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  • Agenda and minutes
  • Agenda and minutes

    Venue: Council Chamber, Sessions House, County Hall, Maidstone. View directions

    Contact: Georgina Little or Ann Hunter  03000 414043 or 03000 416287

    Items
    No. Item

    208.

    Introduction

    Minutes:

    The Clerk opened the meeting as apologies had been received from Mr S Manion (Chairman) and Mrs N Younosi (Vice-Chairman). The Clerk informed Members of the constitutional proceedings and the process that needed to be followed to formally elect a Chairman for that meeting.  The Clerk agreed to present the Membership item and note the apologies before calling for a proposer and seconder for the nomination of an acting Chair in the absence of Mr Manion and Mrs Younosi.

     

    209.

    Membership

    To note the membership of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education as follows:

     

    Group 1 (Christian and Other Religious Denominations)

     

    Reverend M Belgrove, Mrs C Elapatha, Mrs J Grant, Mrs F Hawkes, Miss S Malone, Miss M Paddison, Mr Papadopoullos, Mrs G Spragg, Mrs J Wigg, Mrs N Younosi

     

    New representative for the Sikhism community:

    Mrs N Kaur-Cheema

     

    Vacancy:

    Hindu representative

     

    Vacancy:

    Judaism representative,

     

    Vacancy:

    Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain representative

     

     

    Group 2 (Church of England)

    Ms C Bostock, Ms N Brownfield, Mrs B Naden, Mrs R Swansbury, Miss R Walters

     

    Vacancy:

    Rochester Diocesan Board of Education

     

     

    Group 3 (Teacher Associations)

    Ms K Burke, Mr W Chambers, Mr J Paul

     

    Vacancy:

    Kent Association of Head Teachers – Primary

     

    Vacancy:

    Kent Association of Head Teachers – Secondary

     

     

     

    Group 4 (Local Authority)

    Mrs C Bell, Mr I Chittenden, Mr S Manion, Mr M J Northey

     

     

    (Co-opted members)

    Miss E Pope

     

     

     

    Minutes:

    The Clerk noted that Mrs N Kaur-Cheema had joined SACRE as the new representative for the Sikhism community and would be present at the next SACRE meeting on 18 November 2019.

     

    210.

    Apologies and Substitutes

    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Mr S Manion (Chairman), Mrs N Younosi (vice-Chairman), Mr Chittenden, Mrs C Bostock, Mrs E Pope, Mrs B Naden, Mr W Chambers, Mrs N Kaur-Cheema and Mrs C Elapatha.

     

    211.

    Nomination of Chairman

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Swansbury proposed, and Mrs Hawkes seconded, that Mr Northey be elected as acting Chairman for the remainder of the SACRE meeting.

     

    2.    RESOLVED that Mr Northey was elected as acting Chairman.

     

    212.

    Declarations of Interest by Members in items on the Agenda

    Minutes:

    There were no declarations of interest received.

     

    213.

    Minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2018 pdf icon PDF 154 KB

    To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record.

    Minutes:

    RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 27 November 2018 are a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

    214.

    Notes of the Inquorate Meeting held on 5 March 2018 pdf icon PDF 68 KB

    Minutes:

    RESOLVED that the notes of the inquorate meeting held on 5 March 2019 be noted.

     

    215.

    SACRE Constitution and Terms of Reference pdf icon PDF 432 KB

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Smith-Orr introduced the report that proposed an amendment to the Kent SACRE constitution in relation to its quorum to ensure that it was fully aligned to the national guidance published by the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE). Members were asked to agree to the proposed amendment to paragraph 17 of the constitution to read:

     

    “In order for the SACRE to be quorate a minimum of one member from group A, B, C and D must be present, providing that one of those members is from a religious denomination that is not Christian.”  

     

    2.    RESOLVED that SACRE Members endorsed the amendment to paragraph 17 of its constitution to read:

    ‘In order for the SACRE to be quorate a minimum of one member from group A, B, C and D must be present, providing that one of those members is from a religious denomination that is not Christian.’

     

    216.

