Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Committee Room 'C' - The Duke of Lancaster Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Misbah Bhatti  Tel (01772) 530818 Email:  misbah.bhatti@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Attendees

 

`Roman Catholic Church  Ms J Busby

   

Teacher Associations  Mr P Martin (ASCL) – Chair

  Mrs A Robinson (ATL)

 

Church of England  Mrs J O'Rourke

Mr J Wilson

Mrs Helen Sage

 

Lancashire County Council  CC A Cheetham

  CC Y Motala

  Mr Francis Williams

 

Representing Hinduism  Mrs H Shukla

 

Representing the Bahá’i Faith  Dr Malcolm Craig

 

Representing the LASGB  Mrs Kathleen Cooper

 

 

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

 

Mrs M Mahmood – Senior Democratic Services Officer, Lancashire County Council, Legal and Democratic Services

 

Mr F Bailey – Democratic Services Officer, Lancashire County Council, Legal and Democratic Services

 


Apologies

 

Apologies were received from Mr B McMullen, Mr C Wills, Mr P Baker, Ms J Crabtree, Ms L Horobin, Mrs M Pate, CC P Buckley, CC K Ellard, Ms J Harris, Mr A Anwar, Mr A Brennard, Ms J Roper. 

 

2.

Minutes of the last meeting 30 January 2017 pdf icon PDF 95 KB

Attached.

Minutes:

The minutes of the last meeting held on 30 January 2017 were agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

3.

Membership

Verbal update.

Minutes:

The membership for the SACRE was due for renewal in July 2017 for the period July 2017 – July 2021. Letters requesting nominees would be sent out soon. The induction pack for new members would be discussed at the next QSS meeting on the 14 June 2017.

 

The Chair went through the current list of contacts and where possible details were updated. Mrs H Sage said that the Church of England would agree representation as part of their regular inter Diocesan meetings.

 

For Islam representatives it was agreed that a further letter would be sent to Lancashire Council of Mosques and Mr A Anwar also had a couple of people in mind he would speak to. The Chair reiterated the need to select people that would be committed.

 

Action: Mr A Anwar to contact people they know who would be interested in representing Islam.

4.

Quality and Standards Sub Group Feedback

Verbal update.

Minutes:

All items were covered through other agenda items.

5.

NASACRE Survey

To be circulated.

Minutes:

The NASACRE survey deadline was on the 28 April 2017 and a response needed to be agreed. The Chair thanked Mr J Wilson for all his work on the questionnaire. The responses were circulated to members and Mrs A Lloyd went through the answer to each of the questions. 

 

Actions: The following was agreed –

 

·  Question 11 - Although the SACRE was not labour intensive, setting up the up the new website was time very consuming and this could be reflected in the response.

·  Question 23 - The group agreed more needed to be added to this answer. 'Localism makes for better communication' and 'the demographics, culture and traditions are different in Lancashire compared to London' were agreed as additional wording, this would reinforce the benefits of RE being a locally agreed syllabus. Other comments included the need to learn 5 different syllabus's for RE during training which made things difficult. Something that fed in locally was very important.

·  Question 44 – The contribution of the Faith Centre and how this had enhanced the understanding of community cohesion needed to be enhanced in the response.

·  The Youth Voice contribution should also be included in the response including the excellent Youth Debate that had recently taken place on the 28 February 2017.

·  Other suggestions for inclusion included the promotion of faith events through the SACRE network and the recent trip to the Gujarat Hindu Society Temple in Preston.

·  Mrs A Lloyd would send the feedback and additional comments to Mr J Wilson so they could be included in the response.

 

The Youth SACRE debate which was held on the 28th of February was acknowledged by the Chair, and Ms J Harris was praised for her time and effort in organising the event. The Chair congratulated the pupils from Broughton Community High School and all the schools that attended for making the event a huge success. County Councillor Y Motala thanked the students involved, especially the panel members as they performed brilliantly and it was an amazing event with great contribution from everyone. Thank you letters had been distributed to all the schools involved by the Chair and the Vice Chair of SACRE. County Councillor A Cheetham and Mrs H Shukla also attended the event and agreed that it was a thoroughly wonderful event that was very well organised.

 

Ms J Harris had mentioned at the last QSS meeting that another SACRE Youth Debate in November, was being proposed. This would fall during Interfaith week so would be timely. The Chair recommended that SACRE members and other Councillors should attend the next Youth Debate to show their support.

 

Mrs H Sage said that while other SACRE's in other Authorities have been cut back, Lancashire's SACRE was doing well and its influence was growing. Lancashire SACRE could be seen as a 'beacon of good practice' by other authorities if the excellent work continued. Mrs H Shukla suggested members from other SACRE's across the country could be invited to the next Youth Debate.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

NNW Hub

Verbal update.

 

Minutes:

The NNW Hub was meeting regularly. The last meeting was on the 21 March 2017 and 6 people were in attendance including Paul Smalley. Other SACRE members were welcome to attend, the next meeting would be held on the 22 of June 2017 at County Hall.

 

Due to national changes, assessment at KS3 had become harder. The Accord in Inclusivity Award was discussed, whilst Lancashire did not win, they were commended for the excellent work with the Faith Centre and the breadth of the SACRE membership.

