Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Ann Hewetson to the SACRE. Mrs Hewetson will be the second Catholic representative on Committee A.

At their meeting of 14 November 2011 SACRE had deferred electing a Vice-Chairman. The Chairman now proposed, and Mr Peter Davies seconded and it was:

RESOLVED _ That Hifsa Haroon-Iqbal be elected as Vice-Chairman for the ensuing year.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2011 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

SACRE received an update on key issues that had developed or arisen since their last meeting. The issues included were:

1. The SACRE annual report (copies of the report were available for members at the meeting); and,
2. Recruitment to RE CPD training (any members wishing to attend this training were welcome and should contact Emma Senior).

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Oral Report of the Chairman and Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

The Chairman gave an oral update on recent NASACRE developments, including:

a)     The changing landscape in terms of education and how SACREs fit into this new picture. In particular NASACRE were considering how SACREs could promote good relationships with academies and how they could ensure the provision of RE on the curriculum in all schools. NASACRE was due to produce a pamphlet on this issue;

b)     The next round of project awards was due, specifically the Westhill Trust for which Staffordshire had had a successful bid last year developing a DVD resource around the Memorial Arboretum. The award had changed slightly this year and would now be £4000 for successful projects. Members discussed the possibility of submitting a similar bid around the Arboretum but looking at producing a resource for primary aged pupils. The possibility of basing the project around commemoration was suggested; and,

c)      Academy representation on local SACREs had been considered, with two possible ways forward suggested, these being: create a new academy representative on Committee C or co-opt an academy member on to SACRE (not being part of any committee and therefore not being entitled to a vote).

RESOLVED – That the oral report be noted.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

The SACRE received a brief update on recent correspondence with the British Humanist Association following their request for full membership to Committee A of SACRE that had been debated at the 14 November SACRE meeting. SACRE heard from Tricia Budd, Staffordshire SACREs co-opted humanist representative, outlining the number of humanist communities in Staffordshire. They were also reminded that the Staffordshire Agreed Syllabus made reference to humanism amongst other life stances.

After a detailed debate members agreed that they wished to inform the Local Authority (LA) that they were minded to include a humanist representative on Committee A.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills be informed that the SACRE are minded to include a humanist representative onto Committee A.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

The SACRE received a copy of the code of conduct produced by Brent City Council for their SACRE members. The code was intended to ensure that their SACRE members had the right intentions for becoming a member and would commit to working together for the good of the SACRE and for the benefit of RE.

Members broke into small workshop groups to consider the detail of the code. On the whole they felt the content was sound with exceptions on references to “assume at all times”. The Chairman invited Jane Essex to draft a Staffordshire version of the Brent code for discussion at the next meeting.

RESOLVED – That the Jane Essex produce a draft Staffordshire code of conduct based on the Brent Code for the next meeting.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

Members were informed of the RE subject focused Ofsted inspection in 2011 of Maryhill High School where the judgment had been inadequate. This had raised concerns as the whole school inspection the previous year had given a judgment of “good”. A letter to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools was shared with members which highlighted the concerns over these variations in judgement.

SACRE endorsed the letter to Ofsted.

RESOLVED – That the Chairman’s letter to the Ofsted Chief Inspector be endorsed.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

Members received a copy of a letter sent to schools seeking details of their RE provision for KS3 and 4 and pointing out the consequences of the recent inadequate RE subject focused inspection at a Staffordshire school.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

SACRE were reminded of the sln2 learning platform for Staffordshire and the need to have their individual user name and login to access this function. Following their last meeting members had been asked to email the clerk to receive their login and passwords and those who wished to receive their access details should email Helen Phillips after the meeting.

RESOLVED – That member’s note they need to email the Clerk to access their username and password details for the sln2 information platform.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

In a change to previous years a new system of electronic questionnaires had been set up on sln2. Schools had been invited to complete the online questionnaire through a letter and e-update. With SACRE members able to access the sln2 data it was now possible for members to view the responses on a regular basis.

RESOLVED – That the findings from the 2011/12 monitoring be received.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

None had been received

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of People

The SACRE budget was available to support the work of SACRE during the financial year 2011-12. Members received an account of the monies spent to date.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

RESOLVED – That the next SACRE meeting is held on 14 May 2012, 2.00pm, Kingston Centre, Stafford.