Agenda and minutes

Councillor Bullas, Mayor of Burnley, welcomed members to the Borough of Burnley expressing his delight that the SACRE had agreed to move their meeting from County Hall in order to help raise the profile of and support the 10^th Anniversary celebrations of Building Bridges in Burnley.

The Officer to the SACRE responded that the SACRE was very pleased to be able to hold the meeting at the Burnley Faith Centre – a centre of excellence and development - expressing the wish that the good relationship which already existed between the two could be developed further.

Apologies for absence were presented on behalf of Rabbi D Braunold, Mr A Brennand, Mr D Fann, Mr F Farrell, Miss L Fenton, CC P Malpas, Mr B McMullen, Mr I Nakhuda, Mrs J O'Rourke, Mrs K Parekh, Mrs E Saunderson, Mrs J Sawyer, Mrs Y Taylor and CC A Thornton.

Confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting of the Lancashire SACRE held on 6 February 2012.  Minutes attached at Item 3.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting of the Lancashire SACRE held on 6 February 2012 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Presentation by Afrasiab Anwar, Community Faith Coordinator at the Burnley and Pendle Faith Centre.

Afrasiab Anwar, newly appointed Community Faith Coordinator at the Faith Centre, spoke on his vision for the future of the Faith Centre.  A local man, Afrasiab's life had been changed in 2001 by both the events which took place in September 2001 in America and the troubles which happened within the community in Burnley.  He now felt that it was extremely important to give young people the opportunity to build relationships at the heart of the community and to help give them the confidence to ask difficult questions regarding religion and race, and to see beyond colour.

In schools, he thought it was important to link religion to other subjects by building cross curricular links.  This, he hoped, would help to address the type of problems caused by ignorance.

RESOLVED:    That Afrasiab Anwar be thanked for presenting his vision for the Faith Centre to the SACRE.

The RE Consultant to the SACRE to give a brief talk about the work of the Youth Voice.

The RE Consultant, Helen Harrison, updated members on Youth Voice work. 

Youth Voice work first started in 2004 and had developed in a meaningful way.  The Youth SACRE not only echoed the work of the SACRE but members had also been working with their respective RE departments to help develop RE and had, in particular, considered how to engage parents in RE.

The next Youth SACRE meeting was to be held on 19 June 2012 at the Burnley and Pendle Faith Centre to help in raising the profile of Building Bridges in Burnley 10^th Anniversary celebrations.

A Youth conference had taken place on 22 March 2012 at the Gujarat Hindu Temple, Preston. 

The RE Consultant welcomed any suggestions/ideas that members might have in order to take the work of the Youth Voice forward.

Verbal report by Jo Crabtree, AST Primary, of Brunshaw Primary School, Burnley.

Jo Crabtree updated members on her activities as AST, Primary.  Her work had focussed on three main areas:

• Outreach work (with schools)

Jo made visits to schools that had requested her help to train subject leaders (who might not necessarily be RE specialists) who could then in turn train other staff.  She encouraged schools to use the questions asked by children relating to RE in order to tailor their RE curriculum whilst remaining within the framework of the Agreed Syllabus.

• Work with network meetings

There was still a great demand for the help provided by network meetings.  Funding was available for one more year of network meetings and as funding for ASTs was expected to cease at the end of March 2013 Jo was now in the process of trying to develop a new means of support for the teaching and learning of RE in schools.  It was hoped that 'self help' groups could be developed and it now remained to find teachers who would be willing to lead such meetings.

• Work on the web site

Jo had been working on the Agreed Syllabus web site to ensure that it was easily accessible.  Jo and network teachers had provided planning grids.  One school had written and provided two grids for a Jehovas Witness scheme of work.

RESOLVED:  That the SACRE express its gratitude to Jo Crabtree for all the work she has done as AST primary.

The RE Consultant to the SACRE to speak about the pilot scheme taking place for an RE Quality Mark

The RE Consultant, Helen Harrison, reported on a pilot scheme to establish a national RE Quality Mark which had been set up by an education consultant in Chester and an independent adviser supporting Suffolk SACRE and which the RE Council deemed would help raise the profile of RE in schools.  It would also serve to help celebrate a commitment to excellence in Religious Education

Helen Harrison had been approached to become a pilot assessor and the Quality and Standards Sub-group at its meeting on 17 January 2012 had suggested that the SACRE fund an assessor for the pilot scheme for one day for the current year and one day for the next year after which the situation would be reviewed.  Taking part in the pilot would facilitate a two way flow of information and address the issue on the Development Plan regarding the identification of RE Good Practice in schools.

