Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

The minutes of the SACRE meeting held on 20^th November 2015 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

We received details of the following updates that have occurred since the previous meeting:

·         RE Days – Though some primary schools were unable to attend, it was noted that the RE Days would go ahead.  Andrew Jones (Caldicot School) would shortly prove the RE Adviser with some potential dates for this proposal.

·         The RE Adviser will provide the Committee with an update at the Autumn meeting of the Committee regarding developing the work of SACRE’s.

·         Non-Maintained Setting Provision of RE – Red Robins Nursery had received visitors of the Hindu faith.

·         Cross Ash Primary School will receive a visit from SACRE Members to discuss Divali, in due course.

·         The RE Adviser was compiling a contact list of faith members who are willing to work with nursery children.

·         The RE Adviser would shortly be writing to all maintained settings.

·         Castle Park Primary School – The Head of Achievement and Attainment will contact the Education Achievement Service (EAS) that Monmouthshire’s schools should not be supporting the Incerts Programme.

We resolved to receive the updates and noted their content.

We received an update regarding the new examination specifications.  In doing so, the following points were noted.

WJEC GCE AS and A level in Religious Studies

Having received the report, the following points were noted:

·         Implementation was taking too long.

·         The Chair indicated that she would be meeting other Cabinet Members in the coming weeks and would raise this issue then.

·         The EAS needed to support teacher in this matter.

We resolved that the RE Adviser would write to the EAS and the WLGA outlining the support required for teachers in respect of this matter.

GCSE Religious Studies (Wales)

Having received the report, the following points were noted:

·         We are currently behind in getting the draft document agreed.

·         Due to significant pressure it has been decided to defer agreement of the document until 2017.

·         This is good news for most schools in Wales but there are 33 schools in Wales that don’t teach the WJEC specification but teach the specification being taught in England.  Caldicot School is one of these these schools. Therefore, Caldicot School has to teach the WJEC Specification for 2016 and then change to teach the new specification in 2017.

·         There will be a short course available.  However, due to the amount of content it will be difficult to teach the short course.  This matter was being investigated.

We resolved to receive the report and noted its content.

We resolved to receive and note the CYTUN Policy Bulletin for February 2016.

The following information was received from members of the SACRE Committee:

·         Sue Cave would be attending Goytre Fawr Primary School next week to help with the RE Day.  Mr. Sharma and Mrs. Jilani would also be in attendance. A report will be presented to the next SACRE meeting regarding this event.

·         A DBS update will be coming to a future SACRE meeting as regular visitors to schools will require a DBS.

·         Andrew Jones will be taking Year 11 students to Poland in three weeks on a four day residential visit.  During the visit the students will visit Auschwitz and a Kosher restaurant.

·         There will be two Hindu festivals in March.

·         March 20^th is the Baha’i New Year, the first day of spring.

The RE Adviser will put the information raised into the spring SACRE Newsletter.

We received a presentation by Andrew Jones (Caldicot School) outlining the work being undertaken by his Year 9 Class regarding understanding Islam and countering radicalisation and extremism in religious studies.  Four students from his Year 9 Class were in attendance and took part in the presentation.

Following a question and answer session, the Committee were impressed with the work being undertaken by the students and with the maturity shown by the four students during the presentation and question and answer session.

We resolved that the County Council’s Communications Team should liaise with Andrew Jones with view to a press release being prepared to promote the good work that the Year 9 students have been undertaking and to note the maturity of the students in undertaking this work.

We received the following information relating to the Wales Association of SACRE’s (WASACRE). 

WASACRE meeting 25^th November 2015 at Ebbw Vale

We noted the minutes of the meeting and the pupil speeches from Ebbw Vale Learning Community Secondary Phase.

Future Dates of WASACRE meetings

23^rd June 2016                     -           Denbighshire

18^th November 2016            -           Carmarthen

17^th March 2017                   -           Monmouthshire County Council

The new Welsh Baccalaureate and RE:

·         King Henry VIII School, Abergavenny – There is no negative impact on RE provision at the school in relation to the Welsh Baccalaurate.

·         Monmouth School – Concerns have been raised at the school regarding the Welsh Baccalaurate The RE Adviser has discussed this matter with other RE Advisers and it has been agreed that it is unsuitable to provide this course.

·         Caldicot School – The Welsh Baccalaurate will have a negative impact in relation to RE provision at the school.  All students will be taking the short course and staff are working on the logistics to get this to work.

We noted the updates in respect of WASACRE.

We received information in respect of the following Self Evaluation Reports:

Pembroke Primary School

The self-evaluation was adequate.  However, positive comments were noted throughout the evaluation.

King Henry VIII School

It was agreed that a discussion was required with regard to the way in which future self-evaluation reports were undertaken.  Currently, there was no change in the self-evaluation outcome.

We resolved to receive the self-evaluation reports and noted their content.

We received an update regarding Pioneer Schools and New Deal Schools.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         New Deal Schools - Develop skills across the whole of the workforce. All staff were being supported to ensure that they are able to maximise the benefits available to the students.  This process was rapidly moving forward.

·         Pioneer Schools – Andrew Jones had obtained information in respect of Pioneer Schools and would forward this information on to the RE Adviser.

·         At a Stakeholders meeting, the RE Adviser stated that mixed messages were being received from various local authorities in respect of Pioneer Schools.

·         Regarding Trellech and Shirenewton Primary schools, the Head of Achievement and Attainment stated that she would provide the SACRE Committee with information in respect of Pioneers Schools, when she receives it.

·         It was noted that if religious education falls within the remit of Humanities then it will become a part of the National Curriculum.  Concern was expressed that religious education might go the same way as RE provision in the Foundation Phase.

We resolved to receive the update and noted its content.

The dates of future SACRE meetings are as follows:

Friday 10^th June 2016 at 1.30pm                          -           Innovation House, Magor

Tuesday 15^th November 2016 at 1.30pm             -           Innovation House, Magor

Friday 10^th February 2017 at 1.30pm                   -           Innovation House, Magor

Tuesday 16^th May 2017 at 1.30pm                        -           Innovation House, Magor

The meeting ended at 3.25pm.