Agenda and minutes

Apologies received from Ellie Hill (Karen Bubb attending) and Kerry Poole

Apologies for absence had been received from Karen Bubb, Ellie Hill, Matthew Jenkins, Tasnim Khawaja, Tracy Lister and Kerry Poole.

New members Mr Brian Holly and Dr Ken Pollock were unable to attend but

Mr Jantinderpal Loyal was introduced and welcomed to the meeting and invited to give some background as to how he became involved in SACRE.

For the meeting of 3^rd October 2017

The minutes of the meeting 3 October 2017 were confirmed to be an accurate record of the meeting and were signed by the Chairman.

Presentation by Karen Bubb with undergraduate trainees from the University of Worcester

AS Karen Bubb was unable to attend the meeting, under-graduate trainees from the University of Worcester – Craig Brindley, Leah Edwards and Zoe Pritchards gave the presentation on Initial Teacher Education.

They gave an explanation of their year 1 & 2 aims as well as the highlights including using artefacts at the Hive and a visit to a Worcester Mosque.

There followed a lively question and answer session and the students agreed to promote SACRE as a place of support and guidance and were invited to come back and update SACRE on how they had progressed with their studies.

ACTIONS:

1.     Students Leah Edwards, Craig Brindley and Zoe Pritchard agreed to go back to their University and promote how SACRE can support students.

2.     SACRE invited the students to return after their studies to give a progress update on how they had got on.

To receive a verbal update from Stephen Pett on Special schools, primary and secondary conferences as well as the Hub leader report.

Stephen Pett gave an update on SACRE Continued Professional Development (CPD). He outlined the Deeper Thinking, Deeper Learning conference which this year also involved Gloucestershire and Herefordshire SACREs. The Teach Meet session had proved very useful and Stephen suggested members of SACRE use their networks to advertise the regional conference taking place on 28 June 2018 and get this information out to schools. Stephen agreed to forward details to Stephanie Boulter.

The primary conference, 'RE with impact: thinking hard and learning lots' was arranged for Monday 18 June.  Details of this also needed to go out to all schools.  Members of the SACRE RE Hub Leaders Group would be involved and would help to communicate the information within their local networks.

Yvonne Stollard said that there was a Faith Encounter Programme in Birmingham and agreed to send information to SACRE about the teaching pack that was used at the University.

Jatinderpal Loyal queried if Sikh contacts were included in this pack and he would happily compile a list.

Yvonne Stollard replied that she would ask about this at the next Worcestershire Interfaith Forum.

Stephen Pett moved onto the Special Schools Conference and confirmed people were already signed up to this event taking place at the Buddhist Centre. The original date of 27 March had had to be postponed due to personal circumstances of the main speaker. The new date was Tuesday 3 July 2018.

Lindsay Thorne confirmed she would ensure an information sheet would go into special schools/departments.

Councillor Robin Lunn agreed to promote the conference when he visited Pitcher Oak School.

ACTIONS:

1.     Stephen Pett to circulate details of the June Conferences to Stephanie Boulter. All SACRE members to promote through their networks.

2.     Yvonne Stollard to circulate to SACRE information on the Faith Encounter Programme including what they are doing in schools.

3.     Yvonne Stollard to enquire at the next Worcestershire Interfaith Forum, whether there was a list of key Sikh contacts in the teaching pack at the University.

4.     Lindsay Thorne to ensure information on the Special Schools' Conference was available in special schools and departments.

5.     Councillor Lunn to promote Special Schools Conference at Pitcher Oak School.

Report by Tracy Lister

Due to the absence of Tracy Lister this item is to be deferred to the next meeting of SACRE.

Councillor Robin Lunn advised SACRE that the Mosque in Redditch is receiving school groups and they have asked interested schools to get in touch with them.

Councillor Lunn agreed to send Tracey the information.

Jatinderpal Loyal advised a list of do's and don'ts for the Temple would need to be in the information sent out to schools prior to the visits.

ACTION:

1.     Councillor Lunn to send Tracy Lister information on school visits to the Mosque in Redditch.

2.      Carry Visits of Places of Worship item by Tracy Lister to next meeting.

Steph Boulter will provide the SIAMS report at the meeting

Steph Boulter informed SACRE the new SIAMS inspection framework would be coming out in September 2018 and she was awaiting the final draft.

Steph described the SIAMS findings from four diverse Church of England Schools in Worcestershire

Fladbury, a voluntary aided school, was rated as good in their effectiveness of RE. 