The Quality Mark is awarded at three levels:

• Bronze – school performing very well within the subject area
• Silver – that RE was leading the way in certain aspects eg philosophy
• Gold – that the school and the children's learning was impacting on other schools in the area

The pilot scheme was now well under way.  In Lancashire awards had been made as follows:

Gold:    Broughton Business and Enterprise College

Silver:  Brunshaw Primary School, Burnley

Silver:  Clifton Primary School, Lytham St Annes

Silver:  Hapton CE/Methodist Primary School, Burnley

Helen would report back her findings and any issues arising from the pilot scheme at a meeting in July 2012 in Chester which would be reviewing the scheme by area.

Minutes of the meeting of the Quality and Standards Sub-group which took place on Thursday 17 May 2012 attached at Item 8.

Members considered the minutes of the meeting of the Quality and Standards Sub-group which took place on 17 May 2012.

It was reported that issues relating to membership would be reported to the SACRE at the next meeting on 24 September 2012.

Regarding lobbying for RE as a subject, the QSS had suggested that SACRE continue to lobby for RE nationally whilst adhering to a formal process which involved informing the Cabinet Member for Children and Schools of any intended action.

RESOLVED:  That the report of the Quality and Standards Sub-group be noted.

Members will be asked to split into groups to consider and report back on matters arising from the interim update of the Development Plan.  Update attached at Item 9.

Members noted the new format for providing interim updates on the Development Plan which had been agreed by the QSS at its meeting on 17 May 2012.  The new format consisted of two additional sections for each priority:

• Evaluation of the progress made to date and
• Matters arising/next steps – in the form of questions

Members were asked to divide into small groups to each consider a priority with particular reference to the evaluation of progress made and matters arising/next steps. 

Members reported back their comments at the meeting and it was agreed that they would form the basis of the next review and update of the plan by the QSS at its next meeting on 17 July 2012.

RESOLVED:    That the SACRE Development Plan 2011 – 2013 be reviewed and updated by the QSS at its meeting on 17 July 2012 with reference to the comments reported back by members.

The Officer to the SACRE to present a report on support for SACRE 2012/13.  Report attached at Item 10.

Members noted a report on support for the SACRE for 2012 – 2013 which formed the basis of the bid for funding from the Authority.

This would be provided as follows:

·  Administrative support in working with schools on RE and the Agreed Syllabus

·  The provision of an Officer to the SACRE

·  Specialist RE support from an RE consultant (29 days)

·  Funding for the Youth SACRE and Youth Conference

·  Funding is available for one more year of network meetings and the expectation was that the AST primary would be able to build up a 'self help' group to take this forward but this would then have to become self funded.

o  At primary level, the 'leading teacher' model could be developed – head teachers might be asked to make certain teachers available for five days a year to provide RE support in other schools

o  At secondary level, there was the possibility of the appointment of a  'specialist leader in education' (SLE) but this would rely on secondary teaching schools identifying such a post

RESOLVED:  That the report on support for the SACRE 2012 – 2013 be noted.

The RE Consultant to the SACRE to update members on the national situation regarding RE

The RE Consultant updated members on the national situation regarding RE, and drew members' attention to the following points:

• The Religious Education Council (REC) was seen nationally as representing the interests of a wide variety of RE groups

• The Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, has confirmed that the government will not include RE in its own review of the curriculum

• The REC’s Curriculum and Assessment Committee is preparing for an RE review with the aim of producing an RE curriculum framework consistent with the new national curriculum

• NASACRE is drafting a leaflet which will advise academies of their position regarding RE and the law

• The REC recently commissioned a YouGov survey on people’s attitudes to RE. The outcomes were published on 11 June and details are  available on the REC’s website at the following address: http://www.religiouseducationcouncil.org/

• An All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Religious Education was launched on 11 June to provide a medium through which MPs, peers and organisations with an interest in Religious Education can discuss provision of the subject

Dr Malcolm Craig informed members that the 2012 Interfaith Week had been extended to ten days and would take place 18 to 27 November 2012.

Colin Wills informed members that a booklet and DVD about the work over the last ten years done by Building Bridges in Burnley was available to purchase at £2 each.  Mr Wills also thanked members for making the trip to Burnley for the meeting.

The date of the next meeting of the SACRE will be Monday 24 September 2012, to take place at 10am, at County Hall, Preston.

Members are asked to consider and approve changing the date of the summer 2013 meeting of the SACRE from Monday 10 June 2013 to Monday 17 June 2013 to fit better with the County Council elections taking place in May 2013.

The date of the next meeting of the Lancashire SACRE was noted as Monday 24 September 2012 to take place at County Hall, Preston.

Members were asked to consider and approve changing the date of the summer 2013 meeting of the SACRE from Monday 10 June to Monday 17 June 2013 to fit better with County Council elections.

RESOLVED:    That the date of the summer 2013 meeting of the SACRE be changed from Monday 10 June 2013 to Monday 17 June 2013.