Minutes:
Mr Leeson, Corporate Director Education, Learning and Skills
Mr Leeson started his presentation by saying there was an expectation that all schools nationally would teach the new national curriculum from 2014, the Government was not proposing to change the statutory basis of the curriculum and Religious Education (RE) would therefore retain its statutory and important status. He said, as had been acknowledged in the SACRE annual report, that there had been changes to the structure of Ofsted inspections and while RE along with other subjects had not been individually inspected since the 1990s, Ofsted continued to inspect the provision of an act of collective worship and RE within schools and in particular the social, spiritual, cultural and moral development of pupils.
Mr Leeson said that the quality of education in Kent schools was improving overall but it was variable and therefore the quality of RE teaching and collective worship also varied between schools. He acknowledged the key role of SACRE in retaining the focus on RE and collective worship and said the Kent SACRE was particularly active, kept itself up to date and had produced a high quality Agreed Syllabus.
Mr Leeson went on to say that he and his team continued to support and listen to the views of SACRE , although there were fewer people in the team and fewer subject specialists the LA was committed to school improvement and was pro active in relation to education. He said 49 school partnership hubs had been established and were working together collaboratively and sharing best practices to improve outcomes for children in all areas of the curriculum and in particular to improve GCSE results and achievement at KS2.
Mr Leeson said that all GCSE subjects were being reviewed and the eBAC might have an effect on some curriculum areas but no head teacher intended to narrow the curriculum. It would be wrong to assume that increased diversification (new options at KS4, vocational qualifications etc) would change what is delivered to pupils as the core curriculum.
Miss Walters raised concerns about the profile of RE in CPD training for primary schools and soughtassurance that budgetary support for advanced skills teachers and development and support would continue. In response Mr Leeson said that the national curriculum had been reviewed and although the intention had been to be less prescriptive the programmes of study for English, Science and Maths for every key stage were very detailed. He went on to say that the teaching of RE and the Agreed Syllabus had not been neglected and that he would make sure that teachers were supported to deliver these new programmes of study.
In response to a question from Mr Platnauer, Mr Leeson said that 62% of Kent schools were good or better, many schools were improving rapidly and it was important to retain a clear view of what was needed. He said he had made £12 million worth of savings to the education budget during his first year in post and it was important to focus on right elements and target resources where they had the greatest impact on school improvement.
Mrs Younosi said not all schools had expertise to teach faiths other than Christian and that Islam, Sikhism and other religions needed to be taught with sympathy and understanding.
In response to a questions about the monitoring of standards and the teaching of the Agreed Syllabus Mr Leeson said that every school’s annual report should include information about how its statutory requirements were being met, additional information could also be obtained through surveys and questionnaires and that in the coming year it would be possible to gather information about how schools are using the Agreed Syllabus. He further said that the LA had direct communication channels with schools and that training in the Agreed Syllabus would be offered as part of the CPD programme.
Mr Foster outlined issues SACRE had experienced communicating with schools and said there had been a poor response to a survey conducted by SACRE. He then thanked Mr Leeson for his presentation.