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Appendix 1

Annual Report of Hampshire SACRE 2005-6

1. Overview

1.1 This Annual Report covers the period from 1 September 2005 to 31 August 2006 during which time Hampshire SACRE met on three occasions. In addition the SACRE Monitoring Sub-Group also met on three occasions.

2. Religious Education

2.1 Locally Agreed Syllabus

The Hampshire Agreed Syllabus, Living Difference, jointly produced with Portsmouth and Southampton Local Authorities, has been the statutory guidance for RE in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton since 1 September 2004. To ensure the effective implementation of the Agreed Syllabus further courses for Hampshire primary and secondary teachers were delivered throughout the academic year 2005-6. Primary and secondary steering groups and regional development groups were established, including a special schools development group. Two `Living Difference' handbooks were published, one primary and one secondary, by teachers in county development groups and the County RE Inspectors. These contain comprehensive advice on planning, delivery, assessment and self-evaluation and comprehensive examples of units of work with accompanying resources. Development is ongoing in refining the delivery of RE according to the methodology for teaching and learning based on conceptual enquiry. Westminster local authority has adopted the Agreed Syllabus. The Agreed Syllabus has been reviewed in the British Journal of Religious Education and praised for its excellence and its focus on the systematic development of learning. It is the basis of a two-phase development programme through to 2009.

2.2 Standards in Religious Education

OFSTED Findings

The findings of OFSTED for religious education have been routinely monitored by the SACRE Monitoring Sub-Group. A summary of the findings has been submitted to the full SACRE at its autumn term meeting. However, the changes introduced under new Ofsted inspection criteria no longer provide subject specific reports. In future reports on religious education in Hampshire will be provided to SACRE through the monitoring sub group by the County Inspectors working with secondary and primary development groups on subject specific self evaluation of provision in schools and through Education Development Plan and management partnership work with schools.

Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 and 2

Ofsted reports were received from 16 schools in the primary phase (Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 and 2) during the Autumn and Spring terms of 2005 and 2006. Due to the change in Ofsted inspections no reports were received in the Summer term.

The major findings reported to SACRE were as follows:-

Infant schools

Ofsted reports from 8 infant schools have been received. All but one infant school made satisfactory or good improvements since their previous inspections. Attainment is in line with or above the expectations of the agreed syllabus in all the schools seen. In over half the schools the teaching is judged to be good or very good and in the remainder it is judged to be satisfactory. Similarly, the management is judged to be good or very good in the majority of schools. Where judgements about assessment and monitoring have been made it is deemed to be good or very good and in one school assessment was judged to be satisfactory. Other comments include the good use of visits and visitors and good resources for religious education.

Junior schools

Ofsted reports from 3 junior schools have been received. One school was judged to have made insufficient improvement since the last inspection, have insufficient curriculum time allocated and insufficient resources. The other 2 junior schools have made satisfactory or good improvements since their last inspections. These schools are judged to have good or very good management of the subject and good teaching resulting in pupils' attainment in RE being in line with or above expectations of the agreed syllabus.

Primary schools

Ofsted reports from 5 primary schools were received. Improvements since the last inspection were judged to be good or very good in the majority of these reports, otherwise the judgement was satisfactory. Attainment is in line with or above expectations in all those schools and teaching is judged to be good or very good in all the reports. Management of RE is judged to be satisfactory in over half the schools and in the remainder the judgement is good or very good. One school was judged to make very good use of visits and visitors but in another this provision was judged to be inadequate. Few reports made reference to assessment and monitoring procedures, but where they did, one school was judged to be satisfactory and another in need of improvement.

Although only a small number of reports were available compared to previous years, the judgements provide some positive indications about the provision of RE in Hampshire schools. All reports indicated successful teaching and average or above attainment. This compares favourably with last year's findings when some unsatisfactory teaching was identified.

A number of particular strengths were identified in the provision for RE at the Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 and 2 notably:

- High quality management of the subject

- Effective, good quality planning


- Some effective links with other areas of the curriculum and collective worship

An issue identified in need for improvement in a small number of reports was consistency with assessment procedures in RE.

