Item 3

AT A MEETING of the STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE) held at The Castle, Winchester on Tuesday, 6 November 2007.

PRESENT

Chairman:

p Councillor Mrs Anna McNair Scott (Hampshire County Council)

Vice-Chairman

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

p Ms Maggie Allder - Society of Friends (Quakers)

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

a Mr Tony Blackshaw - Church of England

Miss Clare Bradbury - Salvation Army

p Councillor Mrs A Buckley - Hampshire County Council

p Ms Rebecca Costambeys - Secondary Education - Co-opted

Vacancy - Assemblies of God

Mr Ameek Singh Digpal - Sikism

a Mr Brian Hay - Church of England

Mr David Hill - Roman Catholic Church

p Mr Chris A R Hughes - Fellowship of Independent

Evangelical Churches

Mrs Maeve Gordon James - Buddhism Deputy

a Mr Julius Klein - Judaism

p Mrs Julie Lemon - Special Education- Co-opted

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

a Councillor Sam Payne - Hampshire County Council

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

a Revd Ganshin E Rock - Buddhism

p Mr J.A. Schofield - Teachers' Association

Vacancy - Islam

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

Vacancy - United Reformed Church

a Canon John Turpin - Church of England

a Mr Nigel Utton - Teachers' Association

a Mrs Lilian Wetherley - Church of England

[NOTE: WHILST THE MEETING WAS INQUORATE DUE TO NO CHURCH OF ENGLAND REPRESENTATIVES BEING PRESENT (THE QUORUM BEING ONE REPRESENTATIVE OF EACH OF THE GROUPS: REPRESENTATIVES OF RELIGIOUS BODIES, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, REPRESENTATIVES OF TEACHERS' ASSOCIATIONS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL). MEMBERS AGREED TO CONTINUE ON AN INFORMAL BASIS]

72 APOLOGIES

Apologies were received from Councillor D. A. Kirk; Councillor Sam Payne; Mr Tony Blackshaw; Mr Brian Hay; Canon J. Turpin; Mrs L. Weatherley; Mr Julius Klien; Revd Ganshin E. Rock; Mr N. Utton and Mrs A. Post.

73 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, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code..

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

74 MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 June 2007 were received and would be confirmed at the next meeting.

75 CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

Members warmly welcomed Councillor Mrs McNair Scott as the new Chairman of SACRE.

The Chairman lead Members in thanking Hon Alderman S.W. Juniper for his service as Chairman of SACRE for a number of years, and presented him with a gift in recognition of his dedication and most valuable contributions to the work of SACRE.

Members noted that Mrs Sheila Thatcher (United Reform Church) had resigned as a Member of SACRE.

76 DEPUTATIONS

There were no deputations received under this item.

77 GCSE RESULTS

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on GCSE results in religious education in 2006-7. Members noted that there had been fluctuations in the results over previous years, but that these were fluctuations rather than a trend. Members agreed that further monitoring of local results against the national picture was required. The Council welcomed the news that schools that had introduced conceptual inquiry into religious education had improved their GCSE results significantly, and supported moves within some schools to expand the use of this methodology into other subjects. Members expressed the concern that some schools had block-entered students for the short course which, it was felt, could lead to the subject being neglected by pupils in favour of other, full course, subjects.

RESOLVED:


That the report be noted.

78 MONITORING SUB-GROUP

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on the outcome of the meeting of the monitoring sub-group to discuss the Ofsted report Making sense of Religion. Members welcomed the similarity of the report to the Living Difference syllabus, and expressed interest in working more closely with Ofsted and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to improve religious education. Members noted that the County Council had approached a researcher recommended by the QCA to carry out a quantative survey into the effectiveness of the Living Difference syllabus.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

79 SOCIAL COHESION

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) about the project on Social Cohesion in Hampshire. The project followed different approaches in the North and South of the County, due to differing ethnic, social and religious profiles in these areas. It was noted that on 27 March 2008, a conference would be held to invite stakeholders to participate in the project.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

80 YOUNG PEOPLE'S INTER-FAITH PROJECT

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on the current progress in the development of the young people's inter-faith project. Whilst the project had been slow to progress, this mirrored the experiences of other inter-faith projects, and was to be expected at this stage of the project.


RESOLVED:


That the report be noted and the continued work of the project be endorsed.

81 SOUTH EAST HAMPSHIRE/PORTSMOUTH INTERFAITH CONFERENCE

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 10 in the Minute Book) about the South East Hampshire/Portsmouth GCSE Interfaith Conference held on 17 July 2007. The event had been started by Portsmouth City Council, and had expanded to invite schools in South East Hampshire to take part. Members welcomed the encouraging response from the students that attended the event (just under 200) and noted that this item, and the two previous items (Social Cohesion and the Young Person's Interfaith Project) formed three complementary strands supporting the Living Difference syllabus.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the report be noted.

(b) That SACRE Members receive updates on the date of future conferences.

82 SACRE'S ANNUAL REPORT

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 11 in the Minute Book) on SACRE's activity in 2206-7. Members thanked Officers for their work in preparing the Annual Report and welcomed the provision of several personal and professional development opportunities for teachers of religious education.

RESOLVED:

That the Annual Report be supported and is forwarded to Members of the appropriate County Council Committee and for copies to be made available in the Members Rooms.

83 COLLECTIVE WORSHIP AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 12 in the Minute Book) on schools' compliance with the legal requirements for collective worship and religious education. It was the first time that figures regarding this had been produced for Hampshire, and the results were as expected at the outset of the survey. Members noted that the quantative survey into Living Difference would help accurately assess standards and monitor the teaching of religious education.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and that SACRE continues to liaise with other interested parties to enquire about a foreseeable revision of the legal requirements.

84 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN RE

The Council considered the report of the Director of Children's Services (Item 13 in the Minute Book) summarising QCA's strategy for dissemination of its recommendations for religious education. Members welcomed the new curriculum's aims of appealing to students; developing a skills based approach; greater relevance and greater integration of subjects. Members were pleased to note that the conceptual approach was very much in line with the new curriculum, and hoped that this approach would be integrated into other subjects to develop a more holistic approach to education.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted and that the continued involvement of one of Hampshire's Advanced Skills Teachers be endorsed.

85 DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was noted that the next SACRE meeting would be held at 2.00pm on Tuesday 26 February 2008 at The Castle, Winchester.