Agenda and minutes

Peter Martin was proposed and seconded to be elected as Chair and County Councillor Yousuf Motala was proposed and seconded to be elected as Vice Chair

Apologies were received County Councillors Sobia Malik, Yousuf Motala and Peter Steen. Also from Sally Elton-Chalcroft, Dr Malcolm Craig, Ms Lisa Horobin, Ms Jacqui Price, Mrs Tibret Safraz, Mrs Harsha Y Shukla and Ishwer Tailor.

Minutes attached.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 8 October 2018 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

Service Level Agreement attached.

The Chair welcomed Alison Lloyd, Advisor (School Improvement) to the meeting, along with Bea Foster, a trustee from Building Bridges in Burnley; and Sajda Majeed, Project Manager for Building Bridges in Burnley.

SACRE members had received with their agenda the Service Level Agreement September 2018 for Building Bridges in Burnley (BBB).

The conditions of the agreement stated that BBB would provide a specialist member of staff and would endeavour wherever possible to accommodate a school or college request. Session times would be arranged to suit the needs of schools and would be agreed between a member of staff from BBB and the school. Charges would be calculated as agreed and would be processed in line with this agreement.  After the Service Level Agreement was rolled out the plan was to get schools to give dates for the whole year when they could meet with BBB. The Service Level Agreement was renewed from September to September.

BBB was founded in 2001 following disturbances in Burnley. It was a registered charity promoting community cohesion and interfaith relations and was based at the Faith Centre in Burnley. BBB had experience of working in partnership with schools and colleges across the county to provide focus for the educational, personal and spiritual development of young people. This was done through the Faith Friends Project where two Faith Friends, one Christian and one Muslim, visited schools and took part in RE lessons. They also advised and helped the schools and colleges develop their RE curriculum. They supported students and staff and offered activities to promote and develop community cohesion. Through facilitation and coordination the BBB's work played a pivotal role in promoting inclusion and community relations across Lancashire and beyond. SACRE was informed that that a lot of School Advisors worked in neighbouring counties and the BBB had received independent requests from different authorities. It was important to have a place for schools to buy into.

BBB was a partnership of faith groups and open to all individuals of faith and no faith who sought to contribute to the life and work of the area. BBB developed knowledge and understanding of different faiths. It encouraged faith development without compromising anyone's religious or faith beliefs.

The BBB worked with schools to provide specialist support to embed British values into the curriculum, promoting tolerance, respect and clear understanding of the diverse communities and their contribution to British society. BBB work was all about bringing people together. THE BBB was involved with schools and colleges in promoting spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC).

This area of work was a valued resource which was frequently praised by Ofsted as being instrumental in promoting community cohesion.

SACRE was informed that a recruitment event for BBB was being held on the evening of 12^th February 2019. Different churches and mosques, etc, would be invited to the event.

BBB had to have good governance in place and it was vital that the admin support was well looked after. Good  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To be tabled at meeting.

A copy of the Draft Annual report was circulated to all SACRE members at the meeting. Alison Lloyd, Advisor (School Improvement), explained that the Annual report needed to be submitted by January 2019 and asked SACRE for feedback and if it felt anything was missing from the draft report.

It was noted that the draft report stated that two representatives from Edge Hill University were currently co-opted as members of the SACRE. This was not the case the report should state it was two representatives from the University of Cumbria.

Concerns were raised over Key Stage 4 data. Entry to GCSE Religious Studies was showing a falling trend. There were struggles around changes to the syllabus. Standards had shifted from significantly above the national average to significantly below over the last 3 years and were not what they should be in Key Stage 4. Other schools were performing better nationally. Primary schools were fine but secondary were not. White British boys were the worst attainers.

R.E. was suffering and the question of what impact could SACRE have with standards in Religious Studies, other than training, was raised. There were pressures on schools to get GCSE entrants. SACRE felt that governors could look into this. Communication went out to all governors every term and it was important to remind them how vital R.E. was and the lack of specialist teachers.

The world religion module for GCSE was a big challenge and teachers needed more training. Pupil engagement and enjoyment has plummeted.  It was vital to draw NATRE's attention to this.

It was noted that Ofsted were going to put more emphasis on a broader curriculum. School Governors had to be spoken to about this.

SACRE would feedback and comment on the Draft Annual Report to Alison Lloyd before January 2019.

SACRE members had a break to network with each other.

Alison Lloyd, Advisor (School Improvement), had met with reps from other SACREs on Wednesday 14^th November.

A core group attended and some of the topics discussed were membership issues, approved places of worship and the constitution. Some of the SACREs did not have a constitution and had no Terms of Reference.

It was noted every local authority was using the same three speakers at their meetings. A report would be commissioned.

SACRE members were informed that in Lancashire it was a statutory requirement for the SACRE to hold three meetings a year. At the moment it held four meetings a year, with four SACRE QSS meetings as well. It was felt that the status of the QSS meetings was they had now become a meeting where the topics discussed were repeated at SACRE.

After a discussion amongst the group it was decided that Monday mornings at 10:00am was the most practical time for the Lancashire SACRE to meet.

Alison Lloyd informed SACRE that NATRE had recently held a training day at Farington Lodge in Leyland. 28 people had attended and there had been good feedback.

Also the free network meetings had been well received.

It was noted that at the QSS meetings all Ofsted reports had been looked at. One school that had been identified with good feedback was Moorside Primary School in Lancaster. It was thought to be a good idea for SACRE to arrange a visit to this school next term, possibly January. 2 members of SACRE volunteered to visit the school and Alison Lloyd would speak to the head teacher to arrange the details for the visit.

Mrs Joan O'Rourke, representing the Church of England, informed SACRE that she had visited her old school, Marsden Heights in Brierfield. It had done fantastic work in challenging circumstances. It had an Inspiration Room which Building Bridges had come up with. Joan promised to do a write up on her visit for the next SACRE meeting.

Misbah Mahmood, Senior Democratic Officer, informed SACRE that the Pupil Debate had been narrowed down to two dates January 2019. An email would be sent to SACRE members when a final date was confirmed.

There was no report on the Lancashire Youth Voice.

There was no member's news.

Members stated that Bea Foster, a trustee from Building Bridges in Burnley; and Sajda Majeed, Project Manager for Building Bridges in Burnley had given an excellent presentation. It was noted that it would be a good idea to possibly have them on SACRE as they were so well informed. The constitution would be revisited at the next meeting. Bea and Sadja could attend SACRE meetings as observers. Sadja could provide a verbal update at a future meeting on how many schools were using Building Bridges. The press must be used to raise the profile of Building Bridges in the public domain. A calendar of dates for future dates of SACRE meetings would be sent out to Bea and Sadja.

The next scheduled meeting of the SACRE will be held at 10.00am on Monday 11 February 2019 in Cabinet Room D – The Henry Bolingbroke Room at County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the SACRE would be held at 10:00am on Monday 11 February 2019 in Cabinet Room D – The Henry Bolingbroke Room, at County Hall, Preston.