Item 2

AT A MEETING of the STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION held at The Castle, Winchester on Tuesday, 7 June 2005.

PRESENT:

Members: S.W. Juniper (Chairman), Councillor D.A. Kirk (Vice-Chairman), Ms M. Allder, H. Benzie, Miss S.E. Boothman, Councillor Mrs A Buckley, Ms R. Costambeys, B.W. Hay, C.A.R. Hughes, J.J. Klein, Ms J. O'Reilly, Councillor Sam Payne, Mrs A.J. Post, M. Riyami, Rev. G.E. Rock, Mullah M. Sheriff, Ms L. Smith, Mrs S. Thatcher, Rev. J. Turpin, N. Utton.

Also in attendance: Ms M. Gordon-James.

1. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally at the time of the debate, declare their interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed. There were no declarations of interest.

2. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 8 February 2005 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

3. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

Children Act 2004

The Chairman invited the County Education Officer to update Members on progress made by the County Council following the implementation of the Children Act. The County Education Officer explained the new set up and said that the new Directors of Children's Services and Adult Services were to take up their posts in August 2005 and both Andrew Seber, County Education Officer and Terry Butler, Director of Social Services would be retiring. He said that SACRE's position was secure as it was a statutory body.

4. DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations to this meeting.

5. NASCARE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Council received and noted the report of the County Education Officer (Item 5 in the Minute Book) on the recent Annual General Meeting of the National Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education. It was explained that it had not been possible, given the time restraints, to make a joint bid with Portsmouth and Southampton for project funding from NASACRE. Portsmouth City Council had submitted an individual bid for a Young Inter-Faith Project and had been successful. Details of Portsmouth's bid were presented to Members. It was explained that plans were now in progress for a joint bid with Southampton for next year and that there would be a meeting with the Youth Council to talk about this bid.

RESOLVED:

That Portsmouth's Young People's Faith Forum be consulted in preparation for the joint bid with Southampton for funding in 2006.

6. SACRE MONITORING SUB-GROUP

The Council received the report of the County Education Officer (Item 6 in the Minute Book) detailing the findings of the recent meeting of the Monitoring Sub-Group. The monitoring process was explicated and it was highlighted that a report on collective worship in secondary schools would be presented to the next meeting.

7. SACRE SELF-EVALUATION SUB-GROUP

The Council received the report of the County Education Officer (Item 7 in the Minute Book) detailing the recent findings of the Self Evaluation Sub-Group. The necessity for self evaluation was outlined and Members were given details of the questions to be addressed. These questions would be prioritised at the next meeting of the Sub-Group and a further report would be presented to the next meeting of SACRE to enable them to be addressed further.

8. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE AGREED SYLLABUS : LIVING DIFFERENCE

The Council received and noted the report of the County Education Officer (Item 8 in the Minute Book) regarding the implementation of the new Agreed Syllabus for RE in Hampshire Schools as published in September 2004. He outlined the progress made and gave details of the training provided for schools and the number of schools that had taken up the training. It was explained that four County Development Groups were developing units of work based on the new syllabus and a handbook would be published in the Autumn term 2005. A Regional Development Group had been initiated to complement and supersede the initiative undertaken through the County Development Group. Rebecca Costambeys was introduced and gave a presentation to on the practical implementation of the agreed syllabus for which other Members thanked her.

9. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was noted that the date of next SACRE meeting would be held at 2.00 pm on Tuesday 1 November 2005.

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