The meeting was about approving the minutes from the previous meeting and considering the SACRE’s priorities for the year. The members were also scheduled to receive an update on the forum of faiths and the RE Matters programme.

Religious Education Matters in Newham

The meeting included a presentation on the work of the RE Matters programme in Newham during the previous year. The report pack included the RE Matters Challenging Religious Stereotypes Roadshow 2024-2025 document, which described a roadshow that visited schools in Newham. So far, the roadshow had visited seven schools in Newham:

• Lister Community School
• St Bons
• Plashet School
• Little Ilford School
• Azhar Academy
• Quwwat Islam School for Girls
• Kingsford Community School

Workshops were also being arranged with two other schools:

• Rokeby School
• Chobham Academy

The report pack included the following quote from one of the students about the programme:

“This project has helped me become more respectful of other cultures.”

The roadshow was facilitated by Azaan Akbar and Claire Clinton.

SACRE Priorities for 2024-25

The report pack included a document titled [SACRE priorities for 2024-25](https://mgov.newham.gov.uk/documents/s178329/SACRE+priorities+for+2024-25.pdf) that set out seven priorities for the coming year:

1. Producing the annual report
2. Membership and development of SACRE
3. Supporting good RE in schools
4. Links to best practice in RE and CW
5. Securing funding for 2025-2027 Agreed Syllabus review
6. General RE at KS4
7. Out of training opportunity for RE with all schools

Newham Agreed Syllabus

The report pack included the Newham Primary RE/CW Monitoring Form 2024-25 and Newham Secondary RE/CW Monitoring Form 2024-25, which will be used to monitor schools' compliance with the locally agreed syllabus for Religious Education. The syllabus was adopted in 2022, and the forms ask schools to comment on how the first year of using it has gone.

Annual Report

The report pack included a report on the activities of the SACRE during the previous year: [Newham RE and CW Annual Report 2024](https://mgov.newham.gov.uk/documents/s178503/Newham+RE+and+CW+Annual+Report+2024.pdf). The report described how Student RE Matters Newham had won a London Dangoor Award. This is an award given annually by the Faith & Belief Forum for demonstrating how Londoners from all faiths and beliefs can work together for a fairer and more inclusive city.

The report explained that SACRE had given advice to Newham Council on a number of occasions during the year. Some of these occasions had included assisting with parental objections to parts of the school curriculum.

The report included a summary of the GCSE Religious Studies results for Newham in 2024. It showed that the average results for Newham's schools were significantly higher than the national average. The report stated that the A-Level results were also exceptional, with A*-A results 48% higher than the national average.

The report stated that only seven pupils had been withdrawn from RE lessons across primary and secondary schools, out of a total of 63,336 pupils. It also stated that there had been no requests for a determination from any schools in the borough, and no complaints received about RE.

The report noted that no pupils had been withdrawn from collective worship.

NASACRE Annual Conference

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE) annual conference, which was due to take place in Stratford on 19 May 2025. Claire Clinton was looking into inviting Newham's Members of Parliament to the event.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting

The report pack included the minutes from the previous meeting of the SACRE, which took place on 23 October 2024. The minutes recorded that Councillor Jane Barbara Lofthouse, Ms Ellen Kemp and Claire Clinton attended the meeting in person. Councillor Amar Virdee, Azaan Akbar, Marie Hardie, Chetna Gandhi, Sarah Heath, Ruth Everett, Asma Hussain, Akhter Raouf, Jill Duncan, Saquat Ali, Elicia Lewis and Kishor Varsani attended the meeting online. Samantha Forbes from St Helen’s SACRE also observed the meeting.

The previous meeting received an update on the forum of faiths, which noted that three faith celebrations were due to take place shortly: Diwali, the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev Ji Jayanti and a Civic Carol service at St John’s Church.

The minutes noted that the meeting received a report on engagement with the RE Matters programme. The report noted the difficulty of engaging with secondary schools and suggested that recordings of sessions might be beneficial.

The minutes also noted that the old town hall in Stratford had been provisionally booked for the NASACRE conference.

The minutes recorded that the previous meeting discussed plans for a national strategy for religious education. They noted that Claire Clinton would circulate new posters for the Place of Worship competition.

The minutes recorded that, during the meeting, the members split into four breakout rooms to consider each section of the self-evaluation toolkit. One of the groups noted that the Agreed Syllabus was due for approval in 2027 and that Claire Clinton would ensure that the budget was in place for this. The members discussed whether some kind of pupil survey could be included in the review.

The minutes record that the previous meeting considered the SACRE’s priorities for the coming year. The members agreed to add the following items to the list of priorities:

• Circulate Pupil survey in 2025 in preparation for the review of the agreed syllabus
• Agree with the LA funding for the AS in 2025
• Look at SACRE opportunities to get into more schools this academic year
• Look at RE training opportunities for all schools, not just those with a membership to RE Matters – need a conversation with the LA.

The minutes recorded that the previous meeting discussed a letter from the council's Scrutiny Manager to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood, seeking a nomination to join the Education, Children and Young People Scrutiny Commission. It was noted that Stephen Saxby, a member of the SACRE, may be a suitable candidate and that the clerk would approach him.

Forum of Faiths

The meeting was scheduled to receive an update on the forum of faiths.

Student RE Matters Update

The meeting was also scheduled to receive an update on student RE matters.