websites. Most websites included RE and curriculum information, however fewer schools included information on collective worship or assembly information. The schools which included the content of their collective worship plans tended to be church schools.  It was noted that collective worship in schools was the headteacher’s responsibility, unless delegated to another teacher.

It was noted that Ofsted had a list of all the pieces of information which should be on a school website, and beyond this, the content was up to the school.

Madeline summarised the other elements of the forward plan update and shared the update document with SACRE members.

SACRE discussed the proposal to create a SACRE artefacts library for use across schools in Bracknell Forest. The current artefacts were in storage at the Open Learning Centre and were not easily available for use in schools, and while there was an existing SACRE artefacts catalogue it was anticipated that this would need updating.

Members supported the proposal in principle, providing that all artefacts were treated with respect when loaned out. SACRE members would be asked to volunteer to go through the artefacts and check them.

·        New films – Catholic, Orthodoc Jewish and Sunni Muslim

·        Feedback on syllabus survey and hub meeting on 7 March

·        Decision on syllabus review next steps

Anne Andrews agreed to share the notes of the most recent pan-Berks SACRE Hub.

The work on the Real People, Real Faith videos was progressing, and a Humanist video was being developed. The teaching notes to supplement the films would be added to the NATRE website soon.

The Hub had sent out a syllabus survey on the pan-Berkshire agreed syllabus, and 17 Bracknell Forest schools had responded which was positive. The general feedback from teachers indicated little appetite for a full syllabus review in the short term. An agreed syllabus conference would be required to meet during Autumn 2023, and SACRE recognised the value in making best use of the time before Autumn 2023 in preparation for a new syllabus.

In response to questions, the following points were noted:

·        It was not possible to tell which Bracknell Forest schools had responded to the survey, so it was not possible to provide feedback from the survey.

·        Engagement had been a struggle at the last agreed syllabus conference, and partners recognised the importance of engaging schools at the next conference.

·        SACRE members agreed to continue paying into the pan-Berkshire SACRE Hub.

Anne Andrews updated members on the recent RE Network meeting, which had a small but engaged attendance. The session had looked at what makes good RE.

• Book places for your SACRE members on relevant on-line training events
• Share the REC report ‘Still Standing’ and consider the questions it raises for SACREs
• Introduce the date of the 2022 NASACRE Conference to SACRE members
• Check that we have your most recent contacts on NASACRE website.

Anne Andrews brought members’ attention to the following NASACRE briefing items:

·        Members were encouraged to sign up to NASCRE training events and to send any feedback in to Anne Andrews.

·        Members were encouraged to look through the REC’s Still Standing report which raised some questions on the SACRE constitution amongst other things.

·        The NASACRE AGM and Conference was scheduled for 23 May 2022 in Birmingham and SACRE discussed who to send and whether the SACRE budget would allow for multiple attendees. Any interested SACRE member should contact Anne Andrews/Lizzie Rich, and the budget position would be explored with Tracey Bradshaw.

SACRE members queried why meetings were held on different days of the week, and it was noted that this had been requested to allow more SACRE members to attend based on other commitments during the week.

It was noted that Marvel were about to launch a new TV series with its first Muslim character.

The Interfaith Forum’s AGM was scheduled for 25 May 2022, and the Council’s Head of Community Engagement and Equalities was due to speak on support for refugees and community cohesion.

4 July 2022, 5pm

8 November 2022, 5pm

15 March 2023, 5pm

4 July 2022