To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Rutland SACRE held on 19 March 2019 (previously circulated).

The record of the meeting of the Rutland Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) held on 19 March 2019 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To review the Rutland SACRE Constitution.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        Group A would be retitled to “Representatives of faiths (other than Church of England) and world views”.

    ii.        Humanist UK would be moved from the Co-opted Groups to Group A.

   iii.        The Sikh Faith would be included within Group A with the addition of Gurdev Singh to Rutland SACRE.

MOTION

The Chair proposed that School Governors be introduced as a co-opted group. This was seconded by Mr Menzies.

RESOLVED

That Schools Governors would be a new co-opted group for Rutland SACRE to be included within the Rutland SACRE Constitution.

To review the Draft Rutland SACRE Annual Report 2018/19 prior to the report being received by the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        Mr Singh suggested it would be good include whether the Rutland SACRE had a good year or not in 2018/19. The Chair would write up a couple of paragraphs on the matter and would circulate to the group for comment.

    ii.        Regarding the section ‘Complaints About Collective Worship’, it was explained that the process of making a complaint was to contact the Council either through Customer Services or using the letusknow@rutland.gov.uk email address. The complaint would go straight to Gill Curtis who would deal with the complaint appropriately. If it was a complaint about a particular school, the complainant should follow the school’s complaint policy.

   iii.        Mrs Fitton would review section 12 of the report ‘SACRE Development Plan 2018/19’ and show the achievements made throughout the year. Mrs Fitton would also draft a development plan for 2019/20.

For the group to consider the future of Rutland SACRE and what members wish to see from the group going forward.

During discussion the following points were noted:

      i.        The Commission on Religious Education released a report in September 2018 titled ‘Religion and World Views: The Way Forward’. Within the report there were 11 recommendations, the Chair included 4 of the recommendations within the Looking Forward section of the Rutland SACRE Annual Report that the Rutland SACRE would look at first and would look at the further 7 at a later meeting.

    ii.        The group were happy with the first recommendation that the subject name Religious Education should be changed to Religion and Worldviews.

   iii.        Regarding the second recommendation that the study of Religion and Worldviews should become statutory for all publicly funded schools, Ms Curtis stated there was a need to promote curriculum development and the religion and worldviews aspect of humanities.

   iv.        There were no figures as of yet as to the number of students withdrawn from RE lessons.

    v.        The Chair suggested that there should be further discussion on the four recommendations at the next SACRE meeting.

   vi.        The new Ofsted framework was looking positive for RE, with RE being significantly mentioned within the new school inspection handbook. The new school inspection handbook could be found using the following link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/814756/School_inspection_handbook_-_S5_4_July.pdf

  vii.        When reviewing the development plan, thought needed to be made as to how young people would benefit from it. The new development plan would incorporate the looking forward section of the annual report.

Mr Hull brought to the attention of the group two free courses that were available on www.futurelearn.com regarding Humanism. Further details can be found appended to the minutes.

Tuesday 9 October 2019 at 4.30pm in the Council Chamber.

Tuesday 8 October 2019 at 4.30pm in the Council Chamber.