Agenda and minutes

Prior to the start of the main meeting Patricia Hannam, the County Inspector/Adviser spoke to Members about the good and less good news concerning GCSEs. She explained the issues caused by the many changes that have taken place in a very short space of time, with particular mention of the new subject content, the move to norm-referencing for grade boundaries and changes to points scoring.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Maureen Barnes, Rhiannon Love, Howard Wright, Gill Heron, Jon Hamer, Michael Zeffertt, Patricia Timms Blanch, Alasdair Richardson, Jeff Williams, Rhian Jones, Jo May, Darren Clark, Richard Wharton, Pam Brown.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code.  Furthermore all Members with a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code.  Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Elizabeth Jenkerson noted that she was a judge for the Westhill Awards.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting on 28 November 2017.

The minutes of the previous meeting on 28 November 2017 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chairman, subject to the inclusion of the presence of Chris Hughes at the meeting.

To consider any matters arising from the Minutes of the meeting on 28 November 2017.

There were no matters arising.

To receive any Chairman’s announcements.

The Chairman welcomed Yasmeen Hussain, a new Muslim representative, to her first SACRE meeting and to Rob Sanders who was standing in for Richard Wharton. 

The Chairman announced that Michael Zeffertt, the Jewish representative, had resigned.  She indicated that she would write on SACRE’s behalf to thank him for his many years of service and for making such a positive contribution.

The Chairman informed Members that she had attended the South West SACRE conference on 5 March, together with Justine Ball, Elizabeth Jenkerson and Sushma Sahajpal.  She and Justine had run a workshop on the role of SACRE and the importance of councillor involvement.  The two key note speakers spoke on the Role of the RE Commission and Understanding Christianity.  It was stressed that Understanding Christianity was a resource, not a curriculum or syllabus in itself.

Finally, the Chairman asked for expressions of interest in attending the NASACRE AGM on 24 May in London.

To receive any deputations.

There were no deputations.

To receive a report on behalf of the Director of Children’s Services on the findings and discussions of the Monitoring Group meeting on 15 January 2018.

SACRE received a report from Patricia Hannam, the County Inspector/Adviser on the discussion and findings of the Monitoring Group at their meeting on 15 January 2018 (item 7 in the Minute Book).

The County Inspector/Adviser began by stressing that the Monitoring Group was a key feature of Hampshire SACRE and monitoring RE in schools was a statutory duty of SACRE.  Members’ were informed that, through the activities of its advisers,  Hampshire SACRE has an increasing presence on the national RE stage; some core research was being done in conjunction with Brunel University and the advisers have been invited to speak to at the Commission on RE.

It was noted that Understanding Christianity was primarily a Church of England resource with a particular theological perspective.  The Free Church Federal Council has developed some resources, in particular with regard to the Reformation. The advisers emphasised that the methodology of Living Difference III is to be used in al local authority schools.  If Understanding Christianity is used, it is as a resource to support an enquiry into a concept.  This was emphasized to teachers when undertaking training sessions.

Asked to elaborate on the Ofsted reports that had been discussed, members were informed that primary school reports rarely mention RE, but it can sometimes be inferred from references to SMSC and British Values.  It was hoped that following the RE Commission report in late 2018 there would be more accountability.

 On the recruitment of potential teachers onto RE PGCE courses it was noted that at Winchester University the same level has been maintained, but teachers are leaving the profession and there is a low take up nationally for PGCE and other Initial Teacher Education courses in RE, particularly secondary. 

The stability of the number of full course GCES RS entries in Hampshire  was highlighted as pleasing, although results as slightly below the national average due to some schools not allowing sufficient teaching time.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE noted the report.

To consider a report from the Director of Children’s Services to enable discussion of  the SACRE development plan in relation to the local and national RE picture.

The Inspector/Adviser presented the draft Three Year Action Plan 2018-2020 to Members.  Different aspects of the proposed Action Plan were discussed in small groups which reported back with suggestions for additions. 