    SACRE Development Plan pdf icon PDF 298 KB

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Smith-Orr provided an update on the Kent SACRE Development Plan and highlighted to Members the achievements and progress that had been made to date. Supplementary to this, Mrs Smith-Orr informed Members that a new Development plan had been produced which set out the new priority objectives for September 2019 through to July 2020. Mrs Smith-Orr informed Members that one of the key objectives for Kent SACRE was to introduce new training tools for schools which could be accessed through an improved KELSI interface which in turn would hopefully help to encourage teachers to be more proactive in promoting Religious Education and/or Collective Worship in schools. Mrs Smith-Orr informed Members that the SACRE Clerk had been in contact with the persons responsible for managing KELSI to look at what improvements could be made, however, input and ideas from SACRE Members would be welcomed.

     

    (a)    In response to queries regarding the Continuing Professional Development and what this would look like going forward, Mrs Smith-Orr informed Members that it was very difficult to provide a detailed plan at the current point of time due to the extensive amount of collaboration that was required between the Dioceses, Canterbury Christ Church University and the Regional National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE) hub. Mrs Smith-Orr said that a strong reliance would be placed upon those from the Diocese who were also Members of SACRE, to network with the appropriate bodies. An option to explore further would be to hold another training event for teachers providing there was a sufficient amount of money left within the allocated SACRE budget. Mrs Smith-Orr also informed Members about the WIRE document (to be covered fully in the following agenda item) that would encourage teachers with their professional development. Mrs Smith-Orr acknowledged that an extensive amount of work needed to be done to review the CPD and welcomed Members comments and ideas on how this could be achieved.

     

    (b)  Mrs Smith-Orr acknowledged Members request for a specialist speaker from NATRE to attend SACRE to talk about what training was available for RE teachers. She informed Members that training was being built into the SACRE meetings and that specialist speakers had been invited to attend on several occasions:

     

    ·         5 March 2019 - Fr Vissarion spoke to Members about Orthodox Christianity

     

    ·         5 March 2019 - Mrs K Burke provided examples of class work produced by her secondary school students to demonstrate how the Kent Syllabus had been applied and modified

     

    ·         11 June 2019 – Ms N Brownfield provided examples of class work produced by her primary school students to demonstrate how the Kent Syllabus had been applied and modified

     

    ·         11 June 2019 – Mrs W Finn provided examples of class work produced by her students from a Special Needs school to demonstrate how the Kent Syllabus had been applied and modified

     

    Mrs Smith-Orr welcomed requests from Members for specific training and agreed to accommodate this where possible.

     

    (c)   Mrs Smith-Orr agreed to liaise with the Kent School Governors hub.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 216.

    217.

    WIRE Award for Schools pdf icon PDF 546 KB

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Smith-Orr presented to Members the WIRE Award for Schools initiative that was introduced by Bristol and South Gloucestershire SACREs and had since been adopted and tailored to meet the needs of other SACREs across the country. Mrs Smith-Orr said that this was a free award that could be adopted and offered by Kent SACRE for schools and Teachers that were dedicated to ensuring that their RE provisions were broad and inclusive. In order for the school to achieve the award, a teacher from that school must complete the following 4 activities:

     

    1.    Attend an RE conference / RE course / RE Network meeting.

     

    2.    Take a group of pupils to visit a Christian place of worship and meet members of the Christian community which worships there

     

    3.    Take a group of pupils (or staff) to visit a place of worship of another faith and meet at least one community member

     

    Or Arrange for pupils to welcome someone of a non-Christian faith to school as part of a series of lessons on that faith

     

    4.    Arrange an RE event in school, or locally, which includes aspects of more than one faith, or focuses on a religion or worldview not held by most of the school

     

    Or Enter a Competition to do with RE (such as ‘Spirited Arts’)

     

    As part of the work carried out by Bristol and South Gloucestershire SACREs, they awarded multiple certificates to schools where class Teachers had met all the criteria. Mrs Smith-Orr said that Kent SACRE could also adopt the approach taken by Bristol and South Gloucestershire SACREs and encourage RE subject leaders or Head teachers, whose school met the criteria to address Kent SACRE and a certificate would be presented by a Member of SACRE to that school. Mrs Smith-Orr said that all four elements had to be completed within an academic year, however, suggested that this be changed to provide Kent schools with a yearly, rolling programme. With regards to one person from a school having to attend an RE conference or network meeting, Mrs Smith-Orr said that this could be achieved through the training events that Kent SACRE held and again, this may encourage those schools who adopt the WIRE award to attend the training events.

