Agenda and minutes

Mark Plater gave the opening reflections.

The Chairman stated that it had been necessary to cancel the previous meeting of SACRE on 13 March 2018, due to the sheer number of apologies received which would have made the meeting inquorate.

The Chairman stated that it had been necessary to withdraw, temporarily, item 12 on the agenda because it was necessary to make further enquiries about the origin of the material used to produce the DVD.

(Jack Dryden, a Humanist, is attending the next meeting of SACRE as an observer. This is an opportunity for Members to ask Jack Dryden about the contributions he could make to SACRE as a co-opted member on SACRE and for SACRE to decide whether it wishes to accept him as a co-opted member)

The Chairman, on behalf of SACRE, welcomed Jack Dryden, Humanists UK, to the meeting. The Chairman stated that this was an opportunity for Members to ask Jack about the contribution he could make to SACRE as a co-opted member and for SACRE to decide whether it wished to accept him as a co-opted member.

The Chairman reminded members of the change in the law to allow "other world views" on religion to be taken into account when teaching RE. At the time of this change SACRE invited the British Humanists Association to send a representative to Lincolnshire SACRE but they were unable to do so. Wendy Harrison stated that the City of Leicester SACRE did have a co-opted Humanist member who had in fact attended a meeting of Lincolnshire SACRE in 2016.

Officers stated that the legal constitution of SACREs allowed co-opted members to contribute to meetings but not to vote. The Chairman pointed out that SACRE rarely had to formally vote on issues so this was not a significant issue. He invited Jack Dryden to talk about why he wished to become a co-opted member on SACRE and then invited questions from members.

Jack stated that he had become an atheist agnostic about two years ago. He worked in schools as a student support worker on restorative justice. It was his view that the non-religious side of world views was not always being addressed and there was a need to provide an alternative point of view. He stated that 57% of people in the county identified as having no faith, with the percentage among young people being even higher. He was of the view that these views needed to be taken into account in schools, for example, he was aware of children from non-religious families having to attend mandatory prayers in some schools. Jack explained that he wished to understand more about how SACREs worked and make a contribution to work in schools.

Comments and questions by members included:-

·         SACREs had been set up to provide advice to LAs about religious education. If SACREs had been established today they might have been set up differently in order to reflect the present religious/cultural landscape.

·         Many SACREs had Humanists as co-opted members.

·         It was noted that Humanists represented a large section of the views of society.

·         What support could SACRE provide? Jack Dryden stated that he welcomed any advice from members about the current structure of schools in the county and how SACRE worked with these schools.

SACRE agreed unanimously to appoint Jack Dryden as a co-opted member.

Apologies for absence were received from Lynette Gaylard (Ground Level Network), Peter Crosby (Baptist Church), Swathi Screenivasan (Hindu Community), Sarah Thornton (NUT, Primary Schools), Elizabeth Moore (NASUWT, Primary Schools), Catherine Williamson (NASUWT, Secondary Schools and Councillor Mark Whittington (Lincolnshire County Council).

Cherry Edwards requested that a note should be made in the minutes that she was the Chair of the Board of Directors of the West Grantham Academies Trust (minute 25).

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 14 November 2017, be agreed as a correct record subject to the following amendments:-

·         Page 8 – add "g" after the word "monitoring" in the second bullet point of minute 10.

·         Page 9 – replace "RE" by "Religious" in the first bullet point of minute 11.

·         Page 10 – replace "form" by "from" in bullet point 2 of minute 11.

(The Chairman wishes to report the resignation of David Scoffield from SACRE. The Church of England has been requested to appoint a replacement and a response is awaited.

The Chairman will give a verbal report on the outcome of his visit to St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Voluntary Academy, Lincoln

The Chairman will give an update on the Agreed Syllabus)

The Chairman reported the resignation of David Scoffield as a Church of England representative on SACRE due to family care issues and added David's contribution and support to the work of SACRE would be missed.

The Chairman stated that letters of commendation, on behalf of SACRE, had been sent to those schools which had received extremely positive comments following Ofsted inspections of schools with reference to the provision of Pupils' Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development. Following such a letter he had received an invitation to visit the St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Voluntary Academy, Lincoln. He stated that all year 11 pupils were entered for GCSE Religious Education studies and that the school had a very diverse intake with children coming from different cultures.

The Chairman stated that the new Agreed Syllabus had been completed, approved by the County Council's Executive, delivered to all schools and training had been provided. He stated that Jill Chandar-Nair had confirmed that each member of SACRE would receive a hard copy of the Syllabus. He stated that compared to launches in the past of the Agreed Syllabus this launch had been low key. He thanked the members of the Agreed Syllabus Conference especially Wendy Harrison, Gillian Georgiou and Jill Chandar-Nair for their hard work in producing the new Agreed Syllabus and providing training.

(Mrs Ruth Baldwin, Head of Year 11, Teacher of Religious Studies and Careers Coordinator, at Thomas Middlecott Academy, Kirton, will give a presentation about RE in her school)

SACRE received a presentation from Ruth Baldwin, Head of Year 11 and Teacher of Religious Studies and Careers Co-ordinator, at the Thomas Middlecott Academy, Kirton, about the teaching of Religious Education in her school.

