Contact: Colin Hinxman - ext. 7343

1. The Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education for Hampshire (SACRE) is constituted under the Education Reform Act 1988 and has the following functions:

(a) to advise the Authority upon such matters connected with religious
worship in county schools and the religious education to be taught
in accordance with an agreed syllabus as the Authority may refer to the
Council or as the Council may consider appropriate;

(b) to advise the Authority regarding its statutory duty to review its agreed
syllabus every five years and to convene an Agreed Syllabus
Conference;

(c) to determine any application from the headteacher of a county school,
or any grant maintained school which before it acquired grant
maintained status, was a county school, following consultation with the
governing body, for an amendment to the requirement that collective
worship should be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character;

(d) to publish an annual report which;

(i) specifies any matters on which it has advised the Authority;

(ii) broadly describes the nature of that advice; and

(iii) sets out its reasons for offering advice on any matters which
were not referred to in the first place by the Authority.

2. SACRE's constitution requires its members to be appointed by Hampshire County Council as the Local Education Authority for each four-year period. SACRE will continue to exist irrespective of the County Council's new arrangements when they come into effect in the autumn.

3. The current membership for the various specified categories is as follows:

Group A - Representatives of Religious Bodies

Assemblies of God - Mr C. Benton
Baptist Union - Mr P. Tipple
Buddhist - Revd. G.E. Rock
Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches - Mr C. Hughes
Hindu - Mr J.L. Sharma
Jewish - Mr J. Klein
Methodist - Mr H. Benzie
Muslim - Mr M. Riyami
Roman Catholic - Sister Mary Jo Martin
Salvation Army - Lt. D. Green
Sikh - vacancy
Society of Friends - Mr J. Graham
United Reformed Church - Mrs S. Thatcher

Group B - Four Representatives of the Church of England

Mrs L. Weatherley
Mr B. Hay
Revd. J. Turpin
Miss S. Humphries

Group C - Four representatives of Teachers' Associations

Mr P. Harrington
Ms P. Smith
Mr T. Strong
One vacancy

Group D - Representatives of the Authority

Nominated by the Committee at their last meeting.

Chairman - Mr S.W. Juniper
Vice-Chairman - Councillor D.A. Kirk
Councillor Mrs P.G. Peskett
Councillor W.H. Wheeler

Co-opted Members

SACRE also has power to co-opt Members, for example, teachers who may be needed to ensure adequate representation of teachers who are concerned with religious education in primary and secondary schools. There at current three such co-opted members.


Recommendation:

That the Members named above be appointed to serve on the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education in Hampshire (SACRE) until the Annual Meeting of the County Council in May 2005.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1 Published works.

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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