To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Rutland SACRE held on 24^th January 2017 (previously circulated).

None were received

The Minutesof the RutlandStanding AdvisoryCouncil onReligious Education (SACRE)held on 24^th January 2017 were approved.

Dear Father,

We thank You for everyone here and we ask for Your blessing and help as we are gathered together.

Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, guide us and inspire our hearts.

Fill our lives with Your love and Fill our conversations with Your grace and truth.

We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen

The opening prayer was read by Mr Andreas Menzies

SACRE: Actionsfrom meeting heldon 24^th January 2017

All Actions from the Previous Meeting have been confirmed as completed.

The Chair invited Dr Martyn Smith from Harington College to say a few words about Harington College’s approach to the teaching of Religious Studies B:  Philosophy and Ethics.

I)         Dr Smith confirmed that Harington was very enthusiastic about the subject and was a viable course for next year.  The first cohort of 11 students was hitting target grades and numbers had increased this year to 19 with fractionally more for next year.  AS level was no longer offered with pupils studying A level as a linear subject with an examination at the end covering three topics – philosophy, ethics and theology.  Dr Smith described the pupils as veraciously on board with their enthusiasm.  Some pupils had formed a Theological Book Group of their own volition and had been extremely enthusiastic about providing quotes for the Rutland SACRE Annual Report.    Mrs Barbara Crellin seconded what was happening at Harington and said it was wonderful to see a happy enthusiastic teacher inspiring pupils.  

II)      The Chair asked Dr Smith if he had any comments on the new syllabus.  Dr Smith said he found there was an overlap from the past but in general the syllabus allowed for a wide range of academic ability and that all pupils needed to be was enthusiastic and interested.  He said that he had pupils with predicted grades of D through to pupils of Oxbridge standard ability.  All that was required was for students to throw themselves open to learning.  Dr Smith said that the syllabus was very vigorous.

III)     Mr Sharpe commented that he had many years’ experience of working with the Examination Board and the first year of the A level syllabus was of undergraduate level.  He feared that this would lead to more failures as the safety net had now been withdrawn.

Discussion led by Miss Gale Waller.  Copy of Draft Annual Report attached

I)       The Chair thanked Mr Andreas Menzies for sending through some quotes from the pupils at Harington, some of which she had selected for incorporation into the draft Annual Report.  Miss Waller felt we had incorporated everything into the Report that we said we would and would ask Mrs Snodin to amend and finalise the report.  Following this, the Report would be presented to the People (Children) Scrutiny Panel on 4^th May 2017 so that Members got to see the work of the Rutland SACRE.  The Chair  hoped that a couple of the Harington students could come and speak to Panel.  Dr Smith said he had four very enthusiastic pupils all of whom desperately wanted to be able to address the Panel.  Mrs Lucy Stephenson commented that it was really important that the report was given due credence by the Panel.  Mrs Eileen Ray felt that 20 minutes would be adequate for all four pupils to have their say and would make a good show of what SACRE was trying to achieve.  The Chair agreed that all four pupils should attend and asked Dr Smith to ensure that the pupils agree between themselves what they would say.  She suggested that they address the following:

i)             What they got out of their GCSE

ii)            Why they chose to do A Level Religious Studies B:  Philosophy & Ethics

iii)          Focus on the value of learning

iv)          Focus on transferable skills

II)      Mr Sharpe commented that it would be helpful if one of the pupils pointed out what the assessment objectives were – an understanding of other people, their beliefs and tolerance thus strengthening the case for having Religious Education on the Curriculum. 

III)     Mrs Fitton suggested looking at the NATRE website (www.natre.org.uk) which she said was very informative and useful.

IV)     Mrs Anne Platt observed that both the Ofsted Report of June 2016 and SIAMS Report of March 2016 for Great Casterton were missing from the Annual Report.  Miss Waller apologised for this and said this would be amended accordingly.

ACTION:  Miss Waller/Mrs Snodin

Minutes of the Meeting held on 13^th March 2017 (attached)

Discussion led by Amanda Fitton in Katy Walker’s absence

The Chair asked Mrs Fitton to feed back on the Rutland RE/Collective Worship Network Meeting which took place at Oakham CofE Primary School on Monday, 13^th March 2017 (Minutes previously circulated).

I)       A newsletter was to be produced to complement the one that goes out from the Diocese.  It would focus on any news and events and also act as a reminder to Head teachers of their statutory requirements.  The first newsletter from the group would go out as a draft.

II)      Mrs Fitton fed back that Head teachers welcomed the opportunity to attend training courses which she would be facilitating, particularly around assessment strategies.  These training courses would be in addition to those provided by the Diocese.  Mrs Crellin stated that some training courses might be covered by in service level agreement and could therefore be attended at no additional cost.