Key Stages 3 and 4

Reports from 3 schools were received. One was judged to have made insufficient progress since the last inspection. Two of the reports indicated that students' attainment is below the expectations of the agreed syllabus due to insufficient time allocation. It was also noted that the management and teaching of RE is unsatisfactory due to the schools' inability to appoint specialist RE teachers. In the other school attainment was judged to be satisfactory as were teaching and assessment procedures.

With such a small sample of inspection reports available it would be unhelpful to make any comparisons with findings from previous years.

Special Schools

One report was available from a special school. The overall provision was considered to be satisfactory. Pupils' attainment was judged to be satisfactory in relation to their abilities. Teaching and management was judged to be satisfactory and resources were reported to be good.

2.3 GCSE Results 2005

The results for GCSE (Religious Studies) and GCSE Short Course (Religious Education) are included as Appendix 1.

The main findings were:

· Long Course Numbers

Candidates for Long Course GCSE have increased by over 500 compared to 2004 and this represents an increase in both boy and girl candidates but especially in boys

· Short Course Numbers
Candidates for Short Course GCSE have decreased by just under 500 compared to 2004. There is still parity of boys and girls entered, whether entered under RS (the large majority of candidates, 4455 in total) or RE (a small minority of candidates, 25 in total).

· Long Course Performance

Long Course performance indicates that both boys' and girls' A*-C results have improved significantly, both by approximately 10%, as has the overall result of 76.8%. Girls outperform boys.

· Short Course Performance

Short Course performance is divided into RS syllabi (the large majority of candidates) and RE (a minor number of candidates). There is no special significance to be attached to the title of the course. Results indicate that in RS a marginal improvement has occurred in A*-C passes, compared to 2003-4, for both boys and girls. Girls still outperform boys by an increased margin of over 17%. In RE boys outperformed girls in 2005 with a 92.3% pass rate A*-C, against 72.7% for girls. Overall the pass rate was 83.3%.

· Residuals for the Long Course indicate that there was a significant improvement both for boys and girls in Hampshire that was greater than a national improvement for girls and contrasted with a national decline in boys' performance. This resulted in a significant positive residual.

· Residuals for the Short Course are presented for the first time. They indicate very high positive residuals in Hampshire against national residuals for the subject in RE but more modest improvement for the large majority of candidates in RS with girls performing better than boys against the national subject residual.

2.4 SACRE Monitoring Sub-Group

Hampshire SACRE Monitoring Sub-Group met three times during 2005-6 to review all available information about religious education in Hampshire and make recommendations about action to be taken.

The Sub-Group reviews Ofsted reports and GCSE and other examination data. It receives reports from officers about the results of LEA inspections, monitoring and intervention.

The Sub-Group identifies schools which have been particularly successful, and writes to them commending their achievement. It also identifies schools where there are concerns in relation to religious education and seeks further information from the LEA.

A report on the work of the Sub-Group is submitted to the full SACRE on a regular basis. Changes to the Ofsted framework for inspection will result in monitoring data being collected from the LEA officers in subsequent years, based on subject self evaluation data provided by schools. This process has already been initiated and a strategy for further systematic collection of data will be presented to SACRE in Autumn 2006.

2.5 SACRE Self-Evaluation Sub-Group

SACRE's self evaluation sub group completed the self evaluation of SACRE's performance in 2005-6. The self evaluation resulted in a development plan (Appendix 5) that SACRE has now embarked upon.

2.6 Methods of teaching, the choice of teaching materials

The new handbooks for primary and secondary religious education provide

guidance for secondary and primary schools to accompany the agreed syllabus. These include advice on schemes of work, assessment, self evaluation and resources in religious education across key stages. The Secondary Handbook also provides units of work and accompanying resources for Key a Stage 3 scheme of work. The Primary Handbook provides units of work for the Foundation Stage and Key Stages 1 and 2. Dissemination of further guidance is provided through the newsletters and RE website for ongoing development in Hampshire schools. The steering groups and development groups continue to produce more refined and innovative materials in collaboration with the county inspectors for RE.

