Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and in particular Joel Roszykiewicz who was attending the meeting for the first time as the Buddhist faith representative. In addition, the Chairman welcomed Phra Nicholas who was attending the meeting as an observer and would be joining the Surrey SACRE.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the SACRE meeting held on 6 November 2008 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman subject to Irene Robinson’s apologies being added.

Minute 75: Brakenhale School RE Inspection and Action Plan

It was reported that Brakenhale School had now been through a full inspection and that all statutory requirements had been met by the School. A full inspection report was expected in due course.

Minute 77: Resources Centre and Artefacts Report

It was reported that correspondence had been exchanged with Kathy Winrow at Ranelagh and that members would be kept updated on this.

Minute 85: Religious Education Newsletter

 It was reported that this newsletter was now ready to be distributed but that more information was needed on the prize competition before it could be despatched. 

The Chairman invited the newly appointed Buddhist representative, Joel Roszykiewicz to introduce himself. Joel stated that he had lived in Bracknell Forest for 20 years, he’d worked at the Dolphin School in Hurst, teaching French and Spanish. He currently worked at LVS, giving talks on the R.E. syllabus to years 7,8 and 9. He had become involved in Buddhism around 7-8 years ago, the organisation he was linked to, had 500 centres across the world and aimed to take the essence of Buddhism and portray it to the world.

The Chairman thanked Joel and noted that the only vacancy yet to be filled was for the Sikh faith

It was reported that spend to date had complied to the overall budget, it had been a low spend year, resulting in an underspend.

The Chairman reported that at a recent meeting of the Schools Forum papers prepared by officers had proposed that the SACRE budget be cut without consulting him. Following consultation, a senior officer had reassured him that a virement would be made from another budget area to reinstate the full SACRE budget (£3,300) if required.

It was reported that there had been a couple hitches with artefact loans but that now the loaning process seemed to be operating smoothly. A process for loaning the artefacts had been drafted. Members would be updated with usage of the artefacts at their next meeting, although the Sikhism and Hinduism artefacts continued to be the most heavily used.

There had been one irreplaceable breakage of an artefact, the Peruvian Flight to Egypt, the school had apologised profusely.

Jo Fageant reported that she had attended a conference in December on syllabus writing. One of the key points raised at the conference was that it was almost impossible to develop a syllabus that was easily understood by all. There had also been a discussion around the merits of including planning guidance with the syllabus. It was noted that Hampshire uniquely did include planning guidance.

Sam Hunt stated that she felt that planning guidance would be invaluable to R.E. teachers, she regularly met with R.E teachers and it was clear that more support was needed in addition to the syllabus. It was noted that both primary and secondary school R.E teachers would benefit from this.

The draft submitted by Jo Fageant was approved. It was agreed that the planning guidance would be launched at R.E co-ordinators meeting and that this would be followed up by sending the guidance to all schools in the Borough. It would also be included on the Council’s website, the R.E Newsletter and would be brought to the attention of school governors through the Bracknell Forest Governor (BFG) newsletter.

None of the members of the working group was in attendance to report on the progress with this work. The Chairman stated that he was not aware of any entries and that he would distribute the poster to all members. It was agreed that the poster would also be added to the R.E. newsletter and the Curriculum Update.

The Chairman expressed disappointment that the group had not met to progress this work. It was noted that the deadline was 31 March 09.

It was agreed that Julie Mintern would attend the AGM and draft a summary report for members afterwards. If for any reason Julie was unable to attend, Anne Gibbons would attend in her place.

Jo Fageant reported that the Conference would be held on 25 June 09 at 6pm with the guest speaker at 6.30pm and would be held at Easthampstead Park Conference Centre. The guest speaker secured for the Conference was Delwyn Hunt. The likely cost per delegate would be £22.

One of the ideas for the conference was to cover able, gifted and talented children, as a number of schools were wrestling with this.

The Chairman stated that invitations would be made via e-mail and asked that members get in touch with him if they would like to attend, so that he could monitor numbers. He reminded members that the delegate fee would still be charged in the event of non-attendance.

Jo Fageant confirmed that the Conference would also be opened up to teachers.

It was agreed that Kathy Hadfield and Joel Roszykiewicz would work alongside the Chairman to draft a SACRE Development Plan for 2010-2014. Martin Surrell would assist.

a) SACRE Shabbat – 28 March 2009, Reading

• Members were invited to the SACRE Shabbat on 28 March 09 in Reading. Jo Fageant stated that the community were extremely welcoming but would need prior notice if members wished to attend to ensure security wasn’t compromised.
• The Chairman reported that a SACRE discussion forum for the south east region was being proposed and members were asked if they would be interested to participate. Members felt that regular meetings in London would be onerous for most members, the Chairman agreed to respond accordingly.
• The Chairman reported that he had received an information pack on Citizenship which he would be adding to the reference stock of the Resources Centre.
• Jo Fageant asked whether a training course run by Latimer Blaylock on Exploring RE could be advertised to all schools.

Wednesday 8 July 2009, Education Centre, Easthampstead Conference Centre

Thursday 5 November 2009, Council Chamber, Easthampstead House

Tuesday 10 March 2010, Council Chamber, Easthampstead House

Wednesday 7 July 2010, Education Centre, Easthampstead Conference Centre

Wednesday 8 July 09

Thursday 5 November 09

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Wednesday 7 July 2010