     

    (a)  In response to requests from Members, Mrs Smith-Orr agreed to carry out the following actions:

     

    ·         Amend the WIRE document to reflect Members comments and suggested changes

     

    ·         Email Mrs Younosi to request that her contact details be added to the revised WIRE document for schools to request specialist speakers from the Interfaith network

     

    ·         Include the Canterbury District Interfaith Association contact details within the WIRE document

     

    ·         Publish the revised WIRE document on the KELSI website as well as the Kent and Medway hub website

     

    ·         Request that the WIRE document be circulated within the KELSI e-bulletin to teachers

     

    (b)  Members welcomed the WIRE award and agreed to cascade the information to relevant religious and faith groups as well as schools within their areas.

     

    2.    RESOLVED that the information  ...  view the full minutes text for item 217.

    218.

    Verbal Update on the Progress of the School Website Monitoring pdf icon PDF 103 KB

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Smith-Orr informed Members that following the previous SACRE meeting a letter had been circulated to schools via the Kelsi e-bulletin and had been published on the Kelsi website.

     

    (a)  In response to the communication methods used to cascade the information from SACRE, Mrs Smith-Orr said that work was due to be undertaken to improve the interface of the SACRE webpage on the Kelsi website and that a SACRE focused e-bulletin could be produced to ensure regular updates on the work that Kent SACRE had undertaken. This could include a section on website monitoring that highlighted to schools the key areas that Ofsted would investigate when looking at access to RE information on school websites.

     

    2.    RESOLVED that the verbal update report be noted.

     

    219.

    Update Report on the Teachers Training Event held on 20 March 2019 pdf icon PDF 98 KB

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Smith-Orr said that the training event on 20March 2019 was well received by the primary schools, however, the twilight session (16:00 – 18:00) which focused on Secondary schools was not as well attended. Both Mr Manion and Mrs Younosi attended the training event and spoke to the Teachers regarding what the Kent SACRE’s role was and how it aimed to encourage and support teachers to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum of RE and Collective Worship in schools. Mrs Younosi also joined in with discussions around the Islamic faith which was well received. Mrs Smith-Orr commended the events success and said that Kent SACRE would look to hold further training events subject to cost and availability of funds from the SACRE budget, especially as this was linked to one of the four criteria’s that needed to be met in order to achieve the WIRE award.

     

    2.    RESOLVED that the update report be noted.

     

    220.

    SACRE Budget pdf icon PDF 71 KB

    To receive and note the SACRE budget report for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    RESOLVED that the budget report be noted.

     

    221.

    Verbal Update on the SACRE Annual Report

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Smith-Orr informed Members that the SACRE Annual Report was presented to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 7 May 2019.

     

    2.    RESOLVED that the verbal update be noted.

     

    222.

    Verbal Update on the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education's Annual General Meeting

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Smith-Orr informed Members that the annual NASACRE conference and AGM was held in Manchester on Wednesday 22 May 2019 and was attended by Mr Manion and herself. The conference addressed cohesive communities and effective partnerships on a local, national and global level. Mrs Smith-Orr agreed to circulate to Members the speech delivered by Professor Julian Stern (Professor of Education and Religion).

     

    2.    RESOLVED that the verbal update be noted.

     

    223.

    Any other items which the Chairman decides are urgent

    Minutes:

    None received.

    224.

    Training - How the Kent Syllabus is applied to Primary School Education

    Minutes:

    225.

    Training - Special Needs Education

    Minutes:

    1.    Mrs Finn provided examples of class work produced by students within her school to demonstrate how the Kent Syllabus had been applied and modified to meet the requirements of students with special educational needs.

     

    2.    RESOLVED that the training be received, with thanks.