The Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) met to discuss revisions to the religious education syllabus, collective worship guidance, and to approve the annual report. The council approved the revised SACRE constitution, the Bromley Agreed Syllabus documents, and agreed to finalise collective worship guidance for schools, with example resources to be developed later in the academic year. Members also received national and local updates on religious education and interfaith initiatives.

Agreed Syllabus

The council convened an Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC) to discuss the revised Bromley Agreed Syllabus. The SACRE RE Adviser, Stacey Burman, explained that each SACRE is required by law to provide a religious education (RE) syllabus, which has to be reviewed every five years.

The ASC agreed to the following recommendations:

• The SACRE RE Adviser would prepare a draft version of the revised Bromley Agreed Syllabus using the 'flower' model.
• The audit tool would be included in the revised Bromley Agreed Syllabus.
• The SACRE would support the development of additional materials through teacher workshops, including guidance on how to use the assessment spectrum¹, Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) models, and teacher online sessions.
• The SACRE RE Adviser would develop an example curriculum model.

The syllabus includes a statutory section, explaining what schools must do, and a non-statutory section, to support schools with their curriculum. The statutory section of the syllabus includes the 'flower' model for pedagogy and guidance that all RE curricula be based around meaningful 'human' questions, categorised as:

• Cosmology: learning about beliefs about the origins of the universe and the nature of existence.
• Axiology: understanding our place and purpose in the world and how we relate to others.
• Ontology: exploring what is real and if there is an ultimate truth or power.
• Praxeology: learning how people express their beliefs through actions, texts, and symbols.

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that during conversations with teachers during preceding RE Network sessions, it had been suggested that schools may require additional support to identity what a good meaningful question is. It had also previously been considered that additional guidance should be provided for Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), and schools had been asked to contribute ideas at the RE Network meeting on 29th January 2026.

Collective Worship Guidance

The Chairperson, Reverend Roger Bristow, informed SACRE members that a request had been received from the Inicio Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) for support in the delivery of collective worship (CW). The SACRE RE Adviser noted that the SACRE had a duty to monitor CW in the borough and that the last guidance had been published in 2008, with repeated requests from Members to review.

The SACRE RE Adviser highlighted that the current guidance had first been agreed in 2008 and could be reviewed to better support schools in recognising quality CW opportunities, encourage and enable schools to provide quality CW, which would in turn hopefully lead to improved community relations and cohesion. Therefore, a revised 'Bromley SACRE Collective Worship Guidance' had been drafted and was shared with SACRE Members. It was proposed that, if this guidance was agreed, a working party could be established with input from faith group members and schools/teachers to create some additional resources/exemplars. Training could then be provided to schools, who would in turn be asked to provide strong examples of CW to share with other schools, which would allow the SACRE to fulfil its duty of monitoring CW as well as building a collaborative network.

The SACRE RE Adviser highlighted the need to explain the difference between 'collective worship' and 'corporate worship', the latter relating to specific prayers, particular hymns or rituals. CW was more fluid, such as the sharing of values or time for reflection, with no assumption of similar beliefs or backgrounds, or that everyone would participate, and provided an experience of worship.

In terms of being 'broadly Christian', CW needed to reflect upon fundamental questions about purpose of being, morality and ethical standards within an accepted Christian belief. These values were often reflected in other religions and non-religious worldviews. However, there was a caveat that reverence or veneration needed to be paid to a divine being or power. If there was reference to Jesus as Christ within the veneration a few times each term, the school would theoretically be fulfilling the law, and in addition they could also refer to examples from other religions and non-religious worldviews. With regards to CW being different to an assembly, the SACRE RE Adviser said that teachers just needed to distinguish it from a normal learning activity, and it could include a focused activity for pupils.

The SACRE RE Adviser suggested that schools could have a weekly thought. This model would have a key concept/theme to reflect upon, which was relevant in Christianity and other religions and non-religious worldviews, and examples of quotes/songs/prayer could be provided from different religions and non-religious worldviews, as well as ideas for activities. This would provide schools with a flexible model, allowing them to fulfil law, whether in assemblies, lessons or even registration periods, and it reflected the SACREs approach to RE, around interfaith dialogue, and could be enhanced and expanded. It was proposed that a few examples of CW be drafted to be provided to schools. It was noted that the Humanist Society and Spinnaker Trust also had some resources which encouraged and supported the collective thinking approach.

SACRE Constitution

The council approved the revised SACRE constitution, which had been updated to reflect the use of the titles 'Chairperson' and 'Vice-Chairperson'. Members suggested that any abbreviations used within the text should be stated in full in the first instance, and that the formatting of the document should be checked for consistency.

Annual Report

The SACRE RE Adviser informed SACRE Members that the SACRE Annual Report 2024/25 would be submitted to NASACRE and the Department for Education (DfE) in due course.

