Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies and approve changes to membership.

RESOLVEDthat apologies were noted from Councillor Bunday, Susanne Dawson, Sam Jordan, Rev Tony Palmer, Kate Martin and Richard Wharton. Apologies were also noted from Councillor Laurent for the second half of the meeting.

RESOLVEDthat Ruth Gill be elected as Chair for the remainder of the Municipal Year and that Elizabeth Jenkerson be elected as Vice Chair for the same period.

AP gave a verbal report on the Action Plan, which included the agreed actions from June 2021 meeting.

Action: AP to share document

Induction and training  - AP reported that work was complete.

Mapping Places of Worship  - Members noted that the working group would focus on Places of Worship as that was within SACRE’s remit.

Action: MG, AD and SU to form a working group.

SACRE Advice Document

Action: AP to add to November 2021 SACRE agenda. SACRE to form a working group to take work forward in Spring 2022.

November School Learning Event  - Members noted that the event organised by SU had been rescheduled for Spring 2022 and that it would be helpful for SACRE members to support it. 

Action: SU to share information with SACRE when available.

Monitoring Group Visits  - See Agenda item.

[Anas Al-Korj left the meeting]

Promotion of RE Quality Mark - AP reported that this tied in with monitoring visits. She had signposted this as a national tool, which had been available for 8 years, particularly as an auditing tool.

·  LA – The diocese had informed the school about the Global accreditation for NSPCC, and information had already been sent out to the church schools.

·  SC - Townhill  had used the tool this year, which helped in writing the school’s RE action plan.

·  AP suggested that as information was not up to date, an update needed to go out quickly. Ideally in line with the changes to the syllabus.

·  AP confirmed that the diocese was promoting the tool for the Church of England schools, and that the Catholic Diocese also had a tool that they used with their schools. In addition, there was the RE Quality Mark. It was important that schools were using something to support their thinking and development but not to double up by using more than one tool.

[Suzanne Underwood left the meeting]

Annual report. AP reported that RG, AP, and EJ would work on the Annual Report.

NASCRE  – AP reported that NASACRE was offering a training access subscription for the year, which would include training for new chairs (7 Oct 2021 + January 2022).  A membership fee of £50 for the year would give SACRE members access to listen to experts and explore concepts, such as World Views. Training would be offered around self-evaluation, which AP was keen for members to explore later in the year.

AP suggested that it would be sensible to take up the NASACRE offer and  advised that sessions were very focussed and useful (some sessions had to be paid for individually). No-one objected to the use of  the SACRE budget to pay for the training.

Action: AP to circulate dates and information to everyone and to subscribe to NASACRE. 

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 7 June 2021, attached.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 7 June 2021 be approved and signed as a correct record at the next meeting.

To consider and appoint Monitoring Group members and a work plan for 2021-2022.

Members noted that the Monitoring Group Visits had been on hold during Covid-19. AP reported that once SACRE members had confirmed they were content with the provision, the visit paperwork would be ready to be dispatched to schools. Members noted the one amendment, an addition of a sentence that stated ‘SACRE acknowledges that schools are in a recovery position. The New Syllabus is expected in November 2021, so the expectation is that schools would be working towards implementation for September 2022’.

·  There were no changes made to selection criteria.

·  The aim was to offer every school a monitoring visit within the five-year cycle.

·  A monitoring group would be convened in November 2021, to begin visits in the spring half term, which would give schools and the monitoring group time to prepare.

The following points were raised in discussion for later consideration:

·  Schools to be told that it is not expected that all schools would have been able to organise Collective Worship but to focus on where they are now.

·  Opportunity to test and think about how to move forward, given the new syllabus and significant aspects such as Golden Threads to ensure commonality in learning across schools.

·  Schools to consider the impact of Covid quarantine and certain concepts for pupils, whether they had RE or not during Lockdown, and how schools are dealing with that?

·  How have concepts such as ‘special’ changed over the Covid lockdown period?

·  Monitoring visits should not be looking backwards. Need to move forward positively with schools not worrying  about what they had/had not done.

Action: AP to share the draft protocol document for member feedback

The following members volunteered to join the monitoring group: EJ, KM, LH, CD, MG, SD, RG (RG to fit in around work, aiming for 1 or 2 visits during the year as SACRE Chair).

AP proposed that the monitoring group meet in advance of Spring term to go through protocol, the schedule, and information needed for visits. It would likely mean 2 visits each. Training would be heavily focussed on the new syllabus.

Action: Everyone on the monitoring group to let AP know their DBS status and if on the DBS Update Service.

AP advised that changes regarding concepts were to be interwoven through each Key Stage to help junior and secondary colleagues draw upon common threads in previous learning. A full presentation would be made at the November ASC meeting, including a discussion within groups to recommend the agreed syllabus to the local authority.

To receive feedback and updates from members of the SACRE on:

·  Local events or training attended.

·  Suzie Underwood – November 2021 Event update

EJ informed everyone that NASACRE was updating its website but that the National Convention would take place in Birmingham on 23 May 2022, and encouraged members to attend.

(NOTIFIED TO PROFESSIONAL ADVISER OR ACTING CHAIR AT LEAST THREE WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO THE MEETING)

MG asked how one would move from being a co-opted member to a full member of SACRE and made a formal request that Southampton City Mission become a full member of SACRE. CD stated that Southampton City Mission had a big place in RE provision to warrant a full place on SACRE as it was working in 50 or more schools. AP advised that there was a constitution review due in November. She would look at presenting a position paper on how to become a member of SACRE and how decisions are made.

DNM: Monday 8^th November – 2 meetings 1. ASC – (4-5pm) and 2. SACRE 5-6pm