Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Committee Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Misbah Mahmood  Tel (01772) 530818 Email:  misbah.mahmood@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Mr Ben McMullen, Mrs Harsha Y Shukla, Kelsang Pagba, Mrs Joan E O'Rourke, Ms Lisa Horobin, Mrs Helen Sage, County Councillor Anne Cheetham, Mrs K Cooper, Ms Jacqui Price, Ms Julie Roper, County Councillor Yousuf Motala, Sally Elton-Chalcraft, Mufti Javid Pathan and Carolyn Reade.

2.

Minutes of the last meeting held on 29 April 2019 pdf icon PDF 223 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the last meeting held on 29 April 2019 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

 

3.

New Draft Constitution and Terms of Reference for Lancashire SACRE pdf icon PDF 33 KB

Attached.

Minutes:

Alison Lloyd, School Advisor, informed the group that the Terms of Reference and the Constitution had remained unchanged since the SACRE was set up 23 years ago. The new Constitution and Terms of Reference was presented to members for discussion. It was felt that broadening the representation on the SACRE would be beneficial and help improve education in schools.

 

A selection of suggestions for the Constitution and Terms of Reference were put forward including:-

 

·  In section 9 'Voting', add an additional point (e) In the event of a tied vote the Chair has the casting vote.

·  In Section 3 'Terms of Reference, add additional text to paragraph (f) The SACRE also has within its powers to discuss any matter related to its functions as it sees fit and may therefore include the provision of RE and Collective Worship in Academies and Free Schools in its discussions or address such matters as may be referred to it.

·  Regarding the publication of the SACRE's Annual Report it was felt that it should be sent out electronically to the nominating groups as well.

·  In terms of Co-opted members it was felt there should be a representative from primary education, secondary education, higher education, NATRE and the teaching association.

·  Regarding Section 6(h) members were informed that copyright extended to all SACRE published meetings and then queried if section 6(h) was needed as the SACRE was a public meeting.

 

It was pointed out to the SACRE that with all the new suggestions the new Constitution and Terms of Reference would have to be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.

4.

SACRE Development Plan pdf icon PDF 335 KB

Attached.

Minutes:

The Lancashire SACRE Development Plan was presented to members. The plan set out SACRE's key priorities (KPs) for improvement over the two years from 2018 – 2020. Progress in implementing the plan was evaluated on an ongoing basis so that priorities could be adjusted and revised as needed.

 

KP1 was to raise standards by improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in RE. Regarding objective 1.1, the paper copy of the agreed syllabus was being completely redone. 35 of the 49 exemplifications had been rewritten. In terms of objective 1.2, there had been more SACRE school visits and the subject leaders in each school were now established and known. Teachers liked the progression overviews in objective 1.3. The task of objective 1.4 needed to be adapted to support schools in fulfilling the implementation requirements of the new Education Inspection Framework. There needed to be an evaluation on all conferences regarding objective 1.5. Regarding KP1 steady pace was being made against the overall target.

 

KP2 was about the SACRE working in effective partnership with the local authority to monitor and evaluate standards and the equality of provision for RE in Lancashire schools. The evaluation of KP2 stated that Lancashire SACRE continued to use a range of methods to monitor the quality and impact of RE teaching across Lancashire. The next steps were to gather the views of pupils via Youth Voice and to consider a response using NASCRE guidance when a school was identified as not fulfilling its statutory requirements.

 

KP3 was about improving the provision of Collective Worship. There was pressure on teachers to raise their standards. There were concerns over the provision of Collective Worship as objectives 3.1 and 3.2 had not yet been addressed.

 

KP4 was to ensure that the SACRE was effectively managed and worked in close cooperation with the local authority and other key stakeholders. The SACRE evaluated itself on this. It would come back to a future meeting

 

KP5 was to develop the contribution of RE to Community Cohesion. Service Level Agreements were about to come out. There had been engagement this year with 28 primary schools and 2 secondary schools.

5.

10 Minute Break and Networking Opportunity

Minutes:

No break for networking opportunities was taken.

6.

Monitoring Arrangements (End of Key Stage 1 and 2 expectations) pdf icon PDF 242 KB

Attached.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Regarding the monitoring arrangements concerning end of Key Stage 1 and 2 expectations, schools had been asked to send in their attainment data. The monitoring was around knowing about and understanding religions and worldviews, and, expressing and communicating ideas related to religions and worldviews.

 

The monitoring had a questionnaire for schools attached. The monitoring was to see how schools fulfilled their statutory obligations.

7.

Building Bridges Update Report

Verbal update – Ms Sajda Majeed

Minutes:

Ms Sajda Majeed updated the SACRE on Building Bridges project. The SACRE was informed that 28 primary schools, 2 secondary schools and 1 college had all signed up to the Building Bridges project. Regarding the college, it was noted that Nelson and Colne College had merged with Accrington College.

8.

NASACRE Conference and Cumbria SACRE Conference Update

Verbal update.

Minutes:

Peter Martin, Chair of Lancashire SACRE, informed the SACRE that he and Alison Lloyd, School Advisor, had attended the NASACRE Annual Conference in Manchester on 22nd May.

 

There had been two keynote addresses at the conference. One from Peter Bull on 'How can SACRE transform schools to become beacons of HOPE'. The other address was from Professor Julian Stern 'Uncertainty and Mortality: the two stubborn particulars of RE for cohesive communities.' The second presentation was about how RE addressed death and uncertainty.  This presentation had been a valuable contribution and a leaflet on this presentation was passed to the SACRE.

 

Peter Martin had attended the Cumbria SACRE Conference on 24 June. One of the presentations was from Dilwyn Hunt, national RE consultant, on 'Mastering the mastery approach: Resolving the assessment dilemma in RE. There were afternoon workshops and one of these was on 'The Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning Curriculum' led by Jimi Slattery from Compassion Matters. A RE Ambassador for the North was present at the conference. There was a presentation on why young people should commemorate memorial events and also a presentation on a school in Cumbria. Peter stated that it had been a very useful conference although it was noted that there had been no discussion on Collective Worship.

 

 

 

 

9.

Lancashire Youth Voice

Minutes:

There was no news from the Lancashire Youth Voice.

10.

Correspondence

Minutes:

There was no correspondence.

11.

Members' News

Minutes:

Dr Malcolm Craig informed the Lancashire SACRE of a Bahai festival on 27th October.

12.

Observers' Contributions

Minutes:

It was noted that some SACREs around the country had Bahai members on them.

13.

Date of Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the SACRE will be held at 10.00am on Monday 7 October 2019 in The Henry Bolingbroke Room (Cabinet Room D), County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

The next meeting of the SACRE would be held at 10:00am on Monday 7 October 2019 in Cabinet Room B – The Diamond Jubilee Room, at County Hall, Preston.