Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence had been received from Duncan Struthers, Cllr Mike Bull, Cllr Keith Burrows, Cllr Avtar Sandhu, Kevin Guest, Jamal Pasha, Heather Steady and Hilary Stone.

The minutes of meeting held on 9 November 2011 and 21 March 2012 were agreed as a correct record and there was the following matter arising:

Minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2012 – Item 10 (Minute 58)

It was reported that Brunel University was putting together a CD on Youth on Religion (YOR) which would feature Hillingdon Sixth formers. Discussion was currently on-going.

HSACRE would be updated of its progress in due course.

Prior to the start of the presentation, Daniel Norris gave a brief tour of Holly Trinity School, which was welcomed and those present very much appreciated.

In his PowerPoint presentation entitled ‘Raising Standards in Primary Schools’. Mr Norris explained that following the Ofsted report on Transforming Religious Education (RE) Education in 2010, some key issues highlighted included:

• Leadership quality of worship
• The quality of the way it met pupil’s needs
• That learning being heavily focussed on AT1 with minimal learning from AT2
• That leadership management was always outstanding when RE was outstanding.

In 2009, a conference for RE leaders from church schools and community leaders established that whilst leaders held firm religious beliefs, they found it difficult to do their jobs. It was noted that this conference inspired the launch of a network for all Church of England schools in Hillingdon and Harrow.

Through this network, Holy Trinity School then decided to set up a conference and engaged speakers on RE Assessment. One of the issue that became apparent was that teacher training on RE was very minimal and that teachers required help when setting tasks to guide them in setting tasks that were challenging enough to deepen children’s thinking and experiences. It was stated that this could be achieved by finding the right resources.

Attention was drawn to the fact that such help was available to boroughs which had RE Advisers and that Hillingdon did not. Mr Norris suggested that schools therefore needed the Network to work together to support teachers.

During discussion, it was suggested that links should be developed so that schools could invite people who practiced their faiths, supported by academics.  Conferences, similar to that organised by Holy Trinity could be arranged and opened to neighbouring boroughs to cover costs. Mr Norris said that Barnet, Hounslow and Harrow had already expressed an interest in attending such conferences.

Suggested issues that could be covered at such conferences included:

• Voluntary inspections – as currently no one was able to do this
• Improve RE – could start by setting up conference/ workshop which would be self funding.

Daniel ended the presentation by informing the meeting that schools required the support of HSACRE as they would welcome the opportunity to work with different faith groups.

The Chairman thanked Daniel Norris for giving HSACRE members a tour of Holy Trinity School and for making a thought provoking presentation, which would give HSACRE issues for consideration. He also added that, with RE being given such low emphasis at Teacher Training, HSACRE would need to explore how it could help address these issues as a group.

It was confirmed that the sum of £5,000 had been allocated to SACRE for 2012-2013.

The meeting discussed using some of this money to fund a conference in 2012/2013 and noted that ideas and suggestions for the format and topic of the conference would be welcomed from SACRE members. All suggestions were to be emailed to nwilliams@hilingdon.gov.uk (the Clerk to SACRE).

Those present agreed that the proposed conference should be inclusive of all faiths and should aim to demonstrate the importance of RE.

The Chairman announced that Duncan Struthers had indicated that he was steeping down as Chairman of SACRE and consideration should now be given by all with regard to taking on this role. To assist, brief details of the role of the Chairman would be circulated to all SACRE members.  The Chairman advised also, that a new SACRE Advisor would be required, as Eric Blaire had also indicated that he would be relinquishing this role as HSACRE Advisor at the end of the year.

 Whist it was acknowledged that appointment of HSACRE advisor was one that would be undertaken by the Local Authority, it was highlighted that appointment to this role would require someone who was suitably qualified in this area. HSACRE members who considered that they may be suitable for this role were encouraged to think about it.

The meeting was reminded that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman for 2012/2013 would be appointed at the annual general meeting on Monday 7 November 2012.  The appointments had been delayed to give HSACRE members some time to give some consideration to the roles and to be provided with details about what the role of the Chairman entailed.

It was noted that Ramadan commenced on Saturday 21 July 2012 and that the last day of the summer term was on 20 July. Given that the remainder of the Ramadan period fell during the school holidays, it was decided that schools would not be unduly affected at this time.

The Chairman drew the meeting’s attention to the HSACRE Revised Constitution which was attached to the agenda. It was noted that the Revised Constitution had now been approved by the Deputy Leader and Cabinet member for Education and Children’s Services.

• Carolyn Appleby advised that she would be attending the ‘A Question of Religion: Young People and Identity in contemporary Multi-Faith Britain’ conference organised by the Centre for Child and Youth Research, At Brunel University on Friday 29 June 2012.

            Carolyn agreed to give feedback on the conference at the meeting on

            7 November 2012.

• It was noted that the Olympic touch would be going through the Uxbridge Leisure Centre on the 24 July 2012.