Agenda and minutes

The Free Churches Group  Mr P Baker (AoG)

  Mrs A Tidswell (M)

  Mr C Wills (UR)

Hinduism  Mrs H Shukla

  Mr I Taylor

Buddhism  Mr K Pagpa

Teacher Associations  Mr P Martin (ASCL) – Chair

  Mrs A Robinson (ATL)

Church of England  Mrs M Pate

  Ms L Horobin 

Mr J Wilson

  Mrs H Sage

Lancashire County Council  Mr F Williams

  CC P Buckley

  CC A Cheetham

  CC K Ellard

  CC Y Motala

Co-opted Members  Mrs K Cooper (LASGB)

Observers  Mr A Brennand (Paganism)

  Dr M Craig (Bahái Faith)

Officers in attendance

Mr J Hewitt – Head of School Improvement, Lancashire County Council, Children and Young People Directorate

Mrs A Lloyd – Advisor (School Improvement), Lancashire County Council, Children and Young People Directorate

Mr H Patel – Democratic Services Officer, Lancashire County Council, Office of the Chief Executive

Resolved: That:-

i.  Mr Peter Martin be appointed Chair of the SACRE for the ensuing year.

ii.  County Councillor Yousuf Motala be appointed Vice-Chair of the SACRE for the ensuing year.

Apologies for absence were received from Salim Jogi, Joan O'Rourke, David Fann, Jacquie Clarke, Jo Crabtree and Joanne Harris.

Mr Ishwer Tailor, representing the Gujarat Hindu Society, attended as a permanent replacement for Vijayanti Chauhan.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 29 September 2015 be confirmed as a correct record.

Following the meeting of the sub-committee, members agreed to invite Mr Afrasiab Anwar, Community Faith Co-Ordinator (Burnley and Pendle Faith Centre), as a co-opted member onto the board.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting of the Quality and Standards Sub-group held on 13 October 2015 be confirmed as a correct record.

The board discussed the updated plan;

Priority 1

Members were informed that good progress had been made in achieving the agreed objectives. Positively the Agreed Syllabus had recently been purchased by the Halton and Warrington SACREs for use within their schools as of 3 November 2015 – the board recognised Joanne Harris' involvement and work towards achieving this.

Priority 2

It was reported that pupil results had been received and the desired level of attainment within R.E. had been achieved.

Priority 3

The board was advised that direct influence on the provision of Collective Worship was still a challenge, and that for all intents and purpose there would appear to be no major problem if nothing negative was brought to our attention by OfSTED or the Governing Bodies of Lancashire.

Priority 4

It was noted that the work carried out by the Community Faith Centre, as well the potential for refreshing the Youth Conference, would be brought forward as items for the next meeting.

Priority 5

Members were informed that positive feedback had been received from schools on SACREs promotion of the Community Cohesion agenda.

Following the recent tragedies in Paris, members discussed whether focus could be drawn on events like this to gain youth perspective on these issues. Another suggestion was to develop a network of school to school support. This would allow pupils to consider other perspectives and learn from each other.

Resolved: That the Development Plan for 2013/15 has been fully evaluated and reviewed.

The new Development Plan for 2015/16 was discussed;

Priority 1

Members were informed that various methods had previously been used to involve people on the SACRE. In order to move forward it was suggested that the board considers who is asked first before being chosen for representation.

Priority 2

It was noted that raising achievement in RE grows better through the connection schools share with each other and by exploring different traditions; Developing the use of assessment within RE was reported to be challenging, and was postponed previously upon recommendation.

Priority 4

It was advised that Youth Voice continue to be developed for the first objective of this priority.

Priority 5

The board recognised that work around community cohesion continued to be a central procedure and a key role within the SACRE. Members raised some issues on OfSTED's approach during inspections, and that the creation of policy following their comments and those of Central Government could possibly produce a negative backwash on the local communities; Members agreed that the SACRE had a duty to provide schools with the confidence and resilience towards aiding social development within schools. It was also recognised that the Chief Inspectorate had provided some positive comments on the quality of work provided by the School Improvement Service and SACRE,

Resolved: That:-

i.  Examples of experiences from schools, where confidence and resilience have been achieved be identified as good practice.

The draft Development Plan for 2015/16 be approved.

The board was informed that the Annual Report had not been reviewed by government for some years, and that NASACRE had taken it upon themselves to commence this review using Lancashire SACRE's information.

Resolved: That:-

i.  The current membership of the SACRE be looked at and corrected on the SACRE website.

ii.  The Annual Report return as an appendix, relating to membership and attendance within the new Development Plan, for the next meeting of the full SACRE.

Members were reminded that the agreement of a Syllabus Conference was a formal function of the SACRE – the previous conference was held in 2010, and it was noted that a representative from each group (as described in Appendix A) could attend and make formal decisions by vote. It was also noted that whilst co-opted members could attend these meetings and provide advice where necessary, they would be omitted from any formal vote.

Peter Martin confirmed that the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools has given their approval for the conference to take place, and a core working group was decided at the last full SACRE meeting to be attended by:

-  Peter Martin (Chair)

-  County Councillor Yousuf Motala (Vice-Chair, representing Elected Members and the Local Authority)

-  Moira Pate (Church of England)

-  Harsha Shukla (Other Faiths)

-  Jo Crabtree & Joanne Harris (Teaching Associations)

The board agreed the recommendation to invite Joanne Harris as a co-opted member; It was suggested that the Agreed Syllabus Conference take place fairly soon, although members recognised that the current syllabus does not appear to require much amendment due to its current use in other areas.

Paper attached is March 2015's report for review.

The board was asked to look at the Monitoring Report for 2014/15 and discuss if there were any areas members felt should be looked at for the Monitoring Report for 2015/16.

It was noted that, whilst an idea of numbers of pupils within schools would be helpful when discussing attainment of levels within Key Stages, it would be difficult for this information to be acquired – there were no other suggestions made.

Members were advised, following the brief reading of an email from Mark Plater, Senior Lecturer of Theology at Bishop Grosseteste University, that they visit the provided link to an online survey for all members of SACRE to complete.

There was nothing to report for the National Update.

Due to work constraints, it was agreed that the report on Lancashire Youth Voice, to be presented by Joanne Harris, would be postponed until the next meeting of the full SACRE.

Dr Malcolm Craig reported on the Preston Faith Forum's involvement during Interfaith Week. The board recognised the potential of scope for pupil involvement when informed that the Forum would be embarking on social action to Calais following the recent events in Paris. Information of upcoming faith events were also being pursued.

Harsha Shukla confirmed that a pre-arranged date of 30 January 2016 had been chosen for a meeting between herself and the heads of two schools within Lancaster to discuss the promotion of faith communities within their schools.

Peter Martin informed the board that this meeting would be the last for Jonathan Hewitt to attend, and his duties as officer to the SACRE would be carried out by Alison Lloyd for future meetings. The board requested that their sincere gratitude to Jonathan and recognition of his sterling work and contribution to the SACRE, be recorded in the minutes.

The next scheduled meeting of the SACRE will be held at 10.00am on 22 February 2016 in Cabinet Room B – the Diamond Jubilee Room at County Hall, Preston.

The next scheduled meeting of the SACRE will be held at 10:00am on 22 February 2016 in Cabinet Room B – the Diamond Jubilee room at County Hall, Preston.