The group looking at SACRE leadership and effectiveness suggested

·         The inclusion of SACRE offering more leadership on collective worship and withdrawal; extending SACRE’s role depending on what the RE Commission report might say when it reports

·         that the co-option of a parent governor onto SACRE would be beneficial

·         that the Action Plan should be reviewed annually by SACRE

·         that new members should be allocated a ‘buddy’ from their group when they join

Members were informed that the schools are selected for monitoring randomly throughout the County, trying to include schools that attend teacher networking meetings and those that do not; this would inform whether attendance makes a difference.

Suggestions from the group discussing the implementation and monitoring of the Agreed Syllabus included

·         self-monitoring by teachers

·         ensuring questionnaires reach the people who need them and that responses are received. 

·         that the teacher networks could be added to the action plan. 

A third group looked at meeting the training needs of teachers and school leaders and were concerned about the effects reduced budgets might have on training opportunities.  Suggestions for low cost support included

·         online training and webinar, twilight training in the local area and including more help and advice in RE News.

·         Making schools more aware of the training packs available

·         It was felt that governor training should be extended

The fourth group discussed the resourcing of Living Difference and Youth Voice.  This group recommended

·         the addition of the intention to update specific curriculum packs, such as Judaism

·         the development of common assessment tasks and model assessment tasks for Key Stage 3

·         that teachers should be surveyed about what resources they use and where they felt there was a need

·         that Youth Voice should have more involvement from SACRE members and a project to work at.  Currently they were working on an RE leaflet for schools.

All agreed that the Action Plan was basically a good one.

The results of the discussions would be used to finalise the 3 Year Action Plan for 2018 – 2020 and be returned to SACRE at a future meeting for approval. The report recommendation was amended to reflect this.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE noted the contribution of Members to the draft 3 Year Action Plan 2018-2020 which the Monitoring Group would finalise and bring back to SACRE for approval.

To receive a verbal report on behalf of the Director of Children’s Services on the activities of SACRE Youth Voice since the SACRE meeting on 28 November 2017.

The Council received a verbal report from Patricia Hannam, the County Inspector/Adviser on the activities of the Youth Voice since the last SACRE meeting on 28 November 2017 (Item 9 in the Minute Book).

The Inspector/Adviser began by expressing her gratitude to the teachers who bring the children; currently 5 schools attend.

Youth Voice are working on 2 projects, an electronic flyer about the benefits of studying RE which will be sent to all schools and the Youth Voice Conference on  9 July 2018.  The proposed title is ‘Bringer of Peace of Causer of Conflict’ and would look at the positive side of religion.  Members of SACRE were asked for their help with the conference including running workshops.  Harmeet Singh Brar offered to provide catering for the Conference.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE noted the report

To receive a verbal report on behalf of the Director of Children’s Services on the activities of the South Central SACRE RE Hub, especially the Reading and Research Group.

The Council received a verbal update from Patricia Hannam, the County Inspector/Adviser on the activities of the Hub (Item 10 in the Minute Book). 

Members were informed that the next meeting of the Hub would be 7 March 2018 and of the Reading and Research Group on 15 March 2018, where Professor Denise Cush would speak at Winchester University on the theme of ‘What is Religion?’  All Members of SACRE would be welcome to attend the Group which was well supported.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE noted the report

To receive any other business from Members of SACRE.

The Chairman asked Members to indicate whether they would support a motion that NASACRE was putting forward at the AGM in May 2018 to increase the Annual Subscription  to NASACRE from £95 to £105.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE approved the increase in the Annual Subscription to NASACRE.

Members were provided with flyers that had been sent to all schools requesting entries for the 2019 Interfaith Calendar.

The next meeting is scheduled for 26 June 2018 at the Al Mahdi Centre, Titchfield at 1.30pm, with the main meeting starting at 2.00pm.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as Tuesday 26 June 2018 at 2.00pm.  The venue would be the Al Mahdi Centre in Titchfield.  There would be a tour of the centre at 1.30pm before the main meeting.