ITEM

AT A MEETING of the STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE) held at Park Community School, Havant on Tuesday 5 June 2007.

PRESENT

Chairman:

p 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)

Mrs Elaine Bellchambers - Higher Education - co-opted

Mr Hugh Benzie - Methodist Church

Mr Tony Blackshaw - Church of England

Miss Clare Bradbury - Salvation Army

Councillor Mrs A Buckley - Hampshire County Council

a Ms Rebecca Costambeys - Secondary Education - co-opted

Mr Ameek Singh Digpal - Sikhism

a Mrs Maeve Gordon-James - Buddhism Deputy

p 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

a Mrs Julie Lemon - Special Education - co-opted

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

Councillor Sam Payne - Hampshire County Council

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

a Revd Ganshin E. Rock - Buddhism

p 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

a 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

Mrs Lilian Wetherley - Church of England

Also present by invitation of the Chairman, Ken Hedley from Hampshire Council for Voluntary Youth Services and Roz Sunley from Winchester University.

60 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Ms Maggie Allder, Ms Rebecca Costambeys, Mrs Julie Lemon, Mrs Jean O'Reilly, Mrs Amanda Post, Ms Maeve Gordon-James, Reverend Ganshin Rock, Mrs Sheila Thatcher and Mr Paul Tipple.

61 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.

62 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of SACRE held on 27 February 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

63 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman welcomed Ken Hedley from the Voluntary Youth Council who was attending the meeting due to his interest in the work SACRE is doing with developing a young people's inter-faith project.

The Chairman informed members that Mohammed Riyami had notified his intention to resign from serving on SACRE. The Chairman thanked Mr Riyami on behalf of SACRE for his contribution over the years.

The Vice-Chairman, Councillor Kirk, informed members about the recent Cabinet changes that had occurred within the County Council, which had resulted in Councillor Hindson moving to become Executive Member for Adult Services, and himself becoming Lead Executive Member for Children's Services. He indicated that as a result he would no longer have time to be Vice-Chairman of SACRE, and would therefore be seeking a replacement. The Chairman thanked Councillor Kirk for his time as Vice-Chairman.

The Chairman then announced that he would be standing down as Chairman of SACRE after the next meeting.

64 DEPUTATIONS

No deputations were received.

65 REPORT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF RE AND THE HUMANITIES AT PARK COMMUNITY SCHOOL

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 6 in the Minute Book) regarding the way in which Park Community School has used the methodology of the agreed syllabus `Living Difference'.

The Headteacher of Park Community School, Mr Sean Dickenson gave a presentation on the way the school has used `Living Difference'. He showed members an example of a `Butterfly Broadcast' which is a news bulletin produced by students for students. The broadcast included international, national, and school level news as well as a weather report and a sport report. The broadcast also included two educational items, in this case one was from the science department and one was about taking drugs. The item on taking drugs was a topic from the schools Values Education curriculum, which has been heavily influenced by the thinking behind the agreed syllabus `Living Difference'.

The Headteacher explained that at Park Community School the ideas from `Living Difference' had been taken out of the specific Religious Education context, and used in relation to all the topics taught in Values Education. The Headteacher reported that pupils had responded well to the Butterfly Broadcasts.

Members were impressed by the presentation and were delighted to see the agreed syllabus being used successfully.

RESOLVED:

(i) That SACRE notes the report and commends the innovative use of the agreed syllabus methodology in Park Community School.

(ii) That SACRE thanks Park Community School for hosting the meeting and for their hospitality.

66 REPORT ON THE MONITORING SUB GROUP

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book) regarding the work of the monitoring sub group. The General Inspector for RE explained that the monitoring sub group had studied the responses received to the questionnaire about Living Difference sent to schools in January.

The County RE Inspector suggested a proposal that this questionnaire be followed up by some qualitative research into the use of Living Difference in schools in the year 2008/09, to lead in to the review of the syllabus which would take place in 2009. Members agreed to this proposal.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE notes the report and recommends that these findings be revisited within the review of the agreed syllabus in two years time.

67 PROJECT ON SOCIAL COHESION IN HAMPSHIRE

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the progress made in developing the social cohesion project. The County RE Inspector reported that the project would be school based, and that steps had been taken to identify certain schools to be used in the first phase of the project. He went on the explain that once the model had been established in these schools, it was hoped to involve more schools in the second year of the project.

Ken Hedley indicated that he was interested in being involved with the project. He reported that he was due to meet with Clive Erricker County RE Inspector, Colin Poynter from the Children's Services Department and Darryl Sheppard a Youth Worker, in July for more detailed discussion about the project.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE endorses the plans made so far by the Social Cohesion steering group.

68 REPORT ON THE PGCE (POST GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION) COURSE PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) regarding the PGCE offered at Winchester University which aims to produce new RE teachers who understand the `Living Difference' syllabus. Roz Sunley, the leader of the course, reported to members on the progress of the course so far. She reported that the first intake of students totalled 10 people ranging from 22 to 52 in age. Members were informed that these students would complete the course in December 2007. Roz Sunley was pleased to inform members that 3 of her students had been offered jobs despite not yet being qualified. Members agreed that this was testament to the quality of the course, and anticipated that in time this course would help improve the quality of RE teaching in Hampshire.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE notes the report.

69 YOUNG PEOPLE'S INTER-FAITH PROJECT

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the Interfaith project. The County RE Inspector reported to members that the bid to NASACRE for funding had been successful and that they had provided £3,000 to fund the project. He indicated that further funding would be sought in a bid to Hampshire County Council. He informed members that the project would initially involve the young people in the schools involved in the social cohesion project, then once it became established it would be extended to involve others.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE notes the report and endorses the continued work of the project.

70 REPORT ON THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SACRE (NASACRE) MEETING

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on the NASACRE meeting held in Birmingham on 8 May 2007. The General Inspector for RE, the County RE Inspector and the Chairman described their experiences at the meeting. The Chairman noted that SACREs are taking a larger role in the area of social cohesion.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE notes the report.

71 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Members noted that the next SACRE meeting was due to be held on Tuesday 6 November at 2pm in the Wellington Room at The Castle, Winchester.