The report pack for this meeting of the Standing Advisory Council of Religious Education (SACRE) includes updates about Religious Education (RE) in St. Bartholomew’s CE Primary School, the newly elected Young Mayor, and the Agreed Syllabus Conference, as well as a number of reports about the state of RE locally and nationally. The documents also contain minutes from the previous SACRE meeting.

Religious Education at St Bartholomew’s CE Primary School

The Headteacher of St. Bartholomew’s CE Primary School, Daniel Meyer, is scheduled to give a presentation about RE at the school.

Lewisham's Young Mayor

Shane Grant, the newly-elected Young Mayor of Lewisham, is scheduled to address the meeting, outlining his vision for his term and explaining his manifesto.

Agreed Syllabus Conference

The meeting papers include a verbal progress report on preparations for the Agreed Syllabus Conference. The Agreed Syllabus Conference is made up of representatives of religious groups and teachers. It is responsible for creating a new Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education¹ at least every five years. The previous Agreed Syllabus Conference was chaired by Kim Knappett, and was adopted for use in 2018. This syllabus, Learning together through Faiths and Beliefs, can be found on the Lewisham Council website.

Standards in Religious Education

The report pack includes a discussion of the recently published data on standards in Religious Education. This includes GCSE results in RE for the borough, broken down by school, as well as data about the amount of time schools in Lewisham spend teaching RE. Also included are the national GCSE and A-level results for 2024. The data was compiled from a number of sources, including the Standards in Schools section of the ‘Compare School Performance’ Website. The report highlights that

98.9% of Lewisham schools are good or better compared to 90% nationally. This equates to 100% of primary schools, and 93% of Secondary schools (with one Requiring Improvement) against a national secondary average of 83%.

The report also notes that four secondary schools - Deptford Green School, Forest Hill School, Sydenham School, and Addey and Stanhope School - had no entries at all for the full course GCSE Religious Studies exam. However, it should be noted that this data does not include entries for short course GCSE exams.

The report pack also contains a draft of the ‘Self-evaluation tool for schools: Providing for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC)’. The document contains guidance for schools in Lewisham in evaluating their provision for pupils’ SMSC development, including guidance on teaching about values and principles in schools. For example:

Does the school identify and promote key values and principles on which school and community life is based?

Compliance With the Duty to Teach Religious Education

The report pack includes a letter from Neil Lawson of the Department for Education's Curriculum Policy Division to Paul Smalley, the Chair of the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE) concerning schools' compliance with their legal duty to teach RE. The report details the differing legal requirements on academies and Local Authority maintained schools, and explains the steps that Local Authorities and SACREs should take if they believe a school is not meeting its obligations. It recommends that they first contact the school in writing. If this does not resolve the problem, then the letter advises them to refer the matter to the DfE. The letter also clarifies the legal position regarding Agreed Syllabuses that require students to study for an accredited qualification in RE, such as a GCSE. Whilst the law does not require students to study for such a qualification, the report pack states that

if an area’s syllabus says that an accredited RS qualification must be taught, then a school may be in breach of that statutory duty (ie. to follow the agreed syllabus) if it doesn’t do so.