Draft minutes

Apologies for absence Marria Kanamia, Peter Thomson, Trevor Willis, Barati Joshi, Sally Knight and Councillor N Greene.

The Minutes of the meeting on 02 November 2022 were confirmed as a correct record.

It was noted that David Rees and Georgie Pinder had been present at the meeting.

It was noted that Jane Kelly would be included within the Working Party described in Minute 107.

It was noted that, following his retirement from the Church in Bournemouth, a replacement on the SACRE would be needed for Ian Terry.

It was noted that work being undertaken currently in respect of anti-bullying in schools now included signposting to information about cities and schools of sanctuary status and further information would be available in terms of follow-up information and resources for use in schools.

The 2022/23 Action Plan is updated as at March 2023 and ready for circulation after the meeting. In the meantime, the Annual Report has been submitted to NASACRE.

It was noted that the formal launch of the new and reviewed RE syllabus had replaced an annual BCP SACRE Conference for the current year. It was possible, however, that an informal conference event could be arranged, if not in the Summer term, in the Spring term, with contributions from in-house contributors. This could also be an opportunity for further engagement with the Networks. The Chair undertook to discuss this outside the meeting and to advise SACRE members of the outcome.

Some fifty percent of BCP schools were reported to have attended the syllabus launch with others represented at the event through representatives from Academy Trusts. Feedback had been positive and there was broad support. Copies of the syllabus had been emailed to all schools with, in addition, RE teaching staff welcoming receipt of printed copies of the document.

It was reported that, at Council Director level and for an agreed negotiated fee, agreement had been reached with Dorset Council for them to use the core of the BCP syllabus rebranded for Dorset Council. There were clearly also benefits in having the same syllabus in use across the whole of Dorset.

Two events across Dorset had been attended by 450 students at a Bournemouth event and 180 students at a Dorset event and these events would hopefully be repeated next year. They presented the opportunity to hear first-hand testimony and, increasingly, to hear from a second generation retelling the experiences of their own parents. Across the wider community, an HMD event had been held at the Lighthouse Theatre in Poole.

The updated Collective Worship document was reported to have been finalised and would shortly be ready for distribution to schools.

Further details of the exhibition scheduled two weeks before the Half Term holiday week in October 2023 would be circulated when available and there would also be an opportunity for a visit by SACRE members.

The SACRE received updates from the range of RE network and hub groups now functioning across the area and a summary sheet including names of hub lead practitioners and contacts would be circulated following the meeting.

The expected number of delegates at the RE Conference on 21 March was already at 43 and was free to attend for SACRE members. The conference programme would also be circulated.

Progress on ‘Learning Teach Lead Area 3’ was also set out for information with the established Working Group involved and a bid for three-year funding was being prepared.

There was the opportunity to re-prioritise work on School website development and there was reported support from the School Improvement team at BCP Council.

It was agreed that a schedule of meeting dates be drawn up for the Academic Year 2023/24 and circulated as soon as possible.

The next meeting of the SACRE on 21 June 2023 will be person-to-person and hosted by Winchelsea School at a start time of 4.15pm.

Post-meeting note from the Chair.

The Chair omitted to refer to the following at the meeting:

Rabbi Maurice from the Reform Synagogue, Debs Tendler, (the Chair’s substitute on SACRE) and the Chair will be offering a session on delivering Holocaust education for all BCP teachers sometime after the Autumn half term.

Additionally, the Chair has completed the RE Hubs training and would recommend that anyone either conducting visits in places of worship or going into schools should be encouraged to do this training. It takes an hour and half and was very worthwhile.