Schools in Hampshire receive regular advice through the work of the Hampshire Religious Education Inspection and Advice Team and the County Religious Education Centre. Regular newsletters are available to all Hampshire schools, free of charge, which include advice on issues such as planning, assessment and resources. These are now also electronically available on the RE Centre website. The Inspection and Advice Team continue to regularly visit primary and secondary schools, working with coordinators, heads of department and RE staff, at the request of schools, to improve the planning and delivery of RE in accordance with the guidance given in the new Agreed Syllabus based on conceptual enquiry.

SACRE supports the incorporation of a number of religious education activities within the current Local Authority's Education Development Plan. These include:

· Supporting RE departments within specified secondary schools.

Two departments were identified for additional support and this has resulted in improvement of planning, in terms of addressing teaching and learning based on the methodology for enquiry and skills in the agreed syllabus

· Identifying good practice in secondary RE departments

Five departments were visited to identify good practice in RE. Good practice identified has been disseminated through the Secondary RE Newsletter and through enabling other RE departments to make contact with good practitioners. Teachers who evidenced good practice were invited to join County development groups and have been involved in the production of units of work to be published in the new handbook. Further examples of good practice will be identified in 2006-7 which will enable a good practice network to expand through the development groups and provide evidence of the impact of the agreed syllabus on teaching and learning.

· Identifying good practice in primary RE

Eight schools were visited to identify good practice in primary RE. These schools were chosen from those who were already members of the County Development Groups in order to find evidence of how the agreed syllabus was impacting on teaching and learning in those schools. Other schools that had received training and support from the RE inspectors have also provided examples of good practice over the year. Examples of good practice have been disseminated through the RE Primary Newsletters, in the newly published RE Primary Handbook and on the county RE website. Further examples of good practice will be identified in 2006-7 providing further evidence of the impact of the implementation of the agreed syllabus.

· Secondary Strategy

Hampshire Local Authority has continued to implement the national Secondary (formerly Key Stage 3 Foundation Subject Strand) Strategy, which includes RE. Two leading teachers of RE are part of the County team. The County Inspector has continued to liaise closely with the two county strategy co-ordinators concerning their work in schools with RE teachers. Good practice continues to be disseminated through the RE Newsletter. Materials linking the Secondary Strategy with the methodology for teaching and learning of the Agreed Syllabus has been published in the new Secondary Handbook.

· Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development

Hampshire continues to offer advice on implementing SMSC through the County Inspector for RE. One school has conducted an audit of spiritual development, conducted by the County Inspector for RE, to complement its implementation of the Rights, Respect and Responsibility programme. Another school has devised an SMSC programme for Key Stages 3 and 4, based on the methodology for teaching and learning through conceptual enquiry in Living Difference. Ofsted has inspected this programme and judged it outstanding. The County Inspector for RE has conducted an audit of this programme.

· Advanced Skills Teachers

The two Secondary Advanced Skills Teachers in RE have worked closely with the County Inspector for RE in supporting the implementation of the Agreed Syllabus. They also support the County Inspector for RE by working with teachers in schools to ensure the ongoing development of departments in need of support, contributing to RE courses and newsletters and providing examples of effective planning in relation to the agreed syllabus and its methodology for teaching and learning. They have also been involved in the development of the new flexible Post Graduate Certificate in Education in RE at the University of Winchester through its validation and interviewing candidates and will be involved in its delivery.

· Disseminating Effective Practice

The Hampshire RE website has continued to develop (www.hampshire-reweb.co.uk). It is an effective means of disseminating good practice and further information on courses and events and new initiatives in relation to the Agreed Syllabus and national developments. The RE Newsletters are now posted on this site as well as being distributed to schools in hard-copy. The website continues to provide support and guidance on teaching and learning in RE. The agreed syllabus has been posted on this site and County Development Group materials once they have become suitable for publication.

