The Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) of Cornwall Council met to discuss the budget, the approved syllabus, and the SACRE improvement plan. The meeting included a verbal update on membership, and considered public questions and statements.

SACRE Improvement Plan

The Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education was scheduled to discuss the SACRE Improvement Plan, a document created to assist Cornwall SACRE in advising the local authority in meeting the entitlement of pupils across the local authority to engage in high quality Religious Education and Collective Worship.

The SACRE Improvement Plan was created with the SACRE Self-Evaluation Tool, and highlights five key dimensions of SACRE's work:

• Management of the SACRE and building the partnership between the SACRE, the local authority and other key stakeholders
• Promoting improvement in the standards, the quality of teaching, and provision in RE
• Evaluating the effectiveness of the locally agreed syllabus
• Promoting improvement in the provision and quality of collective worship
• Contributing to cohesion across the community and the promotion of social and racial harmony.

The report pack included the SACRE Improvement Plan Academic Year 2025-2026.

The plan details targets, actions, success criteria, responsibilities, timescales, resources/costs, and monitoring responsibilities for a number of key areas.

One target was to ensure that arrangements to fill vacancies are always pursued effectively. The proposed action was for Richard Orpwood, Democratic Officer, to make a list of vacancies and contact relevant organisations to seek new membership, and to establish systems which quickly identify when a vacancy arises, and fill it in the swiftest time possible.

Another target was to ensure induction and training opportunities for SACRE members and consultants are comprehensive and purposeful. The proposed actions were to ensure that new members of SACRE are formally inducted within 4 weeks of joining, using NASACRE[^1] materials to support, and to establish training needs at the beginning of each cycle and throughout, and design a menu of CPD¹ to meet need, drawing on established providers such as NASACRE, Learn, Teach, Lead RE (LTLRE), and the Diocese.

NASACRE is the National Association of SACREs.

The SACRE was scheduled to consider a report and agree the proposed Improvement Plan for September 2025 to August 2026, and the implication of this report and Improvement Plan in relation to the budget set in April 2025.

Budget Report

The Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education was scheduled to discuss a report outlining the Cornwall Council budget granted to SACRE for the financial year 2025-2026, and how this has been utilised.

The report stated that Cornwall Council's contribution to the SACRE budget for 2025/26 has been approved as £15,000, as it was in the previous financial year, 2024/25. In addition to this, Cornwall Council has committed a further £10,000 of growth funding in the 2025/26 financial year to take account of the additional costs incurred in the convening and launch of the Agreed Syllabus 2025-2026.

The budget summary as at 31st October 2025 was included in the report:

The SACRE was scheduled to ensure that the funds allocated to it for the financial year 2025-2026 are utilised in line with the identified areas agreed within the SACRE Improvement Plan and that, therefore, SACRE approves the spending intentions detailed in paragraph 11.1 of the budget report.

Approved Syllabus Presentation

The Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education was scheduled to receive a presentation on the new Agreed Syllabus 2025-2030.

The presentation included in the supplementary agenda outlined the changes and opportunities presented by the new syllabus, and what is staying the same.

The presentation stated that the 2025 Cornwall Agreed Syllabus has been created for Cornwall SACRE and approved by Cornwall County Council, and provides a syllabus for RE for all schools. It explains the value and purposes of RE for all pupils and specifies for teachers what shall be taught in each age group.

The presentation stated that the clear teaching and learning approach remains at the heart of the 2025 syllabus, whereby all units enable pupils to 'make sense' of the religious and non-religious worldviews studied, 'understand the impact' of these beliefs and practices in people's lives, and to 'make connections' in their learning and their wider experience of the world.

The syllabus continues to advocate helping pupils to develop a coherent understanding of several religions, by studying one religion at a time (systematic study) before bringing together and comparing different traditions (thematic study).

The presentation stated that the 2025 syllabus points towards a significantly new way of planning and teaching, drawing on the Handbook from the RE Council of England and Wales². The language of the 2025 syllabus has been adjusted to accommodate this new religion and worldviews approach.

The syllabus maintains the required study of religious and non-religious worldviews in each key stage, and requires that, in addition to the religions required for study at each key stage, non-religious worldviews, including Humanism as an example, should also be explored in such a way as to ensure that pupils develop mutual respect and tolerance of those with different worldviews.

The presentation included details of what a Religion and Worldviews (RW) Approach is, stating that it is a way of teaching RE that helps pupils understand both religious and non-religious beliefs in a deeper, more realistic way, by focusing on what we study, how we study, and the learner's own view.

The presentation also included details of ways of knowing in RE, explaining that ways of knowing means the different methods we use to explore and understand religious and non-religious beliefs.

The presentation included the login details to access the syllabus on the RE Today website.