 

Actions – The following was agreed:

 

·  Mrs A Lloyd would share the report on the Accord Inclusivity Award, there was some interesting reading about what other SACRE's from around the country were doing.

7.

School Visits

Verbal update.

Minutes:

Mrs A Robinson and Mrs K Cooper visited Lea Community Primary School as guests to partake in the RE celebrations at the school. Mrs K Cooper wrote a report about the visit explaining what the schools approach to RE was and how they were proactively educating their pupils. A summary of the visit was included in the RE Newsletter under RE Spotlight.

 

Everyone agreed that SARCE Members were not there to 'inspect' the schools during visits, just to experience R.E in practice and gain an insight.

8.

Monitoring Report

·  Ofsted written report

·  Monitoring arrangements June 2017

 

Minutes:

At the next QSS meeting the members will RAG rate the development plan and bring it to the next full SACRE meeting. In terms of the budget, finances will be considered and a report will be brought back to SACRE.

 

The consultancy post would be re-advertised and interviews would take place on the 22 May 2017.

 

A copy of the newsletter was handed out to SACRE members. The next newsletter would be published for the beginning of the Autumn Term, Mrs A Lloyd would circulate a deadline date for content to be submitted by.

 

Mrs H Sage had attended other SACRE meetings where the advisory role was not as defined as it was here in Lancashire and she stated it made a very big difference. Mrs H Sage congratulated the group on the support they were given by Mrs A Lloyd who had made a significant and valuable contribution to the Lancashire SACRE. The Chair also acknowledged the support from the County Councillors on the SACRE as they have been at the forefront of the work the SACRE did.

 

The RE Conference had been booked for the 16 of October 2017 at Farington Lodge. Ten spaces were reserved for SACRE members, members should confirm with the Chair closer to the time if they wished to attend. The information

 

A document detailing website hits was circulated to members, it was noted that the website was a real resource that was being used on a regular basis. The data would be analysed at some point to see what information was considered most useful and areas that could be improved on.

9.

Development Plan

·  Website hits

·  R.E. Conference

·  Newsletter – to be circulated

·  Evaluation – (end of year evaluation to be shared in July)

·  Part-time Consultancy post update

·  Financial support from Local Authority

Minutes:

 At the next QSS meeting the members will RAG rate the development plan and bring it to the next full SACRE meeting. In terms of the budget, finances will be considered and a report will be brought back to SACRE.

 

The consultancy post would be re-advertised and interviews would take place on the 22 May 2017.

 

A copy of the newsletter was handed out to SACRE members. The next newsletter would be published for the beginning of the Autumn Term, Mrs A Lloyd would circulate a deadline date for content to be submitted by.

 

Mrs H Sage had attended other SACRE meetings where the advisory role was not as defined as it was here in Lancashire and she stated it made a very big difference. Mrs H Sage congratulated the group on the support they were given by Mrs A Lloyd who had made a significant and valuable contribution to the Lancashire SACRE. The Chair also acknowledged the support from the County Councillors on the SACRE as they have been at the forefront of the work the SACRE did.

 

The RE Conference had been booked for the 16 of October 2017 at Farington Lodge. Ten spaces were reserved for SACRE members, members should confirm with the Chair closer to the time if they wished to attend. The information

 

A document detailing website hits was circulated to members, it was noted that the website was a real resource that was being used on a regular basis. The data would be analysed at some point to see what information was considered most useful and areas that could be improved on.

10.

National issues, NASACRE updates

·  Supreme Court Judgement on holidays in term-time.

Minutes:

The NASCRE update which had only just been published would be considered at the next QSS meeting.

 

Information on the Supreme Court Judgement on holidays in term time had been circulated to members.

11.

Accord Inclusivity Award

Verbal update.

Minutes:

This item was discussed under Item 6.

12.

Community Cohesion Update

Verbal update.

Minutes:

There was nothing to report.

13.

Lancashire Youth Voice

Verbal update.

Minutes:

There was nothing to report.

14.

Members' News

Verbal update.

Minutes:

A cultural event was being held on the 20May in Lancaster, information had been emailed to SACRE members.

 

The next Commission on R.E event is being held in Birmingham on the 4 of May 2017 if anyone wished to attend.

15.

Observers' Contributions

Verbal update.

Minutes:

Dr M Craig shared information on a new website - Bahá’í RE website. The website aimed to provide good quality and engaging materials to help teachers of Religious Education in schools explore the Bahá’í Faith with pupils across the primary and secondary age ranges. The site provided basic information about the Faith as well as freely downloadable presentations, lesson plans and schemes, ideas for activities, and links to other online resources. The website could be accessed by following the link below:

 

http://re.bahai.org.uk/

16.

Correspondence

Verbal update.

Minutes:

None.

17.

Forthcoming QSS agenda items

Verbal update.

Minutes:

Items for the next QSS agenda had been discussed and included NASACRE update, Inclusivity Award, Development Plan, Membership and Induction Pack

18.

Date of Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the SACRE will be held at 10.00am on Monday 3 July 2017 in Cabinet Room D – The Henry Bollingbroke Room, at County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the SACRE will be held on Monday 3 July 2017 at 10.00am in Cabinet Room D, The Henry Bollingbroke Room at County Hall, Preston.