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.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Rutland SACRE held on 4^th April 2017 (previously circulated).

The Minutes of the Rutland Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) held on 4^th April 2017 were approved and signed.

SACRE: Actions from meeting held on 4^th April 2017.

             i.             Mrs Amanda Fitton is to follow up on setting up a web page for SACRE on the Rutland County Council website, and when complete Mrs Fitton would mention the web page in the bulletin sent out to schools.

            ii.             All other actions from the previous meeting were confirmed as complete.

           iii.             The Chair asked that an email be sent to Mrs Eileen Ray to check whether the contact details we had for her were correct.

ACTION: Mr Silcock

Discussion led by Amanda Fitton.

             i.             It was felt that the current development plan was too long and did not have achievable targets. Mrs Fitton stated that Peterborough now used a development that had only four points and this would change annually and would be regularly reviewed, and that seemed to be working. Members agreed that a similar style of development plan should be taken on.

            ii.             Mrs Fitton stated a need to work on network meetings and getting academies to attend. It was proposed that a separate network meeting be setup for those that could not attend the current 13:00 meetings.

           iii.             The Chair recommended that Mrs Fitton speak with a Mr Rob Gooding, one of the executive heads of the academy chains, he was keen to engage and wanted one representative to cover his schools, which included: Whissendine, Langham, Cottesmore, and Ketton.

           iv.             The suggested that it could be worth solely to have the meetings in the evening, which they once were.

            v.             Mrs Fitton to work on the new development plan and would send through for the next meeting.

ACTION: Mrs Fitton

           vi.             It was suggested that a survey could be done to find out what schools wanted to put forward for the development plan. Mr Silcock to send a copy of the previous survey that was sent out to Mrs Fitton.

ACTION: Mr Silcock

Discussion led by Amanda Fitton.

No Ofsted inspection reports had been received since the last meeting.

Discussion led by Amanda Fitton.

i.          Mrs Fitton reported that teachers in KS2 were happy with the current framework of the agreed syllabus, and were willing to start piloting it in September.

ii.         Mrs Fitton noted that the syllabus would need to look at the similarities of religions as there were a lot of crossovers, and the fact that it was needed to make more people aware of this.

iii.        Mr David Sharpe questioned what was happening with Sikhism. Mrs Fitton replied that they were still waiting on the framework forSikhism, and that the current framework is still only a draft.

iv.        Mrs Fitton and Dr Martyn Smith will arrange to meet each other to discuss Catmose’s feedback and their role with the syllabus.

v.         It was noted that the current launch date for the agreed syllabus would be 3^rd May 2018.

vi.        Mr Sharpe noted the requirement to use BCE (Before Current Era) and CE (Current Era), rather than BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini).

vii.      Mrs Fitton reminded the group that these documents were still in the drafting stage, so there may still be errors in the document.

Discussion led by Amanda Fitton.

Feedback from the NASACRE Annual Conference 2017 was received from Amanda Fitton.

i.             Mrs Fitton noted that it was a very good conference, and came out of it thinking that what she was doing with the agreed syllabus was right.

ii.            Recruitment for teachers in Religious Education was particularly down compared to the past.

iii.           There was debate on whether there should be national or local syllabuses.

iv.           The Chair stated hope that someone from this SACRE would be able to attend the conference next year.

Discussion led by Amanda Fitton.

              i.             There would be a new process for SIAMS inspections, Mrs Fitton will update when she knew more.

            ii.             Training needs were discussed at the Network Meeting, it was suggested that the schools be brought together and the training be done on a consultancy basis in the evening. Dates and courses were being put together in the next few weeks. The next Network Meeting would be on 2^nd October 2017.

           iii.             The Chair suggested it would be worth talking to Ms Gill Curtis regarding approaching schools that had not engaged yet.

ACTION: Mrs Fitton

           iv.             The Chair noted that there was no reason why English Martyrs’ Catholic Primary School could not be part of the network even though they would be using the Nottinghamshire syllabus.

Discussion led by Amanda Fitton.

i.             The annual report was taken to the People (Children) Scrutiny Panel on 4 May 2017. The students from Harington School were asked speak why they had chosen the subject, and what they had gained from the course. Good feedback was received from members of the Scrutiny Panel.

ii.            The Chair noted that it was time to start thinking of items that would go on the next annual report. The report would be produced at the end of the financial year so all exam results and Ofsted reports would be included.

i.             Mr Sharpe stated that this would be his last meeting as his Union was being amalgamated with the NUT. The Chair thanked Mr Sharpe for his dedication and contribution to the SACRE meetings.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 3^rd October 2017, 4.30-6.30pm in the Council Chamber, Catmose.

The next meeting of the Rutland SACRE will take place on Tuesday 3^rd October 2017 at 4.30pm in the Council Chamber.