Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

The minutes of the SACRE meeting held on 15^th November 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chair, subject to the following amendments:

·         Ms. C. Cooper was in attendance at this meeting.

·         Page 5, Minute 8, bullet point 13 - the first sentence be amended to read ‘Monmouth Comprehensive School…’

·         Page 5, Minute 8, bullet point 14 – the sentence be amended to read ‘schools…’

·         Page 5, Minute 8, bullet point 15 – the first sentence be amended, as follows:

-       Caldicot School reported that RE is taught separately from the Welsh Baccalaureate and has designated time in Year 10 for RE provision.

Arising from the minutes, the following points were noted:

·         The RE Adviser has established regular meetings with Debbie Harteveld and she will invite her or a representative from the Education Achievement Service (EAS) to a future SACRE Meeting.

·         The RE Adviser has been in contact with primary school head teachers regarding the provision of training for faith representatives and teachers around the theme ‘sharing faith provider workshops’.

·         The WASACRE Executive will be meeting with Kirsty Williams AM on 2^nd March 2017 to discuss the concerns that have been raised with regard to the teaching of RE via the Welsh Baccalaureate.

·         WJEC Accredited RS Specification – It was noted that the new GCSE is purely academically based and students are not able to provide their personal response.

·         Guidance on managing the right of withdrawal from Religious Education – The RE Adviser stated that this matter was ongoing and would report back to a future SACRE meeting.

·         The Head of Achievement and Attainment was not present at the meeting and therefore would report back at the next meeting on her monitoring of RE provision in the secondary schools.

The RE Adviser informed the Committee that the NAPfRE Group was working on a paper to support Pioneer Schools with a view to developing the RE curriculum via these schools.  Information identifying ‘what is good RE’ has been shared with Manon Jones of the Welsh Government.

We resolved to receive the verbal update and noted its content.

The RE Adviser informed the Committee that several meetings have been held with Manon Jones.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         Six working groups have been established with a view to looking at areas of learning and experience. 

·         A meeting had been held on the 18^th and 19^th January 2017.

·         The meeting comprised of practitioners and new staff.

·         A meeting will be held every month over a two day period.

·         The Education Achievement Service (EAS) will lead discussions at the February 2017 meeting.

·         By the end of June 2017 it is anticipated that aims for the humanities area will be established.

·         Manon Jones is proposing to constitute a planning group comprising of representatives from NAPfRE, WASACRE, Estyn, a representative from the Welsh Government legislation team, and Manon Jones herself, with a view to determining how to engage with SACREs regarding the RE element of Humanities and how this will work.

·         The group will aim to meet in March 2017.

·         RE provision will form part of the Humanities programme alongside History and Geography.  However, RE provision may be removed for their child at the parents’ request.

·         Concern was expressed that RE provision will not have parity with Geography and History provision if RE provision is not provided in the National Curriculum.

We resolved to:

(i)            receive the verbal update and noted its content;

(ii)          receive an update on progress at the next SACRE meeting.

We received the EAS weekly bulletin item.

In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         Rhian Davies, informed the Committee that she had been appointed by the EAS as one of the Lead Practitioners to develop support for the implementation of the new RS GCSE.  The other Lead Practitioner is Clare Lane from Ebbw Fawr Learning and who also sits on the Blaenau Gwent SACRE.

·         Concern was expressed that the funding provided, in the sum of £4900 to develop a support programme for the new GCSE’s, has been halved.  This will not cover the cost of a teacher being out of the classroom for 20 days throughout the year.

·         The EAS needs to be made aware of this issue.

·         Rhian Davies will provide further updates on progress at future SACRE meetings.

We resolved to receive the report and noted its content.

We received the draft minutes of the WASACRE meeting dated 18^th November 2016.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         Welsh Baccalaureate – There are significant issues regarding RE provision at all key stages, and not just at Key Stage 4.  RE provision at all stages is being diminished with many enquiries regarding this matter being made by all schools both in the primary and secondary sector.

·          Vicky Thomas has written to WASACRE regarding this matter. 

·         This issue needs to be monitored to assess how it will affect Monmouthshire’s schools.

