ITEM

AT A MEETING of the STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE) held at The Castle, Winchester on Tuesday 27 February 2007.

PRESENT

Chairman:

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

Vice-Chairman:

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

a Ms Maggie Allder - Society of Friends (Quakers)

p Mrs Elaine Bellchambers - Higher Education - co-opted

p Mr Hugh Benzie - Methodist Church

p Mr Tony Blackshaw - Church of England

a Miss Clare Bradbury - Salvation Army

p Councillor Mrs A Buckley - Hampshire County Council

a Ms Rebecca Costambeys - Secondary Education - co-opted

Revd Peter G. Davey - Assemblies of God

Mr Ameek Singh Digpal - Sikhism

p Mrs Maeve Gordon-James - Buddhism Deputy

a Mr Brian Hay - Church of England

Mr David Hill - Roman Catholic Church

p Mr Chris A. R. Hughes - Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches

Mr Julius Klein - Judaism

p Mrs Julie Lemon - Special Education - co-opted

p Mrs Jean O'Reilly - Humanism - co-opted

p Councillor Sam Payne - Hampshire County Council

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

a Revd Ganshin E. Rock - Buddhism

a Mr Mohammed Riyami - Islam

p Mr J. Schofield - Teachers' Association

Mr Jagdish'L. Sharma - Hinduism

Mr Yasin Rahim - Shia Islam

Mrs P. Smith - Teachers' Association

Mr Tony Strong - Teachers' Association

p Mr Paul Tipple - Baptist Union

a Mrs Sheila Thatcher - United Reformed Church

p Canon John Turpin - Church of England

a Mr Nigel Utton - Teachers' Association

Mrs Lilian Wetherley - Church of England

Also present by invitation of the Chairman, Councillor R. Perry

COUNCILLOR D. A. KIRK, VICE-CHAIRMAN IN THE CHAIR

49 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from the Chairman, Hon. Alderman S. W. Juniper, Ms Maggie Allder, Miss Clare Bradbury, Ms Rebecca Costambeys, Mr Brian Hay, Reverend Ganshin Rock, Mr Mohammed Riyami, Mrs Sheila Thatcher and Mr Nigel Utton.

50 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.

51 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of SACRE held on 7 November 2006 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman, subject to an amendment to minute 47, where it was agreed that on line 5 deletions would be made so that the sentence concerned now reads `It's aim was to bring together a number of young people of different persuasions to exchange their views on topical matters.'

52 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Vice-Chairman welcomed new member Mr J. Schofield who had replaced Mrs T. Ronane as one of the Teachers Association Representatives.

The Vice-Chairman reported that Marie Mannveille, who had recently joined the Chief Executives Department at Hampshire County Council, would be taking over the clerking of SACRE.

The Vice-Chairman introduced Councillor Perry who had been invited to the meeting due to his interest in the social cohesion project (minute 55 refers).

The Vice-Chairman reported that members might be interested to attend the `Anne Frank + you' exhibition to be held at the Great Hall, Winchester from 3-20 May 2007. Leaflets about the event were available for members information.

Councillor Perry reported that there was to be a lecture by Rageh Omah on social cohesion on 16 May 2007 and that it would be by invitation only. He suggested that if any SACRE members were interested to attend they should contact him.

53 DEPUTATIONS

No deputations were received.

54 MONITORING OF SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on the meeting of the monitoring sub group held on 4 December 2006, at which the sub group had considered examples of self evaluation forms submitted by schools.

Members discussed the method of self evaluation and the benefits and drawbacks of evaluating provision of Religious Education in this way. The General Inspector for RE answered questions from members on the matter, and indicated that results varied, as some schools took a more rigorous approach to their evaluation than others.

The General Inspector for RE also drew members attention to paragraph 2.4 of the report, highlighting the fact that schools had also been sent questionnaires regarding their implementation of `Living Difference', the agreed syllabus for RE, and that the sub group would be reviewing the results and presenting their findings to a future meeting of SACRE.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE endorses the continued activities of the monitoring sub group, and thanks them for their much appreciated efforts to date.

55 PROPOSED PROJECT ON SOCIAL COHESION IN HAMPSHIRE AND NEIGHBOURING LOCAL AUTHORITIES

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book) regarding the proposal that SACRE be involved in a new project to address social cohesion.

The County RE Inspector explained that there was a growing trend of parents expressing concern about their children visiting religious venues, in particular with the effect of children being taken out of visits to mosques. Such external negative impressions of religion on children (through their parents, the media etc) counteracts the work being done in the classroom through the agreed syllabus `Living Difference'. The agreed syllabus for teaching Religious Education was designed to promote inquiry of religion by young people, and visiting religious venues supported this. The idea of the social cohesion project was to educate parents and religious representatives about the aims of `Living Difference', to generate an understanding of what role visits to religious venues and school visits by religious representatives play in the framework of the child's education.

Members indicated that it was important for children to visit various religious venues, and that all such visits should be considered equally.

The project was discussed and members expressed their support.

RESOLVED:

a) SACRE endorses the decision made by the Executive Member (with special responsibility) for Education to carry out a consultation exercise with schools, Faith Groups, local SACREs and neighbouring Local Authorities, focusing on their role in working with Hampshire County Council to address social cohesion, based upon the philosophy and aims in the Agreed Syllabus `Living Difference'

b) The coordinator of the strategy for social cohesion report to Hampshire County Youth Council, SACRE, Children's Services and the Executive Member on progress made in the strategy

c) An evaluation of the impact of the strategy be provided two years after its inception and that this be taken to government forums and headteacher's conferences

56 YOUNG PEOPLE'S INTER-FAITH PROJECT

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the setting up of a young people's interfaith forum. The County Inspector for RE indicated that he would be meeting Colin Poynton, the project leader, in the near future, to discuss the bid to NASACRE to fund the project, and the way in which it should tie in with the overarching themes of the social cohesion agenda. The County RE Inspector explained that the young people's inter-faith project had a greater chance of success if it forms part of a wider scheme.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE endorses the project brief and the application to the National Association for SACRES (NASACRE) for further funding.

57 AUSTRALIAN REVIEWS OF HAMPSHIRE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PUBLICATIONS

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) regarding Australian Reviews of Hampshire Religious Education Publications.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE notes the report and congratulates Clive Erricker, County Inspector for RE, and Judith Lowndes, General Inspector for RE, on their well earned recognition.

58 NATIONAL WORKSHOP: STRONG SACRES, GOOD RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the National Workshop on Strong SACREs and Good RE. The County Inspector for RE indicated that Hampshire SACRE was highly regarded as it was well funded and did a good job of fulfilling its responsibilities, compared to other SACREs in smaller authorities.

It was noted that the monitoring sub group would look at the outcomes of the workshop in more detail, to assess how they might contribute to Hampshire SACRE's development plan.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE notes the report.

59 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was noted that the next meeting of SACRE would be held on Tuesday 5 June 2007; the venue to be confirmed although a suitable school location was suggested.