Item 3

AT A MEETING of the STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE) held at The Castle, Winchester on Tuesday, 7 November 2006.

PRESENT

Chairman:

p Hon Alderman S.W. Juniper (Hampshire County Council)

Vice-Chairman

a Councillor D.A. Kirk (Hampshire County Council)

p Ms Maggie Allder - Society of Friends (Quakers)

p Mrs Elaine Bellchambers - Higher Education - Co-opted
p Mr Hugh Benzie - Methodist Church

Mr Tony Blackshaw - Church of England

p Miss Clare Bradbury - Salvation Army

p Councillor Mrs A Buckley - Hampshire County Council

Ms Rebecca Costambeys - Secondary Education - Co-opted

p Revd Peter G. Davey - Assemblies of God

Mr Ameek Singh Digpal - Sikism

p Mr Brian Hay - Church of England

Mr David Hill - Roman Catholic Church

p Mr Chris A R Hughes - Fellowship of Independent

Evangelical Churches

p Mrs Maeve Gordon James - Buddhism Deputy

a Mr Julius Klein - Judaism

p Mrs Julie Lemon - Special Education- Co-opted

p Mrs Jean O'Reilley - Humanism - Co-opted

p Councillor Sam Payne - Hampshire County Council

p Mrs Amanda J. Post - Primary Education - Co-opted

p Revd Ganshin E Rock - Buddhism

Vacancy - Teachers' Association

a Mr Mohammed Riyami - Islam

p Mr Jagdish' L. Sharma - Hinduism

Mr Yasin Rahim - Shia Islam

Mrs P Smith - Teachers' Association

Mr Tony Strong - Teachers' Association

Mr Paul Tipple - Baptist Union

a Mrs Sheila Thatcher - United Reformed Church

p Canon John Turpin - Church of England

p Mr Nigel Utton - Teachers' Association

p Mrs Lilian Wetherley - Church of England

Also present: Mr Mark Chater (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority); Mrs Felicity Roe; Mr Darryl Sheppard; Mr Nick Brockhurst; Ms Jo Maule.

39 APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Councillor D. A. Kirk; Mr Julius Klein; Mr Mohammed Riyami; Mrs Sheila Thatcher.

40 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 made by Members.

41 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 6 June 2006 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

42 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman welcomed Russell Sancto as the new clerk and reported that Mrs Julie Lemon had replaced Mrs Catherine MacDonald as a member of the Council and that Mr Yasin Rahim had replaced Mullah Mujahid ali Sheriff. It was further noted that a teacher's representative vacancy to replace Mrs Tonie Ronane was in the process of being filled. Also, the Chairman introduced Mark Chater, Leader for Religious Education Development within the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority who, on the rising of this meeting, was to lead a discussion on important issues which will affect the future of SACRE's and religious education in the county and nationally.

43 COWPLAIN SCHOOL'S SELF-EVALUATION OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND KEY STAGE 3 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAMME

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on Cowplain's experiences of completing a self-evaluation of religious education. Nick Brockhurst from Cowplain School presented an update on the positive development of it's programme for Religious Education at Key Stage 3 alongside the other Humanities subjects which have resulted in RE teaching for two years out of three years within the Key Stage.

RESOLVED:


(a) That the report be noted.


(b) That SACRE endorse Cowplain's practice in operating a two out of three year programme across Key Stage 3.


(c) That the monitoring sub-group meet later in the Autumn Term 2006 to consider RE self-evaluations in the light of the good practice presented by Cowplain.

44 SACRE MONITORING OF SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on a strategy for SACRE to monitor school self-evaluation of religious education. It was noted that the Appendix 1 referred to in the report had inadvertently been omitted and it was therefore tabled at the meeting.

RESOLVED:

(a) That SACRE endorse the strategy to monitor school self-evaluation of religious education.


(b) That SACRE note that the Primary Headteachers' Panel has been approached, to determine whether they are willing to adopt a similar strategy for primary phase schools

(c) That the monitoring sub-group meet in the Spring Term 2007 to consider those RE specific school self-evaluations which have been submitted.

45 GCSE RESULTS 2006

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on GCSE results in religious education in 2005-6. It was noted that the performance of pupils in examinations had been good. In future, GCSE results would be made available in relation to ethnicity of pupils.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE notes the report.

46 SACRE ANNUAL REPORT

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on SACRE's activity in 2005-6.



RESOLVED:


That SACRE approves the report.

That the report be sent to OFSTED and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and be made available in the Council Members' Rooms.

47 YOUNG PEOPLE'S INTER-FAITH PROJECT

The Council considered the Report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 10 in the Minute Book) about the Young People's Inter-faith Project. Mr Darryl Sheppard, Development Youth Worker summarised the background to the project. It's aim was to bring together a number of young people of different persuasions to exchange their views on topical matters. There are plans for an event to take place over several days during a residential course which would conclude with a presentation of the conclusions reached by the young people to an audience of adults, including Councillors, Members of Parliament and others.

The County Inspector for Religious Education explained the present position concerning possible funding of the project and that further discussions would now need to be undertaken on taking the project forward, including exploring the possible funding of a voluntary part-time post for the work. A further report would be made to the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

48 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was noted that the next SACRE meeting would be held at 2.00pm on Tuesday 27 February 2007 at The Castle, Winchester.