Agenda and minutes

Peter Martin was proposed and seconded as Chair and County Councillor Anne Cheetham was proposed and seconded as Vice Chair respectively of the Lancashire SACRE until the Annual General Meeting in November 2023.

There were no further nominations

Resolved: - That Peter Martin and County Councillor Anne Cheetham serve as Chairman and Vice-Chairman, respectively, of the Lancashire SACRE until the Annual General Meeting in November 2023.

Apologies were received from Rebekah Ackroyd, Robert Ash, Lisa Fenton, Joan O'Rourke, Helen Sage and Harsha Shukla.

Resolved: - That the minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2022 be agreed as a true and accurate record.

The SACRE is asked to consider whether, under the Religious Education (Meetings of Local Conferences and Councils) Regulations 1994 it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that the documents are draft and/or for consultation and/or consideration by the members of SACRE prior to the final document being published.

Resolved: - That, under the Religious Education (Meetings of Local Conferences and Councils) Regulations 1994, the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business, 'Item 5 - Draft Annual Report and Updated Development Plan (Including Recommendations of the QSS), and, 'Item 6 - RE School Self-evaluation Survey 2022'.

Alison Lloyd, Special Support Adviser, School Improvement Service, presented the Lancashire SACRE Draft Annual Report, which covered the work of the Lancashire SACRE for the period September 2021 to September 2022 and which had been considered by the Quality and Standards Sub-group at its recent meeting on 2 November 2022.

There had been an analysis of last year's annual report. It was noted that it was up to SACRE members to decide what went in the Lancashire SACRE Annual Report.

At the end of the report, a revised Lancashire SACRE Development Plan 2022-2023 was also presented to members. The Development Plan set out SACRE's key priorities for improvement. Progress in implementing the plan was evaluated on an ongoing basis so that priorities could be adjusted and revised as needed. This year the NASACRE evaluation tool was used as a starting point to help identify areas for improvement. Comparison had been undertaken with other SACREs to pick up on good practice.

Members of the SACRE split into small groups to discuss the draft report and Alison Lloyd collated the feedback for inclusion in the final draft. It was noted that the Lancashire SACRE Annual Report had to be published by the end of January 2023.

Alison Lloyd presented an update on the RE School Self-evaluation survey for 2022.

All academies access the Lancashire RE materials without charge and receive copies of all resources and communications. Alison emphasised again that the county council cannot insist on responses from academies, but efforts continue to be made to engage with academies and to emphasise the benefits of what Lancashire has to offer in terms of the RE curriculum. SACRE Members could assist with this if they had links to academies, e.g., via Trust boards, etc.

Peter Lumsden updated the SACRE on Building Bridges Burnley (BBB).

Prior to COVID-19, some 81 schools were engaged in the offer. The aim was to increase the number of volunteers, known as 'Faith Friends' and to encourage engagement from secondary schools. Apart from Blessed Trinity School, Burnley, all the schools currently engaged were primary.

Interest was lower for Christianity than it was for some of the other faiths and a suggestion was made to contact a member of the Jewish Representative Council.

Peter was thanked for his update and for the work being undertaken by Building Bridge Burnley.

Members noted the details of correspondence which had been circulated to them by e-mail since the last meeting.

Members were reminded that the RE website and those for all other subjects had been moved to a new IT platform. Some residual work was still being undertaken. Members would need new access permission and instructions had been circulated in October.

County Councillor Anne Cheetham reported that news was awaited on the appointment of a new Bishop of Blackburn. County Councillor Cheetham also made reference to an event she had attended in Nelson for the 50^th anniversary of the Samaritans.

Peter Lumsden reminded SACRE Members that interfaith week was a national event and not just taking place in, and around, Preston.

A new district Chair for the Methodists, Reverend Phil Gough, had been appointed, initially for a two-year term.

Reference was made to the excellent work being undertaken to support Ukrainian refugees and the Pakistan floods appeal and the interfaith efforts to support relief.

None made.

SACRE (10am)

·  Monday 6 February

·  Monday 24 April

·  Monday 10 July

·  Monday 2 October

·  Monday 20 November (Annual General Meeting)

QSS (Virtual at 10am)

·  Wednesday 18 January

·  Wednesday 1 March

·  Wednesday 7 June

·  Wednesday 6 September

·  Wednesday 18 October (was 25 October)

A draft timetable of meetings for 2023 was considered.

Resolved: - That the timetable of meetings for 2023 be approved as follows:

SACRE (10am)

·  Monday 6 February

·  Monday 24 April

·  Monday 10 July

·  Monday 2 October

·  Monday 20 November (Annual General Meeting)

QSS (Virtual at 10am)

·  Wednesday 18 January

·  Wednesday 1 March

·  Wednesday 7 June

·  Wednesday 6 September

·  Wednesday 18 October

The next scheduled meeting of the SACRE will be held at 10.00am on Monday 6 February 2023, at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Lancashire SACRE would be held at 10:00am on Monday 6 February 2023 in Committee Room 'D', County Hall, Preston