Verbal update by Stephen Pett

Stephen Pett advised SACRE that the action to set up a sub group looking at contacting schools about the public data (exam results and school workforce survey) examined at the last SACRE meeting indicating RE was still outstanding and was still to be taken forward.

Deborah Weston was identified as the key person to talk to as she had been communicating with schools.

It was felt that SACRE, as a body, could look into writing to schools and offering support to schools who may need it to enable SACRE to find out what is going on behind the data.

It was agreed SACRE needed to have more influence over schools and support RE provision. The sub group was a way to take this forward.

ACTIONS:

1.     Stephen Pett and Steph Boulter to discuss how best to address RE provision in schools,

2.     Lindsay, as Chair of SACRE, to draft a letter to schools offering support to schools, and

3.     Stephen Pett to set up SACRE sub group to look at ways of communicating with schools to monitor RE provision.

Verbal update by Stephen Pett

Stephen Pett updated SACRE on the feedback received by the Commission on RE following their interim report published in September and discussed at the last SACRE meeting. Details and links were available on the accompanying paper.

A call had been made to schools to give additional case studies. The final report was due in September.

NASACRE, AULRE & AREIAC were putting on a joint conference at Crewe in October. Ellie Hill and Stephen Pett were applying to present a paper on the Worcestershire Hub Leaders project at the Conference.

Stephen referred members to the on-going research programme by Dr Lois Lee and her team at the University of Kent called Understanding Unbelief. Links can be found on the accompanying paper

ACTION:

The update was noted.

To follow  

Stephen Pett ran through the SACRE Development Plan.

Section 1 Supporting and Monitoring Teaching & Learning in RE:

Supporting Improvement was in progress and going well.

Stephen Pett will report back on monitoring standards after the meetings. He advised that other means of monitoring RE were being utilised and although not all actions had been achieved further work will be undertaken.

Section 2 Monitoring and Review of the Worcestershire Agreed Syllabus:

Monitoring of the agreed syllabus was in place and a survey will be in place to complement the inspection findings. It was felt that an ideal starting place for the survey would be the conference as well as maximising social media.

Jatinderpal Loyal informed SACRE that he was currently carrying out surveys with the legal profession so agreed to look at what surveys are out there and feedback to Stephen Pett.

It was hoped that there would be positive outcomes to feedback at the next SACRE meeting in May.

Lindsay Thorne thanked Stephen Pett and Stephanie Boulter for all their hard work in this area. 

Section 3 Partnership Between SACRE, the Local Authority and Other Bodies:

Stephen Pett advised that links with local authority and Babcock were not always straightforward, although SACRE funding had been agreed for three years.

There had been no presentations from teachers but the presentation by the University students at the meeting was part of the programme.

Mr Lunn suggested it would be very useful to have an annual report to full Council from SACRE. Stephen Pett agreed to produce a draft report for the next SACRE meeting and would look to submit an agreed report to the July Council. 

Section 4 Collective Worship in County Schools:

Not discussed

Section 5 Monitoring the Contribution of SACRE to the Promotion of the SMSC:

Suggestions for venues for the May or October SACRE meetings were put forward and Stephanie Boulter agreed to contact Kate Brunt and ask if the Rivers Academy rooms in church and community schools could be used.

Lindsay Thorne agreed to send Deborah Dale a copy of the National Update for circulation to SACRE Members.

Jatinderpal Loyal invited SACRE members to the Sikh Temple of Birmingham. Jatinderpal agreed to talk to Tracy Lister to take further.

ACTIONS:

1.     Jatinderpal Loyal to look at what surveys are being used in other areas and feedback to Stephen Pett to assist with utilising other means of monitoring schools and complement the findings of inspections.

2.     Stephen Pett to produce a draft report to put to SACRE in May with a view to submit a full report on the workings of SACRE to Council in July.

3.     Stephanie Boulter to contact Kate Brunt to enquire if the SACRE meeting in either May or October could be held at Rivers Academy rooms in Church or community schools.

4.     Jatinderpal Loyal to speak to Tracy Lister about arranging a visit to the Temple by SACRE members.

5.     Lindsay Thorne to send Deborah Dale a copy of the National Update for circulation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 617.

A chance for Members to bring news or updates from their communities to share with SACRE

There were no updates from Members.

There was no other business to discuss.

The meeting dates for 2018 are:

·       Tuesday 15^th May 2018

·       Tuesday 2^nd October 2018

The meeting dates for 2018 were:

·       Tuesday 15 May 2018

·       Tuesday 2 October 2018