Agenda and minutes

1.    Miss C Bostock proposed that Mr Manion be elected Chairman of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education. This was seconded by Mr J Paul and no other nominations were received.

2.    Mr S Manion proposed that Mrs N Younosi be elected Vice Chairman of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education. This was seconded by Mrs J Grant and no other nominations were received.

RESOLVED that:

a)    Mr S Manion be elected Chairman of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education.

b)    Mrs N Younosi be elected Vice Chairman of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education.

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

GROUP     1:     CHRISTIAN     AND     OTHER     RELIGIOUS     DENOMINATIONS REFLECTINGTHE PRINCIPALRELIGIOUSTRADITIONSOFTHEAREA(13)

1.1       Free Church(4)

Miss M Paddison – (Baptist) – serves until 31 August 2022

Mrs G Spragg (Methodist) – serves until 31 August 2022

Reverend M Belgrove (United Reformed Church) – serves until 31 August 2022

Mrs J Wigg (Salvation Army) – serves until 31 August 2023

1.2       RomanCatholic (2)

Ms F Hawkes – serves until 31 August 2022

Miss S Malone– serves until 31 August 2022

1.3       Buddhism(1)

Mrs C Elapatha – serves until 31 August 2022

1.4       The GreekOrthodoxChurch(1)  Vacancy

1.5       Hinduism(1)  Vacancy

1.6       Islam(1)

MrsN Younosi(GroupConvener/SACREVice-Chair) - serves until 31 August 2021

1.7       Judaism(1)

Mrs A Goldstein - serves until 31 August 2024

1.8      Sikhism (1)

Mrs Nasib Cheema – Serves until 31 August 2023

1.9       Baha’i

Mrs J Grant (Baha’i) - serves until 31 August 2021

GROUP2:CHURCH OF ENGLAND(6)

2.1        RochesterDiocesanBoardof Education (3)

Ms N Brownfield – serves until 31 August 2022

Miss C Bostock – serves until 31 August 2022

Mrs J Roddan – serves until 31 August 2023

2.2        CanterburyDiocesanBoardofEducation(3)

Mrs B Naden – serves until 31 August 2022

Mrs R Swansbury – serves until 31 August 2022

MissR Walters- servesun  ...  view the full agenda text for item 2.

RESOLVED that the membership of the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Mrs E Pope and Mr W Chambers.

There were no declarations of interest.

1.    Miss C Bostock asked that her apologies be added to the minutes.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2021, subject to the addition of apologies for absence from Miss C Bostock, are a correct record and that they be signed by the Chairman.

1.    Mrs Smith-Orr provided a verbal update. She addressed common teacher queries and confirmed that she had discussed Ofsted’s review of Religious Education with other Religious Education Advisors. She recognised that a recent article from the Times Educational Supplement (TES) titled “Ofsted: Six ways to improve RE teaching” had provided a fair assessment. A summary of the TES article has been appended to these minutes. In relation to the Kent Syllabus she stressed the need to focus on religious issues in deep analytical ways in order to prevent misconceptions.

2.    Mrs J Grant noted that taking a ‘learning how to know’ approach could lead to some religions being overlooked or not studied to the appropriate extent.

3.    Ms F Hawkes emphasised the need to focus Religious Education on the children, which she contrasted with the approach of teaching through large volumes of religious information.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

RESOLVED that the budget update be noted.

1.    Mrs Smith-Orr gave an update on the Wire Award. She confirmed that as a result of circumstances over the past year there had been no completed Wire submissions. She recognised that with virtual teaching arrangements it had been difficult for teachers to ensure award completion.

2.    SACRE were informed that the award deadline had been extended and that virtual visits to places of worship would be possible as a replacement for physical visits, so long as the learning was demonstrated.

3.    The Chairman asked for the list of places of worship which provide virtual visits to be provided to Wire participants.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1.    Mrs Smith-Orr confirmed that SACRE would write to schools on the subject of school websites in September, so long as the disruption caused to schools by Covid-19 was negligible.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1.    Mrs R Swansbury gave an update on the production of Religious Education films. She informed members that two films, involving interviews with Sikh and Catholic children and young people had been produced. She reassured SACRE that parental permission had been received prior to filming.

2.    Mrs R Swansbury confirmed that the films would be added as unlisted videos to the Canterbury Diocese YouTube channel.

3.    Mrs A Goldstein offered to provide live talks to schools on the Kindertransport.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1.    Mrs Smith-Orr gave an update on teacher training on religion and world views, which included focuses on meaning and delivery. She highlighted Dr Trevor Cooling’s NASACRE workshop, ‘where now with world views.’ Members were informed that Dr Cooling would be delivering virtual training on Thursday 23 September between 16:00-18:00. It was noted that The Education People had circulated event invites to teachers. It was stated that the training provided good value from money at £150.

2.    Ms F Hawkes recommended training provided by Lat Blaylock. She noted his technical advice on curriculum and assessments.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1.    Mrs Smith-Orr reminded the Advisory Council that a summary of the conference was available on the NASACRE website. She gave a further verbal summary of specific speeches given at the conference. It was acknowledged that though interesting, the conference had been too long and not without technical issues.

2.    Mrs Smith-Orr informed members that Ofsted inspectors would receive Religious Education training to better inform their judgement.

3.    Mrs B Naden noted that she had been pleased to see that Religious Education had been recognised as being diverse in delivery.

4.    The Chairman recognised the increased attendance of SACRE members at NASACRE due to the use of virtual arrangements.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.

1.    Mrs Smith-Orr confirmed that SACRE was well provisioned and importantly fulfilled all requirements, which included a venue and support of a clerk and consultant.

2.    The Chairman paid tribute to KCC as the Local Education Authority for their funding and noted that it had allowed additional teacher training.

3.    The Advisory Council discussed spending differences between authorities.

4.    The Chairman noted that KCC had a new Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Shellina Prendergast.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.