Minutes:
16.1 - Hillingdon Interfaith Network AGM
A flyer was circulated to the HSACRE Members present in relation to the Annual General Meeting of the Hillingdon Interfaith Network. This was due to be held on Thursday 26 November at Hillingdon Park Baptist Church. An Interfaith event would also be held at Swakeleys School on the same day, which Members were welcome to attend, subject to confirming their attendance to the Advisor. The school event started at Midday, with lunch to be provided.
16.2 - Time off for religious observance
There was a discussion about how HSACRE could support schools in relation to pupils taking time off school for religious observance. This was problematic for schools because even when such absence was authorised, it impacted negatively on the school's attendance statistics. The Eid Festival had had a significant impact on many schools in the Borough. It was noted that pupils could be given time off without it affecting attendance figures as long as they were present for morning and afternoon registration. It was considered that this could offer a practical solution for Divali, but not for Eid due to the latter requiring observance early in the day. It was noted that in Leeds / Bradford some schools granted a holiday for the whole school during Eid. This approach was seen as being unfair on pupils from other faiths in multi-faith schools. A Member stated that some schools in Ealing created holidays for particular festivals where there were a significant number of followers of that faith within the school. It was suggested that discussion could be undertaken with Ealing with regard to how this worked in practice.
RESOLVED: That:
1. The Advisor to SACRE to write to schools to clarify the situation with regard to time off for religious observance.
16.3 - Advice to Schools
A Member raised a recent issue where a parent had complained about their five year old daughter being expected to change in front of other children. It was questioned what role HSACRE could take in such cases. The Advisor confirmed that HSACRE could provide advice to schools on such issues and advice was provided on a number of issues each year. The most common approach was to propose a meeting of the relevant parties.
16.4 - Future Meeting Venues
It had previously been agreed that some meetings of HSACRE would take place at faith venues, rather than at the Civic Centre. It was provisionally agreed that the June 2016 meeting would take place at Hayes Muslim Centre.
RESOLVED: That:
1. Arrangements to be made for the June 2016 meeting of HSACRE to be held at Hayes Muslim Centre.
16.5 - Support for RE Teachers
A Member said that RE Co-ordinators often felt overwhelmed and asked whether HSACRE was able to provide support. It was also questioned whether there was scope to oragnise an annual Borough wide RE co-ordinators meeting and for it to be supported by HSACRE.
An HSCARE Member questioned whether the vacancies listed in the 2014 Annual Report had been filled. The current clerk advised that the report reflected vacancies during 2014 and that the previous clerk had worked to fill vacancies, although some remained. This work would be continued.
RESOLVED: That:
1. The Advisor to SACRE to investigate the possibility of holding an annual meeting for RE co-ordinators.
16.6 Other actions agreed
RESOLVED: That:
1. The Clerk to SACRE to work with the Advisor to fill current vacancies on HSACRE.
2. Fiona Gibbs, the Council's Stronger Communities Manager, to be invited to the next meeting to talk about the Prevent Counter Terrorism Strategy.
The HSACRE Meeting finished at 8:40 pm.