Agenda and minutes

The Chair, Peter Martin, welcomed two new members to the Lancashire SACRE. Karen Stephens from the National Association of Head Teachers, and, Janet Westray from the Catholic Diocese of Lancaster representing the Roman Catholic Church.

Apologies were received from Mrs H Y Shukla, Mr K Pagpa, Ms L Horobin, Mrs H Sage, Mr A Anwar, Dr M Craig, Mr A H Qureshi, Mufti K Ibrahim, Mrs T Safraz, Mrs S Majeed, and County Councillor S Malik.

The minutes of the last meeting held on 11 February 2019 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

Report attached.

Mrs Alison Lloyd, Special Support Advisor, informed members that the free network meetings had been well attended at all the venues. They had all been led by Ms Joanne Harris, Head of Humanities at Broughton High School. Ms Harris had been appointed NATRE RE Ambassador for the North West. The ambassador role acted as a central point of contact for SACREs, NATRE, LTLRE (Learn Teach Lead RE project), universities, etc. They would also be used to promote events and support teachers in the classroom. This was a two year project. Ms Harris was also providing training for the 'SHARES' cluster in Skelmersdale on 8^th May 2019.

A two day training event had been arranged for September 2019. This would be led by Angela Hill for teachers of GCSE Religious Studies.

The Spring SACRE Newsletter had been circulated to schools at the end of March.

In June a letter and click form would be sent to all schools requesting the annual submission of attainment data. . A short survey would be included as part of the submission. The survey would ask schools to provide data on the number of parental requests for withdrawal. Results would be reported to the SACRE in the autumn term. The Chair thanked Mr John Wilson for summarising the withdrawal guidance for schools and this had now been uploaded to the website.

Work was continuing to take place to update the syllabus and most of the 42 exemplifications had been rewritten to align with the revised long term curriculum overview and progressive assessment grids. EYFS units would hopefully be written by September 2019.

Schools were now preparing for the introduction of a new Education Inspection Framework from September 2019. It was recommended that the SACRE development plan should be amended to reflect new Ofsted expectations relating to the curriculum.

The county council had once again committed to funding the work of the SACRE and the budget allowance remained the same as that provided in previous years which was welcome news.

Presentation

Criteria for Good Judgement attached.

 Mrs A Lloyd delivered a presentation on the new Education Inspection Framework. The new Education Inspection Framework was quite positive in terms of Religious Education.

If there were changes after consultation the overall effectiveness of the framework would be to do with:

·  Quality of education

·  Behaviour and attitudes

·  Personal development

·  Leadership and management

The quality of education was all to do with the delivery of the curriculum around intent, implementation and impact. Intent was around curriculum design, coverage and appropriateness. Implementation was around curriculum delivery, teaching and assessment. Impact was about attainment and progress, reading and destinations.

It was highlighted this would be a big change for schools in terms of focus. Head teachers now also had to take into account the teachers' wellbeing. Teachers had to have the skills to deliver the curriculum.

Inspectors should take account of all judgements made across the evaluation schedule, especially:

·  The extent to which leaders and providers plan, design and implement the curriculum.

·  How effectively leaders use additional funding.

·  The extent to which the curriculum and care practices met the needs of the range of children who attended, particularly children with SEND.

·  The progress all children made in their learning and development.

·  Children's personal, social and emotional development.

It was pointed out that children must have cultural capital to engage with different areas of society.

In the research it was noted there was a lack of curriculum knowledge and expertise. It was also noted that the full curriculum was not fully adapted for disadvantaged children and special needs children.

Ofsted's research into the curriculum had shown that some schools narrowed the curriculum available to pupils, especially in key stages 2 and 3. This had a disproportionately negative effect on the most disadvantaged pupils. It was important that in key stage 1 teachers focused on ensuring that pupils were able to read, write and use mathematical knowledge. Curricular breadth and balance was less important at this stage. From key stage 2 onwards and in secondary education inspectors would expect to see a broad, rich curriculum. This included languages and the humanities, along with the arts and other creative subjects. Inspectors would be alert to signs of narrowing in key stages 2 and 3 curriculums.

