This meeting was scheduled to receive an update on the work of the Camden Faith Forum and to agree a number of priorities for the work of Camden SACRE for the 2024-25 academic year. The meeting was also asked to determine whether Gospel Oak Primary School should be granted a determination that would allow it to conduct assemblies that are not wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character.¹

The most significant item on the meeting's agenda was the renewal application from Gospel Oak Primary School for a determination on collective worship.

Determination Renewal Application - Gospel Oak Primary School

The report pack for the meeting included an application from Gospel Oak Primary School for the renewal of its determination on collective worship. The school's application for a determination was accompanied by an analysis of the religious affiliation of pupils at the school, which showed that 90 (21%) pupils were Christian, 140 (33%) were Muslim, 159 (37%) had no religion, and the remainder came from other faiths and beliefs, or were unclassified. The pack also included a copy of the report prepared by Claire Clinton, Camden's RE Advisor, on her visit to the school on Monday 21 October 2024 to observe an assembly. The report describes the assembly, which was led by John Hayes, the Headteacher of Gospel Oak School. The report concludes:

An excellent high-quality act of collective worship. Pupils was engaged throughout and involved. Great moment for reflection given at the end relevant to their lives.

The report pack also includes a copy of Gospel Oak's Assembly Policy dated September 2024 and its suggested themes for assemblies for KS1 and KS2.

SACRE Annual Self-evaluation Toolkit and Actions

Camden SACRE was scheduled to assess its own performance in this meeting. The report pack contains a copy of the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE) self-assessment toolkit, which Camden SACRE was scheduled to use in this meeting. The toolkit contains a series of questions about each of the aspects of the work that a SACRE is expected to carry out, and describes how a struggling SACRE, a developing SACRE, an established SACRE, and an advanced SACRE would answer each question. Camden SACRE was scheduled to use this guidance to assess its own performance.

Draft 2024-25 SACRE Priorities

The meeting was asked to agree a set of development targets for the year. A draft list of Camden SACRE priorities 2024-25 was included in the meeting pack. This draft describes six priorities for the coming year:

1. The production of Camden SACRE's annual report
2. The Implementation of the Agreed Syllabus²
3. The work of the Primary RE network
4. The work of the Secondary RE Network
5. SACRE Membership
6. SACRE CPD

Possible interventions and developments for Religious Education

The meeting was scheduled to consider what interventions it should make in Religious Education in Camden in the coming year. This included considering whether to apply to the Westhill & NASACRE Award scheme. The report pack contains a draft of a possible application that could be submitted to the scheme for a project entitled Celebrating Diversity. The draft application sets out a number of reasons for the project including:

In the 2021 Census, figures clearly indicate that Camden is a multi-faith Borough; after Christian people (31%) the largest religious group in the Borough is made up of Muslim people (16%), then Jewish people (5%), Hindu people (2%), Buddhist people at (1%), Sikh people (0.2%) and other religions (0.8%). 35% of Borough state they have no religion, a figure that has grown by 10% compared to ten years ago.

National Association of SACRE (NASACRE) Annual Conference on 19 May 2025

The meeting was notified of the date and venue of the NASACRE Annual Conference and asked to consider who should represent Camden at the event.

Faith Forum Update

A representative of the Camden Faith Forum was scheduled to provide a verbal update on its work since the previous meeting in May 2024.

Determinations are permissions given to schools to 'disapply' the legal requirement that their assemblies should be 'wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character'. They are given in cases where a school's intake is not predominantly Christian. They were introduced as part of the Education Reform Act 1988. Parents are entitled to withdraw their children from all or part of collective worship.