III)     New SIAMS procedures were being introduced in September. The Chair asked Mrs Stephenson, who taught in a non-church school, if she had any comments.  Mrs Stephenson felt that foundation subjects were being pushed down the pecking order, for example, only 40 minutes per week being given to PSHE.  Non church schools were not bound by SIAMS but were bound by Ofsted.  Mr Sharpe pointed out that he had been working with one multi-academy trust that had dropped Religious Education by Year 7 or 8.

IV)     Ms Gill Curtis stated she would be happy to advertise the Network Meeting in the fortnightly Head teachers’ Bulletin.  Mrs Fitton said she would prepare something for the bulletin and forward it to Ms Curtis.

ACTION:  Mrs Fitton

V)      The Chair stated she was very pleased the Network was up and running as it had been one of Rutland SACRE’s key objectives.  She was concerned that the link to the SACRE Webpage appeared to have been lost in the recent relaunch of the RCC Website.  She requested that this be chased up so that information about the Network Meetings could be put on our Webpage.

ACTION:  Mr Silcock

Discussion led by David Sharpe

A presentation was received from Mr Sharpe on the examination process for Religious Studies as it stood and changes due to be introduced from 2018 going forward.   Mr Sharpe stated that the

curriculum was changing for all Religious Studies subjects.  At the request of Mr Sharpe, a copy of the presentation is appended at the end of the Minutes.

a)   Empingham CofE Primary School Ofsted Short Inspection Report, June 2016

b)   DCIR report for English Martyrs Roman Catholic Voluntary Academy, February 2017

The Empingham Ofsted report had been discussed at a previous meeting.

I         The Chair congratulated English Martyrs on receiving a good overall rating and receiving an outstanding rating for the quality of the Catholic life of the school.  The Chair said it was very interesting to compare the DCIR inspection with that of SIAMS.   She would write to Ms Chambers, Head of English Martyrs, to congratulate her on the school’s achievement.

ACTION:  Miss Waller/Mrs Snodin

II        Ryhall CofE Primary School had gone for the RE quality mark and had achieved Bronze which the Chair states was an outstanding achievement.  Ms Walker has stated that she is confident that next time they will get a silver or gold.  Mrs Fitton said that one of the schools in Wellingborough had achieved a Gold rating and that she would liaise with them so see what they had done to get to that standard and would feed back at the next Network Meeting.  The Chair would send a letter to Ms Walker to congratulate her on the school’s achievement.

ACTION:  Miss Waller/Mrs Snodin

Discussion led by Councillor Gale Waller (previously circulated)

The Chair stated that now we had a new Adviser and a new Head of Service for Learning and Skills in post, she would like for her and the Vice-Chair, Mrs Stephenson to meet with either of them to make the Development Plan adhere to SMART objectives.

ACTION:  Mrs Snodin/Mr Silcock

The next NASACRE Annual Conference will take place in York on 16^th May 2017

The 2017NASACRE AnnualConference willtake placeat theHilton Hotel, York on 16^th  May 2017.  The Chair was due to attend but due to a clash of commitments was now unable to.  The Chair asked if anyone else would be willing and able to attend.  Mrs Fitton states she was attending in her capacity as SACRE/RE Adviser.  Mr Menzies said he would attend in place of the Chair.

I         The Chair asked Mrs Fitton to talk about current developments with the agreed syllabus.  Mrs Fitton said that Ms Walker had           joined the group to work on the Framework for the new syllabus and that work had started to put it together.  All Rutland Schools with the exception of English Martyrs, would be adopting the new syllabus.  The areas had agreed that the syllabus would be available as downloadable PDFs.  It was planned that the syllabus would be similar to the national curriculum.    Mrs Fitton stated that the plan was to pilot the syllabus before rolling it out.  It was hoped that the new syllabus would be ready to be piloted by September 2017, be available to schools by Easter 2017 and rolled out across the areas by September 2018.  Mrs Fitton stated she would send the Clerk the last set of Minutes.

ACTION:  Mrs Fitton

II        The Chair confirmed that the new syllabus would have to be approved by Council and would need to be adopted by the end of January/February 2018 in time for schools to introduce it.  The Chair asked Mr Silcock to put this into the system as a draft Agenda Item for Council early in 2018.

ACTION:  Mr Silcock 

III       Mrs Ray asked that her name be added to the distribution list and it had been missed off.

ACTION:  Mrs Snodin

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 27^th June 2017, 4.30-6.30pm in the Council Chamber, Catmose

A provisional date for the next meeting was set as Tuesday, 27^th June 2017 at 4.30pm.  This will be confirmed when Council confirm the Programme of Meeting for 2017/2018

ACTION:  Mr Silcock