The Northumberland County Council's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) meeting on 7 February 2024 covered a range of topics, including updates on school contacts and training, Holocaust Memorial Day, and the Ofsted Annual Report. Key decisions included sending letters of thanks to schools participating in Holocaust Memorial Day and requesting examination results from local schools.

Update of Contacts with Schools and Training Provision

C. Weir, the Part-Time RE Consultant, reported on her attendance at a networking event and a training session on 17 January, which focused on Judaism systematic and thematic units in the Agreed Syllabus. The session was attended by 17 teachers. She is preparing for the next session on Hindu Dharma. Weir has also been supporting RE leads in embedding the Agreed Syllabus in their schools by reviewing curriculum overviews and providing resources. Members appreciated that network meetings and training sessions were open to schools outside Local Authority control but within the area. They requested information for the next SACRE meeting on school attendance at these sessions and discussed strategies to reach schools not participating in training.

Holocaust Memorial Day

D. Van Der Velde reported that the Holocaust Memorial Day event at County Hall on 25 January was successful, featuring presentations from Corbridge Middle School and Collingwood School and Media Arts College. Members agreed to send letters of thanks and congratulations to these schools for their contributions.

Meeting of Chair and Executive Director of Children's Services

D. Cookson, Head of School Improvement, informed members about a meeting on 26 October 2023 with Councillor Seymour, Chair of SACRE, and A. Kingham, Executive Director of Children's Services, to discuss SACRE's objectives and plans for the upcoming year. This meeting will be an annual occurrence.

SACRE Annual Report

D. Cookson thanked members for their feedback on the SACRE Annual Report. Final changes will be made by the end of the week and circulated to all relevant parties.

Ofsted Annual Report

Members discussed the Ofsted Annual Report and expressed disappointment at the poor national standard of RE provision. They considered offering more support to schools to improve RE standards and discussed contacting subject-specific school governors for insights into RE provision in Northumberland schools. They noted that many schools following the Northumberland Agreed Syllabus are Voluntarily Controlled C of E schools inspected through the SIAMS framework, which explicitly looks at RE.

Workforce and Examination Data

J. Miller explained that SACRE could review Ofsted reports, GCSE and A-Level results, and workforce data from a national standard. Members noted that most Secondary and High schools in Northumberland are Academies and are not obliged to share their data with the Local Authority. It was suggested that D. Cookson request exam results on behalf of SACRE and present them at the Autumn 2024 meeting. J. Miller will receive workforce data, compare it to Northumberland schools' websites, and report back to SACRE.

SACRE Constitution Working Group

J. Miller introduced a report on potential changes to SACRE's constitution, inviting members to discuss each point. Key changes included adding collective to reflect the Law on RE and Collective Worship, replacing municipal with academic, ensuring agendas are circulated ten working days prior to meetings, and recruiting new members to Committee A. Members also discussed including representatives from the Baha’i community, higher education professional associations, and local RE network meetings in Committee C. A clause for Co-Opted members to serve for two years before review was also proposed. Further discussions will continue at the June meeting.

Northumberland SACRE Action Plan

D. Cookson asked members to provide feedback on the current action plan, which will be updated and circulated before the next SACRE meeting.

Northumberland SACRE Newsletter and Resources Webpage

Members were reminded of the SACRE website link. D. Cookson thanked committee members for their contributions to the site.

Training Available to SACRE

Members were reminded of the NASACRE 2023-24 virtual training programme and asked to inform the Clerk upon completing any additional training.

NASACRE Issues - Issue 37

Members noted the latest NASACRE issues.

For more details, you can refer to the Final Minutes - 7 February 2024.