Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED that Vicki Gibson, Group A: Free Churches be elected Chair for the academic year.

RESOLVED that Clare Hawkins, Group C Teachers and Teachers’ Representatives be appointed Vice-Chair for the academic year.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2023 were approved as a correct record.

 The were no matters arising which would not be covered by the agenda.

Carol Dunk (Group B: Church of England), Robyn Lynch (Group A: Catholic) and Madeline Diver (Group C: Teachers and Teachers’ Representatives) had stepped down from SACRE’s membership since the last meeting. SACRE thanked all three for their support of SACRE’s work, paying particular thanks to Madeline Diver who had been on SACRE’s membership for more than 30 years.

Ebrahim Walele (Group A: Islamic) had been removed from SACRE’s membership between meetings due to non-attendance.

Councillor Gareth Barnard had been re-appointed by Bracknell Forest Council to fill one of two Group D: Local Authority vacancy.

Updates on any RE work or any faith visitors to schools

Tim Griffith, Ranelagh School advised that the school’s Year 7 cohort would soon be visiting a Buddhist temple. The RE ambassador scheme continued between Ranelagh and various other schools. Years 9 and 13 had been visited by the Voices of the Holocaust scheme. Ranelagh’s SIAMS  (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools) report encouraged further development around collective worship at the school, and so a variety of styles of worship were being explored. The Chaplaincy team was developing and Tim suggested that the team leader, Adrian Lawes, be invited to a future SACRE to give an update on his work in schools. (Action: Lizzie Rich)

Ruth Jackson, Crowthorne Church of England Primary School, advised that the school had been working closely with Ranelagh and other church schools and had invited Anne to their next meeting to discuss the syllabus review. The school were rolling out the Space Makers programme on spirituality and slowing down. The Kerith Community Church had asked to deliver a prayer spaces activity day with the children. Ruth also advised that at a recent feedback session with pupils, children had fed back that they would value focus days for RE to focus on one faith at a time, and SACRE members offered their support with this initiative.

Anna Kennedy, Warfield Church of England Primary, updated that the school had also benefited from working with the Chaplaincy team and had been working closely with the church school network. The curriculum at the school was being reviewed in its entirety, including engagement with RE and the syllabus review. Collective worship had been a significant focus when the school had unified onto one site, and the Oxford Diocese had run a vision and values session for the school.

Clare Hawkins, Garth Hill College, advised that timetabling pressures was limiting the delivery of RE particularly at KS4 and KS5, and Clare asked for the SACRE Chair’s support in this. At KS3, a recent review had shown that delivery of PSHE and RE needed to be more distinct. Clare had organised work with Warfield Church to deliver a series of talks for children, and had submitted requests for trips and enrichment activities. Clare was also being supported by Culham St Gabriel’s to take part in an RE Leadership course, part of which included membership of the RE Inspectors, Advisors and Consultants and access to the respective training.

Arising from a question on whether people of different faiths were invited to speak to RE lessons, it was noted that schools would generally ask parents of different faiths in to speak in order to represent the school’s demographic, however it was recognised that it was important to broaden this to speakers from other faiths.

Tracey Bradshaw advised that she had attended the New to SACRE training to gather an overview of what colleagues in other Local Authorities do to support their respective SACREs, and commented that the training had already had an impact on Local Authority practice in Bracknell Forest.

Tracey encouraged other SACRE colleagues to access the NASACRE training sessions and recorded webinars.

SACRE received the draft Annual Report, which needed final data and budget position to be included before being recirculated for sign off by email. It was noted that the report needed a Chairman’s introduction, and given the turbulent year, it was agreed that Cllr Barnard and Vicki Gibson co-author an introduction before the report is published in December. (Action: Cllr Barnard / Vicki Gibson)

Anne Andrews gave an update on the RE Network meetings which had recently been considering the syllabus review proposals, notes of which would be discussed as the Agreed Syllabus Conference. The Network meeting had raised some queries around the distinction between a Syllabus and a Scheme of work, however it was hoped that this was now established.

SACRE was pleased to note the good turn out to Network meetings, particularly due to the high recent turnover in RE Network leaders. Anne commented that it would be important to support new colleagues to develop secure RE knowledge, and that the turnover made comparative work difficult when considering the old and new syllabus’.

RE Hubs offered training for school speakers to be verified with the Kite Mark, and any interested SACRE member was encouraged to explore this training at www.re-hubs.uk/get-involved/get-involved

SACRE were reminded to attend NASACRE training and read the NASACRE briefings as they were released.

SACRE was also informed that the University of Reading had decided to no longer run the PGCE course for RE, and the possible impact that this would have on local schools, teachers and staffing.

SACRE discussed the plans for the SACRE artefacts which were currently stored at the Open Learning Centre, but were not being well used due to their inaccessibility. It was suggested that the artefacts could be stored at Ranelagh School, and Tracey and Anne agreed to explore the possibilities for the artefacts.

14 March 2023

14 March 2024