The RE Newsletters for Primary and Secondary schools have continued to be a very effective resource for the dissemination of good practice. Issues over the past year have included planning, recommended resources, ideas for teaching and learning and samples of exemplary work from pupils. Teachers continue to express how much they value these regular newsletters.

Disseminating effective practice in RE during 2005-6 has continued to concentrate on courses emphasising the importance of:

· Implementing the Agreed Syllabus

· Training for non-specialist secondary teachers of RE

· Thinking skills and providing challenge

· Improving GCSE performance

· RE and ICT(information and communication technology).

· Assessment for Learning and Task Setting

· Leadership through The Annual Heads of RE Conference and Primary RE Coordinators' Conference

· Support for NQTs (newly qualified teachers)

2.7 Teacher Training

A full programme of in-service training courses has been provided (see Appendix 2 for details). The annual Primary and Secondary Conferences continued to recruit successfully. These are complemented with a series of inset courses which generally recruited successfully. All courses are offered to teachers in the neighbouring LEAs of Portsmouth and Southampton. The series of regional courses for effectively implementing the Agreed Syllabus has been provided throughout 2005-6 according to demand.

2.8 Complaints

No complaints were received about religious education under the local statutory complaints procedure.

2.9 Collective Worship

Advice

Advice was issued to schools in relation to Collective Worship in both the Primary and Secondary RE Newsletters during the year. The regular newsletters have also included information about religious festivals and resources applicable to Collective Worship.

A number of Primary phase schools have requested and received staff training and advice in relation to the provision of Collective worship.

Monitoring

The monitoring sub-group has continued to analyse the provision and quality of Collective Worship in Hampshire schools as reported by Ofsted in 2004/5. There is still concern over secondary schools that do not meet statutory requirements. The self-evaluation sub-group has presented this issue to SACRE and it constitutes an issue to be addressed within the SACRE development plan.

Primary Phase Schools

Reports which explicitly identified the provision for collective worship were received on 2 primary phase schools. Both were judged to be meeting statutory requirements.

Judgements made included good planning, good leadership and management for collective worship and good links made between collective worship and RE lessons which provided the school with " a sense of purposefulness and community."

Secondary Schools

Reports were received on 2 secondary schools. In both reports the judgement was of non compliance with the legal requirement for collective worship. One report stated " Although the statutory requirement to provide a daily act of collective worship is not fully met, governors have done all they can and standards are not being adversely affected."

Special Schools

No reports were received on special schools.

Training

Training was provided in a number of schools at their request.

Determinations and Complaints

No requests for determinations or formal complaints were received during the year.

2.10 Young People's Inter-Faith Project

Consultation with the Hampshire County Youth Council, Hampshire Youth Service, Southampton SACRE and Southampton Council of Faiths led to the setting up of a young people's inter-faith project. This is funded by Hampshire County Council and coordinated by Hampshire Youth Service with the support of the County Inspector for RE. At present, in its initial year of operation, it is seeking to draw together young people representative of a range of religious groups and others with no religious affiliation in order to provide a firm democratic foundation for the project. The project will report to Hampshire County Youth Council and Hampshire SACRE and be represented on both bodies. Further funding will be pursued during the coming year, for example from the National Association of SACREs, once the project has developed a clear and relevant focus for its work within the Hampshire context.

2.11 Links

National and International Links

SACRE continues its membership of the National Association of SACREs and has been represented at their meetings and QCA (Qualification and Curriculum Authority) conferences. SACRE was represented in the consultation process of the National Framework for RE and has invited the new QCA RE representative to its Autumn meeting 2006 and for subsequent consultation afterwards with appropriate stakeholders.