All pupils in maintained schools were expected to study the national curriculum subjects, religious education and age-appropriate sex education. Academies were expected to offer all pupils a curriculum that was similar in breadth and ambition to the national curriculum, including the requirements to teach English, mathematics, science and religious education.

Regarding the inspection of religious education and collective worship, the Secretary of State had designated certain schools as having a religious character. In schools without religious character Ofsted inspected RE and collective worship as part of inspections under Section 5 of the Education Act 2005. In schools with a religious character, denominational education and collective worship were inspected by a body appointed by the maintained school's governing body under Section 48 of the Education Act 2005 or as provided in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

SACRE members had a break to network with each other.

FAQs attached.

The Department for Education (DfE) was introducing compulsory Relationships Education for primary school pupils and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) for secondary pupils from September 2020. It would also be compulsory for all schools to teach Health Education. During March 2019 there has been significant media coverage on this issue.

Through these subjects the DfE want to support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe. During the engagement process as the DfE developed this curriculum, it had heard a number of wide ranging concerns.

Schools would be required to consult with parents when developing and reviewing their policies for Relationships Education and RSE, which would inform school's decisions on when and how certain content was covered.

It was highlighted that compulsory sex education was not being introduced at primary schools, only Relationships Education.

In all schools, when teaching these subjects, the religious background of pupils must be taken into account when planning teaching, so that topics were appropriately handled. Schools with a religious character could build on the core content by reflecting their beliefs in their teaching. Several faith organisations had produced teaching materials that schools could choose to use.

Parents would have a right to withdraw their child from sex education delivered as part of RSE in secondary schools. There was no right to withdraw from Relationships Education at primary or secondary as the DfE believed the contents of these subjects were important for all children to be taught.

The DfE was committed to supporting schools to deliver these subjects to a high standard. It was also encouraging schools to act as early adopters for this curriculum and to start teaching the subjects from September 2019.

Verbal update – Ms Sajda Majeed

Members were informed that the Building Bridges Team had delivered a three day training programme for potential Faith Friends. The team was doing well in finding places of worship.

The total number of schools signed up to the Service Level Agreement was:

·  23 primary schools

·  2 secondary community colleges

·  1 16+ college

The total number of faiths accessed was:

·  Buddihsm 2

·  Hinduism 9

·  Islam 4

·  Judiasm 6

·  Sikhism 4

·  Christianity 5

Newsletter attached.

Members were informed that the SACRE Newsletter was sent out to all schools.

One of the items in the newsletter was on the visit in February to Moorside Primary School in Lancaster. The attendees from SACRE were the Chair, Peter Martin, Julie Roper and Carolyn Read. The school had put on a comprehensive programme. The visit was to learn more about RE in the school and the visitors were able to see this in action by observing two lessons and meeting pupils at KS 1 and KS2. Moorside was a large school with an international feel to its makeup and RE was well integrated into the overall curriculum. The profile of RE was promoted throughout the school by colourful and interactive displays.

Another school visit for SACRE members to a different school would be scheduled in shortly.

-  Evaluation of the Development Plan

-  Review of Halton's constitution/terms of reference

At the next SACRE QSS meeting on 12 June 2019, items for discussion would include:

·  Evaluation of the Development Plan

·  Review of Halton's constitution and terms of reference.

There was nothing to report regarding the Lancashire Youth Voice.

The Chair, Peter Martin, had received a letter from the British Humanist Association, there was a conference in London on 9 July 2019.

There was nothing to report.

No observers were present.

The next scheduled meeting of the SACRE will be held at 10.00am on Monday 1 July 2019 in The Diamond Jubilee Room (Cabinet Room B) at County Hall, Preston.

The next meeting of the SACRE would be held at 10:00am on Monday 1 July 2019 in Cabinet Room B – The Diamond Jubilee Room, at County Hall, Preston.