Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Mary Thorne and Peter Ginnings.

There were no declarations of interest.

It was noted that the meeting was not quorate as the Panel B (Church of England) representatives were unable to attend. Only Panel A (Christian and other religious denominations) and Panel C (teachers) were able to vote, as the local authority representatives did not have a vote on agreed syllabus matters, although they were full members of SACRE.

Members noted that another meeting would be called at a future date to ratify this meeting when C of E members would be able to attend.  

There were no items of urgent business.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 18^th September 2017.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting held on 18^th September 2017.

Members noted that page 3 of the minutes made reference to writing to the Local Authority about RE teacher recruitment. A teacher member said that recruitment was handled by individual schools in most cases and so the Local Authority would not be involved.

As the meeting was inquorate, the minutes of the last meeting were not formally approved.

To consider adopting the Westminster version of the Hampshire syllabus “Living Difference” as Camden’s Agreed Syllabus.

Consideration was given to the information in the agenda pack and the supplementary on the Westminster version of the Hampshire “Living Difference” syllabus.

A question was asked as to how many other authorities used the syllabus. The Professional Advisor said, in addition to Hampshire, other authorities in the vicinity did. In London, in addition to Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham used it too.

Members commented that £1000 seemed like good value for a syllabus.

Members of Group A and Group C met separately to vote on whether they agreed with “Living Difference” being the Camden Agreed Syllabus. Both groups said that they agreed. Concern was voiced by teacher members that, due to time constraints on RE teaching, it would be difficult in practice to teach the whole syllabus.

To consider the next steps to follow to launch it once a new syllabus is chosen.

The Chair proposed that there be a launch event hosted by Camden after the syllabus was finally formally agreed. She also asked that a training programme be arranged and efforts be made to encourage as many teachers as possible to attend, particularly those who were not subject specialists.

There was no other business.