Agenda and minutes

It was announced that there would be a presentation from Paraskevi Koumi from the Faith & Belief Forum at the end of the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Luke Dowling (Panel A), Councillor Nasim Ali (Panel D), and Councillor Julian Fulbook (Panel D).

Apologies for lateness were received from Mary Thorne (Panel B).

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th March 2019.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th March 2019.

Owen Rees, the School Information and Governance Consultant, and Claire Clinton, the Professional Advisor to SACRE, informed members that they would be speaking to the primary and secondary heads meetings about RE and collective worship in July.

In terms of the discussion about exam results in the annual report that members had discussed at the last meeting, Mr Rees said the change in the figures had been due to the categorisation of “short course” GCSE entries in previous years. They had been treated as akin to full course entries in the tables and so made the number of entries seem larger in previous years than the most recent year.

The Chair said that she had written a letter to the Department for Education, which outlined the views members had expressed at the 12^th March meeting.

Members also asked for confirmation that cards giving the dates for Eid had gone out to schools in time. Mr Rees said he would clarify that this had happened.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meeting held on 12^th March 2019 be agreed as a correct record.

To note the membership of SACRE and to consider how vacancies could be filled.

Claire Clinton, the Professional Advisor to SACRE, informed the meeting that a new Roman Catholic representative – Sophie Fegan – had been recruited. She was also liaising with the Church of England and the Sikh community to find representatives from those groups.

To note the list of Determinations and to consider the Determination application from Eleanor Palmer School.

Consideration was given to the list of schools with Determinations and the application from Eleanor Palmer School.

Councillor Anna Wright and Claire Clinton had visited Eleanor Palmer and observed an assembly there. They said they had been impressed with the thought that had gone into it and its topicality, as it had been on St George’s Day and the assembly had talked about the myths about St George.

There had been an opportunity for children to engage in individual reflection during the assembly. However, it seemed that some children had found this difficult and they felt there was a need to give children an explanation of what this period for reflection was.

It was noted that almost half the children in the school came from non-religious backgrounds. As such, members thought it was appropriate to grant the school a Determination which exempted it from the requirement that collective worship be of a broadly Christian character.

Members commented that it was welcome the school was engaging with SACRE on this, and that there were other schools which had not applied for or renewed a Determination but for whom it was not clear whether this had been a conscious decision or reflected ignorance of the process. Some members expressed the view that officers should try to engage with schools that had not applied for a Determination to clarify whether this was their policy or whether they were not aware of or able to go through the process.

RESOLVED –

THAT a Determination be granted to Eleanor Palmer School.

                                                            ACTION: Clerk to SACRE

To start the process of self-evaluation and planning for the future for Camden SACRE, with reference to the NASACRE self-evaluation form.

Consideration was given to the SACRE self-evaluation framework.

Members had a discussion about the first strand mentioned in the document – the monitoring and improvement of the standards, quality and provision of RE. They noted that they received the exam results for schools in the borough as part of the annual report process. The Agreed Syllabus for the borough had been launched and promoted to schools – but this was a matter that was difficult for members to monitor the implementation of, especially without attendance from teacher members who could report on what was going on in their school. Claire Clinton informed members that schools sent returns to the DfE which should indicate the number of hours of RE teaching taking place. Obtaining this information might help SACRE decide which schools they would need to liaise with about increasing their focus on this subject. 

The SACRE decided that it would classify itself as ‘developing’ in this strand.  Newer members commented that it would be beneficial to have ‘scene setting’ background information as to the activities of SACRE in the past and what data was available. The Chair and Professional Advisor said they would try to get this information to new members.

ACTION: Chair and Professional Advisor

Members agreed that if time was available at future meetings, they would like to consider other strands of the self-evaluation framework.

To note the NASACRE conference report.

The Professional Advisor reported on the NASACRE annual conference. There had been attendance from 108 of the 156 SACREs. She had been particularly impressed by the work being done by Alsop High School in Liverpool, who had been very active in organising events and guest speakers at their school. They had been building up good community links.

To consider an update from the Professional Advisor.

Consideration was given to a briefing note from the NATRE (National Association of Teachers of RE), which the Professional Advisor had circulated.

Ms Clinton said that she welcomed the move from OFSTED towards the approach it had taken 20 years ago, where inspectors were focusing on RE as part of comprehensive inspection processes.

The Committee received a presentation from Paraskevi Koumi from the Faith & Belief Forum (FBF). She said that the organisation had its head office in Camden and tended to work with schools in London and the West Midlands.

The FBF had projects to link schools which might have different catchment areas and a different composition of their student body – to encourage pupils to explore issues of identity, diversity and community. The FBF also ran workshops within schools to develop pupils’ empathy and religious literacy.

She said that the FBF had worked with five schools in the borough and was keen to work with others if possible.

Dates of future meetings of Camden SACRE are:

·         Tuesday, 29^th October 2019

·         Tuesday, 21^st January 2020

·         Monday, 20^th April 2020

It was noted that the dates of future meetings of SACRE would be:

·         Tuesday, 29^th October 2019

·         Tuesday, 21^st January 2020

·         Monday, 20^th April 2020