Agenda item

NASACRE Annual General Meeting

Anas Al-Korj reported that he had attended the NASACRE Annual General meeting on the 23 May 2013.  He had written a report of events on the day which had been circulated via email to Members.  He reported that Ofsted had stated that 60% of RE teaching was “less than good” and that various issues had been identified such as changes in the new Inspection framework, which had created uncertainty.  Concerns expressed at the meeting regarding SACREs had included a lack of funding, a lack of Councillors at meetings, and SACREs no longer being fit for purpose.

He reported that discussions had taken place regarding (a) working closer with Academies and mitigating the effects of a general reduction in Local Authority consultancy support for schools, (b) how SACREs locally and NASACRE can persuade Local Authorities to comply with their statutory duty to support SACREs and (c) the agreed focus of Agreed Syllabus reviews in the context of the national curriculum and the current stage of the RE Subject Review.

A discussion ensued amongst Members and it was agreed that it was difficult for SACRE to go into schools to monitor RE as it had no legal status to do so.

It was agreed that:

• A strategic approach would be beneficial as it was currently difficult to see the overall situation regarding RE teaching and collective worship in schools;
• It would be useful to know how Academies were teaching RE and how they engage with SACREs;
• It could be possible for SACREs to become a solution for the problems experienced in teaching RE in schools, thus enabling schools to move forward, although it was acknowledged that it was difficult to know how best to communicate this to schools;
• It would be useful if a team could be sent into schools to see current RE activities, although this would require prior notification at the Primary Heads Conference and the need to seek their approval;
• If it was possible to identify very effective SACREs in the UK, Southampton could learn from their best practice and identify which areas had been targeted and the reasons behind those decisions;
• The teaching of RE in schools and the way Collective Worship was carried out were two entirely different matters;
• If suitable teachers could be identified to attend the Secondary RE Teachers Conference they could explore what is happening within Hampshire.  The next conference was scheduled to be held on 18 October 2013; and
• To have membership of NASACRE would be beneficial although it was acknowledged that there were funding constraints.  It was suggested that income from Living Difference sales of CDs may be channelled into the subscription charge.

The Chair agreed to take the following action and present a report to the next meeting:

• Write to NASACRE seeking good examples of SACREs;
• Write to the Secondary RE Teachers Conference enquiring if some teachers from SACRE could attend;
• Enquire if access could be given to Southampton Moodle; and
• Enquire if the NASACRE subscription could be paid.

Jackie Meering agreed to ask her Soft Federation of Schools if it would be possible for SACRE Members to go into schools and stated that she would report back to the next meeting.

Other events

The Southampton Council of Faiths had held their Annual Peace Walk on 9^th June, visiting many places of worship within the city, and this had been well attended.

Elizabeth Jenkerson reported that a free training session about SACRE held in Winchester recently had been very good and that she had also attended a worthwhile conference in Somerset, details of which could be found on the R E Council website.

Councillor Parnell stated that School Pastors scheme had been launched although they had subsequently changed their name to Street Pastors.  The participating schools had welcomed the new arrangement.

Councillor Parnell stated that the Gideons organisation gave out New Testaments to Year 7s in local schools.