·         It was considered that within the primary sector, RE provision needs to be monitored to ensure that it is being provided.

·         In response to a question raised regarding the inclusion of a Humanist representative on Monmouthshire SACRE, it was noted that the British Humanist Association had been contacted and invited to join SACRE as a co-opted member.  However, the Society has not taken up the offer to join.

·         The RE Adviser would contact the British Humanist Association again after the next WASACRE meeting extending an invitation for one of their representatives to join Monmouthshire SACRE.

·         The Chair and the RE Adviser will liaise with the Head of Achievement and Attainment with a view to reminding schools of their statutory requirements with regard to RE provision.

We resolved to receive the minutes and noted its content.

We received the preparation checklist for hosting WASACRE on 3^rd March 2017.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         A reminder email will be sent to Monmouthshire SACRE Members inviting them to attend the WASACRE meeting.

·         Display boards to be provided.

·         SACRE Members to provide a pen portrait and photograph to the RE Adviser by Friday 24^th February 2017.

·         Sharon Perry-Phillips will provide a presentation as part of the WASACRE agenda.

·         Table space to be provided for faith representatives to display information about their religions.

We resolved to receive the report and noted its content.

We received information from the WASACRE Secretary inviting SACREs to make nominations for new members to serve on the WASACRE Executive Committee.

The RE Adviser informed the Committee that three positions will become available from July 2017, namely:

·         Vicky Thomas – Torfaen period of office 2014-2017.

·         Gill Vaisey – Monmouthshire (Rec rep for WASACRE) period of office 2014-2017.

·         The position for the Vice-Chair.

We resolved to nominate Gill Vaisey to serve on the WASACRE Executive Committee for another term.

We noted the following dates for future meetings of WASACRE:

·         Friday 3^rd March 2017 – Monmouthshire County Council Offices, County Hall, Rhadyr, Usk.

·         Summer 2017 – Wrexham.

·         Autumn 2017 – Bridgend.

·         Spring 2018 – Swansea.

We received and noted the SACRE News bulletin for Autumn 2016.

We received the draft spring 2017 SACRE News Bulletin.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         The British Humanist website to be added.

·         A series of children’s books written by the RE Adviser were the first to be accredited for the Understanding Christianity project to raise standards in the teaching of Christianity in schools.

We resolved to receive the New Bulletin update and noted its content.

We noted the following information from faith representatives and teachers that will be included in the spring 2017 News Bulletin:

·         The Roman Catholic Church representative will write an article for the News Bulletin regarding a retreat that he had attended recently at Llantarnam Abbey.

·         Simon Oram will write an article for the News Bulletin regarding the Faith Day that was held at this school.

·         The Buddhist Faith representative will write an article for the News Bulletin regarding fundraising for a rural retreat in rural Wales.

·         The Hindu holiday of Maha Shivaratri will be celebrated on 24^th February 2017.

·         Rhian Davies, Head Teacher - Her school is a lead school for religious education.

·         The Sikh Community celebrated the 350^th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Master, in January 2017. 

·         The Estyn Thematic Review of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 in 2017 / 2018 to be added to the News Bulletin.

We resolved to receive the News Bulletin update and noted its content.

The RE Adviser informed the Committee that Estyn was undertaking a Thematic Review of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 in 2017 / 2018.

This review comprises of a sample of schools in which RE provision and standards are to be monitored.

We resolved to receive the verbal update and noted its content.

We received papers regarding research being undertaken by Cardiff University in respect of religious diversity in primary schools.

In doing so, the Committee was informed that the intention is to promote good RE provision in schools.  Schools have been sent a questionnaire to complete asking for their views on what is required to ensure high quality RE provision.

The first draft of the resource pack will be presented as part of a consultation workshop during the University’s ‘Religious Diversity in Primary Schools’ seminar event, to be held at Cardiff University on Thursday 30^th March 2017. All SACRE members are invited to attend.

We resolved to receive the papers and noted their content.

The next SACRE Meeting will be held at Innovation House, Magor, on Friday 9^th June 2017 at 1.30pm.