Agenda and minutes

No declarations of interest were received.

The Clerk informed SACRE the meeting was not quorate.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 September 2021, having been

circulated amongst the members, be taken as read and correctly recorded,

and be signed by the Chair.

Mrs V Oxley advised members that currently there are vacancies on the membership. As outlined in the constitution (section 3.1) the membership must consist of to be quorate (persons appointed to represent respectively)

      i.         such Christian denominations and other religions and denominations of such religions as, in the opinion of the Authority, will appropriately reflect the principal religious traditions in the area; (not including persons to represent the Church of England).

     ii.         the Church of England;

    iii.         such associations representing teachers as, in the opinion of the Authority, ought, having regard to the circumstances of the area, to be represented.

   iv.         the Local Authority;

     v.         Co-opted Members who shall hold office on such terms as may be determined by the members co-opting them.

Mrs J Taylor added the membership must reflect the local faith groups and communities.

Recommended –That members (a) enquiry with local faith groups in the community to be part of the membership (b) SCARE meetings to take place in other venues, such as churches, mosques and other faith/community buildings

Mrs J Taylor advised the SACRE Conference, on the 11 March 2022, had received positive feedback.

The conference was well attended by School leaders, Governors, and Teachers of RE.

Keynote speakers were Lat Blaylock, Editor RE Today, Consultant and Advisor, Dr Kate Christopher, Lead Consultant Professional Development for Culham St Gabriel’s Trust, Catriona Card, Anna Crosby, Sally Brooman Teachers North Lincolnshire, Katherine Bruning and Teacher North East Lincolnshire.

The key focus of the conference was to: -

      i.         explore the concepts of community identity and values

     ii.         develop a deeper understanding of the communities we live within

    iii.         help schools within their communities develop a sense of place

   iv.         exploring how RE helps us to understand each other’s stories

Key area 1b – SACRE meetings

How purposeful, inclusive, representative and effective are SACRE meetings?

The SCARE Self-Assessment Tool had been circulated prior to the meeting.

Mrs J Taylor advised members the tool is provided by the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE). The tool had been created to help SACREs in their essential role to advise the Local Authority (LA) in meeting the entitlement of pupils across the LA to engage in high quality Religious Education (RE) and Collective Worship (CW) and to support the LA to reflect on its practice.

This toolkit is an amended version of the 2015 document.  It takes account of changes in inspection arrangements and in the role of LAs, and of the development of maintained schools independent of their LA.  It is designed to help individual SACREs evaluate their effectiveness, including considering their impact on pupils’ educational experience and learning.  It also helps SACREs review their organisational patterns and structures, and their partnership with the LA and other key stakeholders.

The SACRE self-evaluation toolkit focuses on the following five aspects of the work of SACREs:

      i.         Management of the SACRE and building the partnership between the SACRE, the LA and other key stakeholders

     ii.         Promoting improvement in the standards, the quality of teaching, and provision in RE

    iii.         Evaluating the effectiveness of the locally agreed syllabus

   iv.         Promoting improvement in the provision and quality of collective worship

     v.         Contributing to cohesion across the community and the promotion of social and racial harmony.

Recommended – That (a) note the SACRE self-evaluation toolkit (b) the toolkit is adopted as part of the development of the SACRE (c) the first key area be SCARE Meetings ‘How purposeful, inclusive, representatives and effective are the SACRE’ (d) an update on progress is provided at each meeting.