Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 07 November 2019 be agreed as a correct record.

The Committee agreed that Carole Jones be elected as Chair of Hillingdon SACRE and Father Desmond Banister be elected as Vice-Chair for the 2021/22 municipal year.

RESOLVED: That the HSACRE formally confirmed the appointments of both the Chair and Vice-Chair for the 2021/22 municipal calendar year.

Consideration was given to the draft HSACRE annual report for the academic year 2018/19. The chair asked the Committee if there were any changes or comments they would like to make regarding the 2018/19 draft report, to which there were none. The Committee approved of the report for submission to the Secretary of State for Education.

RESOLVED: That the Committee endorsed the HSACRE Annual Report for 2018/19 for submission to the Secretary of State for Education.

Elenor Paul, Adviser to Hillingdon SACRE, introduced the item noting that the agreed syllabus document was a tool to support teachers of RE in the Borough and HSACRE acted as a point of contact in assisting RE teachers. Members were informed that the current agreed RE syllabus was out of date and a new syllabus document, which had been scheduled to replace the out of date syllabus in 2018 and had been included in Members agenda packs, was yet to be published. This was attributed to a change in personnel during the publication stage leading to multiple versions of the document remaining dormant. It was noted that a lot of work had gone into the currently unpublished syllabus by both the current and previous HSACRE Advisers however, further amendments would be needed to bring the syllabus up to date. Officers noted that a freedom of information request had been received in late 2020 enquiring as to when a new RE syllabus would be published.

The Committee were minded to undertake a virtual workshop in an effort to make the necessary amendments to the syllabus document before it could be published. The Adviser would organise and host the workshop with the intent being that the newly updated syllabus could be published shortly afterwards. It was highlighted that an editable, non-pdf, version of the document would be required, officers noted that they could circulate an editable version ahead of the workshop. Details of how to join the workshop would be circulated over the coming days.

RESOLVED: That a virtual workshop be organised to make the necessary amendments to update the RE syllabus before the document can be published.