The RE Inspection and Advisory Team attended meetings of the Association of Religious Education Inspectors, Advisors and Consultants (AREIAC) in order to contribute to discussions and debates about national issues in relation to RE. The County Inspector has maintained links with research into RE and Spiritual Development through editorial involvement on leading national and international journals, books and conferences. Articles explaining the agreed syllabus, Living Difference, have been published in two national RE journals and three further articles are awaiting publication in an international journal and international handbook and a national periodical on RE. Through the County Inspector Hampshire has also been represented at national and international conferences on religious education and children's spirituality in 2005-6. Teachers from Hampshire and Portsmouth presented collegiate sessions at the 7^th International Conference on Children's Spirituality in July 2006 at the University of Winchester. An ongoing relationship with Canterbury Christchurch University has been established through its RE-NET project focusing on internet support for ITT (Initial Teacher Training) tutors relating theory and research to practice. The site has a Hampshire section containing documentation from Living Difference, a video explaining its methodology and information on vacancies for RE teachers in Hampshire secondary schools.

Local Links

The RE team, representing the local authority, maintains links with the local diocese RE teams, with other local faith communities, and with RE specialist teacher providers in regional institutions of higher education. The local authority continues with a partnership arrangement with Portsmouth City Council in respect of religious education and the support of SACRE. Through SACRE's links with local religious communities a second video at a place of worship and supporting notes have been produced with the assistance of Southampton Medina Mosque. This is available to schools, on DVD. A third video is being produced with the Vedic Society at the Hindu Mandir in Southampton.

A member of SACRE made links with a local museum and created a number of displays of religious artefacts within the Museum for visitors to view over the summer months.

2.12 SACRE Arrangements

Professional and Administrative Support

Hampshire County Council continues to provide professional and administrative support through the services of the Chief Executive's Department and the Education Directorate. The Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service (HIAS) maintains one County Inspector and one General Inspector providing professional support.

Finance

A service level agreement between the Directorate and the Hampshire Inspectors and Advisory Service secures 65 days of professional support to SACRE. A further 20 days is made available for the support of the County Steering Groups, primary and secondary. 17 days was made available for the production of the Living Difference handbooks.

2.13 Other SACRE Matters

Provision of Specialist RE Teachers in Hampshire Secondary Schools

Ongoing links continue with regional providers of newly trained specialists in Chichester, Southampton and Roehampton to ensure the best quality provision of newly qualified teachers into secondary RE in Hampshire. The County Inspector met with course providers and students, at Chichester and Southampton, in the course of the year to explain the agreed syllabus and the philosophy on which it is based and inform them of RE vacancies in the county. Consultation between Hampshire Local Authority and the University of Winchester has resulted in a new flexible RE PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate in Education) being established in 2006. Schools continue to be advised to advertise vacancies on the Hampshire website, Hantsweb. Despite the difficulties of recruitment nationally, reflected locally, Hampshire schools recruited ten NQT(newly qualified teacher) RE specialists in 2005-6. However, Hampshire still suffers from a shortage of specialist teachers, especially in the north of the county. The University of Winchester initiative, based on the Basingstoke campus, is expected to impact upon this from 2006-7.

The County RE Centre

The County RE Centre continues to be successful in supporting the work of teachers across Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton. The development of provision in 2005-6 has included the growth of the RE website as a major reference point for teachers in developing their delivery of the Agreed Syllabus methodology and resourcing it. This has been achieved, largely, by the administration officer/RE Centre manager. She has also played a major role in the production of a CD Rom video of a visit to the Medina Mosque in Southampton and the accompanying booklet and the filming at the Hindu Temple. She has created and developed a wider range of artefact boxes which are loaned to schools resulting in a considerable increase to the RE Centre's income. The RE team has updated a number of booklets and created new resources in support of the delivery of Living Difference, the agreed syllabus. These are purchased through the RE Centre and have proved to be very popular with schools. The RE Centre has continued to be well used by RE teachers for viewing and loaning resources, as a meeting place for planning and consultations and as a source for inspiration and information.

Appendices:

Appendix 1 GCSE tables

Appendix 2 Inset Courses in RE 2005-6

Appendix 3 List of SACRE members

Appendix 4 Hampshire SACRE meetings 2005-6

Appendix 5 SACRE development plan