The report included:

• Chair's introduction
• Standards and quality of RE provision
• Collective worship and determinations
• SACRE work with other agencies
• Contribution to community cohesion
• Management of SACRE
• Summary
• Appendices

National Updates

NASACRE in Conversation

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that a NASACRE in Conversation event for London SACREs would be taking place on 20 November 2025 and would include the theme of interfaith dialogue.

RE Hubs

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that a number of the SACRE's faith group representatives had registered with the RE Hubs.

SACRE Members were advised that in September 2025, a report was published on research into the teaching of Sikhi in RE lessons nationally. This was written by a Professor at Leeds University, funded by the Culham St Gabriel's Trust: [https://www.cstg.org.uk/grants-awarded/case-studies/theuniversity-of-leeds/]. The report demonstrated that, in general, the curricula in schools generally only provided a superficial understanding of Sikhi. In some cases, this could be reflective of the guidance in an Agreed Syllabus where, for example, only facts about the religion were presented as a list which suggested this was all the information that pupils needed to recall. Several recommendations had therefore been suggested, including the establishment of a national working party to consider putting together some guidance which would promote a more authentic understanding of Sikhi. The author of the report had since approached the SACRE RE Adviser to support the creation of a national advisory board and would keep the SACRE informed of any developments.

The SACRE RE Adviser said she was also involved in another national project regarding the teaching of Easter. This had a particular focus on the resources used in schools, which were often subliminally stereotypical or antisemitic, and a toolkit was planned to be developed to train teachers what they needed to look out for. Some Bromley schools had already been invited to take part.

Interfaith Week

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that Interfaith Week would be taking place from 9-15 November 2025. Packages of sessions and resources were available on the website and a school competition was also being held. The SACRE RE Adviser said that consideration could be given as to how the SACRE could support Interfaith Week for schools in future years.

A SACRE Member advised that the Bromley 3 Faiths Group (Bromley Reform Synagogue, Keston Mosque and St John's Church) were opening up their places of worship to guests at the end of Interfaith Week. An invitation from the Bromley Reform Synagogue had been circulated to SACRE Members, and they were encouraged to attend these events.

Local Updates

Interfaith Calendar Competition

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that a link to the Bromley SACRE Interfaith Calendar 2025-2026 had been provided. The calendar competition promoted interfaith dialogue and was open to all primary schools in the borough. Pupils created artwork based on a particular theme and the winning designs were incorporated to produce a PDF calendar. SACRE Members were advised that the theme for next years' calendar would be special life events that were celebrated.

Jewish Living Experience Exhibition

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that the Jewish Living Experience Exhibition would run from 18 January 2026 – 1 February 2026 at the Bromley Reform Synagogue. It was proposed that the next SACRE meeting be held at this venue on Thursday 29 January 2026, and prior to the meeting a workshop would be delivered by SACRE Member, Katie Turner, and it was therefore important that SACRE Members attend in-person.

A SACRE Member noted the issue of swastikas being painted in the wake of protests outside asylum seekers hotels, which had been the target of hate. SACRE Members were made aware that the community around St Mary Cray were being exposed to this more than those living in other areas of the borough. This demonstrated the importance of the RE and interfaith work being undertaken.

Pupils' Interfaith Dialogue Conference

The SACRE RE Adviser highlighted that, following the success of the Bromley Interfaith Dialogue Conference held last academic year, a similar event would be run this year by Hillingdon SACRE. Bromley secondary schools had been invited to attend the event on the afternoon of 15 January 2026. The theme would be around remembrance and religious persecution from the past. A SACRE Member participating in the event commented that this was a positive way of addressing an emotive issue. These comments were echoed by another SACRE Member who noted that as a person without faith it had been interesting to hear the discussions and be able to contribute. The SACRE RE Adviser said that during the next SACRE meeting consideration could be given to displaying the artwork produced from the Interfaith Dialogue Conference. A SACRE Member suggested that the possibility of displaying the artwork in libraries, or The Glades Shopping Centre, could be explored.

School Governors – Bromley Chairs' Briefing

The Chairperson advised SACRE Members that he had presented at the online Bromley Chairs' Briefing in September 2025, which had been well attended. The presentation included what the SACRE is, the report on the state of RE nationally, reminding Chairs of Governors of their responsibility to ensure their school's complied with legislation, and the process being undertaken to revise the Locally Agreed Syllabus and encouraging schools to be involved.

Any Other Business

The SACRE RE Adviser noted that the Guest Speakers Best Practice Guidance had been updated to reference that speakers may be asked to accommodate certain needs of selected pupils, such as those with SEND, and that they may need to flexible in their approach/provision. One suggestion included providing a pop-up tent to provide certain pupils with a safe place within the place of worship. The SACRE agreed the revised guidance, which could now replace that currently on the BEM SACRE webpage.