Ruth Baldwin gave a presentation about RE in her school and responded to comments and questions from members including:-

·         Communication with feeder schools at KS2 and KS3 was important and helped pupils in their understanding of RE.

·         She stated that the percentage of pupils passing RE at GCSE level was higher than those achieving English/History.

·         She agreed that despite the cutbacks in the teaching of RE the standard achieved had been good but more time was required for discussion and debate.

·         She agreed that for statistical purposes it was important to look at what pupils achieved in examinations for the whole of their year group and added that the pupils entered for the RE examination comprised a mixed year group.

·         She agreed that literacy skills needed to be good to enter the RS examination.

·         She agreed that consistency the teaching of RE was important.

The Chairman thanked Ruth Baldwin for her presentation.

(A report by Wendy Harrison, RE Adviser, which provides a summary of the outcome of inspections by Ofsted Inspectors, on the provision of SMSC and British values in schools. SACRE is recommended to indicate those schools it wishes should receive a letter from the Chairman)

SACRE received a report in connection with a summary of inspectors' judgements on schools' provision for SMSC development, including British values, in those schools inspected by OFSTED since the last report prepared for SACRE.

Officers commented that there was still inconsistency with many reports, that in some of the reports there was no mention of British values while in others there were very detailed comments.

Comments by members and the responses of officers, where appropriate, included:-

·      Concern was expressed about some of the inspectors' comments in a public document and whether these comments could have a detrimental effect on the status of a school? Officers stated that Ofsted reports were in the public domain and that all parents received a letter following an inspection so there would be no surprises.

·      It was noted that a new headteacher had been appointed to the West Grantham Academy St John's and that improvements had been made. more support would be given to the school in due course.

·      Officers stated that "overall effectiveness" was explained in each report before the summary of the OFSTED reports of each school reported to SACRE. Officers stated that the content of the reports to SACRE was a summary of the inspectors' reports with specific reference to SMSC and British values.

RESOLVED

(a) That the following schools receive a letter from the Chairman congratulating them on the positive remarks made by the inspectors:-

The Old Leake Primary and Nursery school, Boston; the North Cotes CE Primary School; Louth Eastfield Infants' and Nursery School; Rauceby CE Primary School; Baston CE Primary School; Swineshead St Mary's CE Primary School; Boston Grammar School.

(b) That the following schools receive a letter from the Chairman expressing concern various weaknesses identified by OFSTED:-

Great Steeping Primary School, Spilsby; Sutton on Sea Community Primary School, Mablethorpe;

(c) That the West Grantham Academy St John's receive further support in the future to allow the new headteacher to settle in.

(Wendy Harrison, RE Adviser, will give an update on the Annual Report 2016/17. This item will be considered in more detail at the next meeting)

SACRE received an update in connection with its Annual Report 2016/17. Officers stated that it had taken long time to prepare because of the need to wait for information about examination results. A copy of the report had been sent to NASACRE and the Department for Education.

RESOLVED

That the Annual Report 2016/17 be examined in more detail, for example, examination data, at the next meeting.

(To receive a report from Mark Plater on his attendance at the annual meeting of NASACRE)

SACRE received a report from Mark Plater on his attendance at the annual meeting of NASACRE. He responded to comments and questions as follows:-

·    He stated that it would be useful for whoever attended future AGMs that they should take examples of work produced by the Lincolnshire SACRE.

·    He stated that responses from panel members to the idea of a national curriculum for RE had been mixed (2xYes; 1xNo; 1xMaybe). Charles Clarke, former Secretary of State for Education in the late 1990s, supported a "loose" national curriculum framework for the teaching of religious education, but with a retained role for SACREs to support RE in the local context.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted and that Mark Plater be thanked for his attendance and report.

(To receive a report from Gillian Georgiou, Diocesan RE Adviser, in connection with the latest developments of Diocesan RE activities)

SACRE received a report in connection with the latest developments of Diocesan RE activities.

Officers stated that the Lincolnshire Agreed Syllabus had been uploaded onto the Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education website (http://lincolndiocesaneducation.com/religious-education/lincolnshire-locally-agreed-syllabus-for-re-2018/). Officers agreed to send the website link to members and they were asked to examine if there was any bias towards Church schools and to let Gillian Georgiou have their comments.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted and that officers send the website link to members to allow them to submit their comments to Gillian Georgiou about the Syllabus.

(Jill Chandar-Nair, Inclusion and Attendance Manager, will present this DVD)

This item was withdrawn for further investigation.

(The next meeting (AGM) has been arranged for 2.00pm on Tuesday 6 November 2018 at the County Offices, Lincoln)

Jack Dryden agreed to do reflections at the next meeting arranged for 2.00pm on Tuesday 6 November 2018.

Chris Burke referred to a British Board of Jews event organised in Birmingham which involved a talk by the Board to Councillors about how Jews were being treated in the UK. He stated that he was proposing to attend the event and would take the opportunity to speak to the Board to see if they were prepared to talk to SACREs.