Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from members of the Committee.

Apologies were received from Shelley Jones, Trevor Willis, Rob Lawton, Peter Thomson and Dave Pegg.

The Chair welcome everyone to the meeting and those in attendance introduced themselves, including Claire Jones, Kirsten Lloyd (observing), Lynda Ford-Horne, Georgie Pinder, Dave Rees, Vincent Saunders, Cllr Richard Burton and Nicola Coupe (in attendance virtually).

LFH read a prayer called god of life.

It was noted that the minutes of the last meeting would be brought to the next meeting.

The Chair informed the Committee that he had thoroughly enjoyed and welcomed the event, which was echoed by others in attendance.

The Committee discussed the conference and comments were made, including:

• Positive reception to the presentation from Sister Tama who provided the conference with feedback about her work.

• It was felt there was a good, varied nature of content.  With praise to the personal testimonies given including lived experience.  The Round robin tables exercise provided food for thought.

• The RE Advisor advised that considering if had been arranged at quite short notice, it had come together very well.  He advised that with the lived experience of belonging, consideration needed to be given on how to use that information and transfer it to classroom learning.

• It was noted that there was a good variety of attendees, enabling new contacts to be nurtured.

• A teacher representative highlighted the positive impact of not splitting the primary and secondary phase as it enabled more personal stories to be shared about both phases. 

• It was acknowledged that it was difficult to increase secondary school engagement and the reasons for that were discussed alongside consideration of how engagement could be increased.

• It was noted that the last conference as also the launch of the syllabus which would have increased attendance and it was acknowledged that teachers had difficulties in being able to leave school to attend.  There was some discussion about possibly relaunching a SEND network.

• The Committee was advised that evaluation forms would be sent out to gain valuable feedback from schools and attendees.

•  It was noted that Ofsted was impressed with how teachers were involved in the creation of the syllabus.

• The Committee was advised of pockets of funding as RE budgets were normally very small and how the funding could be accessed and used with SACREs help.

• The Committee discussed collective worship and it was felt that the information should be shared annually as it provided good information which was still relevant.  It was agreed to develop a section for SEND education. ACTION.

• The Committee discussed the speakers who attended the conference and discussed ways in which it could reach a wider audience within schools by potentially recording speakers to share stories of real people of different faiths.  How this could be done was discussed including potential funding and external help from university students to create a package.  ACTION.

The Chair concluded the item by thanking all those who arranged, contributed and attended the event.

The Committee was advised that Holocaust Memorial Day was on 27 January 2025 and the main event would be held at Poole Lighthouse on Sunday 26 at 2pm, with a further event on 27 January at the Civic Centre. 

The Committee was advised of the invitation going out to all secondary and middle schools regarding an event at Parkstone Gramar with a speaker regarding a story of her father about his time in Auschwitz.

The Committee was curious what schools did during Interfaith week, and it was felt a reminder could be sent out with to remind schools it was happening and provide suggested resources.  It was noted Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole had a newly formed interfaith group where 150 people came to tell their stories. ACTION - send out in January newsletter to enable schools time to schedule in.

The Committee was advised that the Jewish Board of Deputies put together a resource for teaching KS3 which needed to be circulated to all schools.  It was noted the resource could be used for GCSE teachers which was a free comprehensive resource called Jewish Living Online.  ACTION - circulate to all SACRE members and secondary schools. 

The Chair advised he put this item on the agenda and highlighted that the deadline for responses was the following day, 22 November 2024.

The Committee discussed the call for evidence and it was highlighted that responses should use their own evidence and include presentations around data and outcomes.

The outcome of the call was discussed which if positive, could be beneficial for SACREs.

It was highlighted that you did not have to complete the full form, however responses would need to add weight to be counted.

It was agreed that the clerk would circulate the Call For Evidence to the full SACRE Committee for response.  ACTION.

The Committee was advised that the Action Plan was updated every term and that the RE Advisor would circulate an updated one.  It was advised that the Annual Report was also close to completion and could be circulated. ACTION.

The Committee was advised that the newsletter would be circulated in the second week of term and included information regarding CPD and local and national information.  The RE Advisor was keen to include some input from SACRE Members in future.

There was some discussion over SARCEs budget and what it could be used for as it was acknowledged that on years when the Committee was not working on the agreed syllabus, it was not always fully utilised.  Possible options were funding for support networks and having an annual conference

The Committee was advised that the agreed syllabus had been launched online with more exemplification material available.  It was noted that the online function would be quality assured by Georgie Pinder and Dave Rees.  ACTION.

The Salisbury Diocesan representative provided the Committee with an update, including that training had been arranged with lead practitioners, with a meeting planned in early December.  It was requested that any encouragement to get schools to attend would be appreciated and the ways to promote it were discussed. 

The Committee was advised of the work being undertaken in compiling a world view handbook and hyperlinks were shared with SACRE.

The Committee was advised that funding continued until 2025 and Dorset, Wiltshire and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole had agreed to move to Learning Target 3.

The Salisbury Diocesan representative advised that the recent SIAMS – annual report included a damming report on findings of inspections for RE which needed consideration and would be circulated before the next meeting.  ACTION.

Dave Rees left the meeting before the commencement of this item.

The Committee was advised that BCP Council needed to review the commissioning arrangements for the RE advisor specialist and expressions of interest were being sought.  It was noted that Dave Rees was currently commissioned to fulfil the role. 

The timescales, options and process were discussed by the Committee.

None received.

·       12 March 2025

·       18 June 2025

·       12 November 2025

The date of the next meetings were noted and it was agreed it would be a 4pm start and be held virtually.

It was requested that the date of 12 November be changed to 22 October 2025.  ACTION.