Agenda and minutes

It was noted that Kate Wilding had sent apologies for the meeting and had also resigned as Teacher representative as she was leaving her teaching post in Monmouthshire.

County Councillor L. Brown was appointed as Vice Chair.

Item  6: County Councillor L. Brown declared a prejudicial interest as a nominee for the WASACRE Executive Committee, withdrew and took no part in the decision. 

No members of the public were present.

Hayley Jones, RVE Adviser provided an update as follows:

1)    WASACRE:

·         Thanked SACREs for consultation responses on the WASACRE Constitution.

·         WASACRE is updating its website and developing more social media presence. WASACRE has added resources with a disclaimer that resources are not endorsed.

·         SACREs have been sent information about the European Forum for Teacher of Religious Education (EFTRE) survey.

2)    WJEC/Qualifications Wales:

·         A further amendment was made to GCSE Religious Studies, through pre-release of the theme for the D questions across the whole of Unit 1; this will benefit all students that sat the examination in the summer series.

3)    Estyn: HIghlights from Estyn feedback include:

·         Estyn does not monitor or ensure compliance

·         If little or no RVE is observed, it will be reported on, as with any key discipline or subject within the curriculum

·         The Equality and Diversity Qualification does not, on its own, meet the requirements for the current agreed syllabus

·         Collective Worship is inspected separately from RE (RVE)

·         Consideration needs to be given to how SACRE will use Estyn inspection information in its own review processes going forward.  Suggested topic for the Autumn Term.

4)    Welsh Government:

·         SACREs must review their Constitution and associated documentation in line with the new Curriculum for Wales, moving to become a Standing Advisory Councils for RVE (SAC) from September 2022.

·         RVE guidance is published on Hwb subject to some small amendments. There are direct links in our agreed syllabus. If there are any major amendments to the guidance or legislation in future, this will be made known to SACREs, published and a further Agreed Syllabus Conference to endorse the changes would be necessary.  Such changes would be flagged on the landing page for the Curriculum for Wales website.

·         A suite of RVE resources is awaiting publication and addition to Hwb. A video is available for further information.

5)    EAS and RVE:

·         RVE Professional Learning: A suite of resources will be launched in September to complement Welsh Government resources. Some face-to-face professional learning will be provided plus external providers will assist schools with curriculum design and progression with examples of good pedagogy.

·         Newsletter: It has been decided to incorporate RVE and SACRE information in the Humanities Termly Newsletter.  SACRE was asked to think of suggestions for inclusion in the newsletter.

·         Social Media: There is a Humanities Twitter page with good RVE content and examples from schools. 

·         Humanities Teams space: updates and information on RVE and SACRE can be found here.

·         Spirited Arts Competition. EAS is working with Church in Wales on the competition.

·         Estyn reports will be circulated as available.

On behalf of practitioners, Charlotte thanked Hayley for her help and support.

In response to a question, it was clarified that RVE is equally applicable in Catholic schools.  RVE guidance from the Catholic Church is not yet published.  It was confirmed that there is a link to the Catholic RVE guidance in the Agreed Syllabus document due to be endorsed by Council at its next meeting.

Regarding Estyn, it is expected that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

1.    Election of Vice Chair

2.    Executive Committee Elections

3.    Constitution Amendments

4.    Summer Meeting and AGM: Wednesday 29 June. The usual main meeting will take place in the morning, followed by the AGM. 3 places for representatives plus RVE Adviser

1.    Election of Vice Chair

Each Group deliberated and a vote was conducted with one vote per group: Following this vote, Monmouthshire SACRE supported the nomination of Vicky Barlow for the position of Vice Chair.

2.    Executive Committee Elections

Charlotte Rhodes took the Chair for this item.  County Councillor L. Brown declared a prejudicial interest as a nominee for the Executive Committee, withdrew and took no part in the decision.

Clarification was noted from WASACRE that there is no hard and fast rule and a SACRE may vote for nominees for Executive Committee different to its nomination for Vice Chair.

Each Group deliberated and a vote was conducted with one vote per group: Following the vote, Monmouthshire SACRE voted for 1) County Councillor L. Brown, 2) Mathew Maidment and 3) Marged Williams/ Tyler Lorraine Saunders. 

3.    Constitution Amendments

These were noted.

4.    Summer Meeting and AGM: Wednesday 29 June. The usual main meeting will take place in the morning, followed by the AGM. 3 places for representatives plus RVE Adviser

County Councillor Brown expressed an interest in attending the meeting.  The Clerk will send an e mail to see if any other SACRE Members want to attend.

1)    The Agreed Syllabus Report has been written and will be presented to County Council on 23^rd June 2022.

·         SACRE – 15^th February 2022

·         Agreed Syllabus Conference – 23^rd May 2022

The minutes of the following meetings were confirmed as an accurate record subject to the following amendments:

·         SACRE 15^th February 2022: amend Charlotte Skinner to Charlotte Rhodes.

·         Agreed Syllabus Conference 23^rd May 2022:  The wording below was amended and combined as follows

Item 3: The Pupil Voice responses were warmly received and it was queried if these could be included as an appendix.

Item 3: It was agreed that use of the Pupil Voice submissions would be subject to the permission of contributing schools being obtained. It is also important to be certain we have taken account of the views expressed before inclusion as additional material. As there were submissions from two schools only, it was discussed that all schools could be surveyed

Item 5: It was discussed that it may be better to delay circulation of a Google form to all schools in Monmouthshire.

Item 3: The Pupil Voice responses were warmly received and following discussion, it was agreed not to include the responses as an appendix at this time.

It was agreed that use of the Pupil Voice submissions would be subject to the permission of contributing schools being obtained. It is also important to be certain we have taken account of the views expressed before inclusion as additional material. As there were submissions from two schools only, it was discussed that all schools could be surveyed but decided that it would be better to delay circulation of a Google form survey to all schools in Monmouthshire to allow some time for the syllabus to embed.

It was agreed to cancel the meeting on the 20^th July 2022.

It was agreed that the draft minutes of the Summer WASACRE meeting would be circulated when received.  Additionally, any curriculum updates will be send by e mail.

It was requested that the professional associations are approached regarding  teacher representatives to fill vacancies.

The next meeting will be 26^th October 2022 at 10.00am.