Present:-

Group A: Christian and Other Religious Denominations, not including Church of England

Mr K Denby, Miss M Hext (Chairman), Mrs K Hughes, Mrs R Khreisheh, Mr B Lane, Mr R Lawrence, Ms M McCorry and Caroline Walmsley

Group B: The Church of England

Mr M Dearden, Mrs C Hulbert and Mr E Pawson

Group C: Teachers Associations

Ms L Clay, Mr J Gooddy, Mrs W Harrison, Mrs S Shute, Mr N Swait and Mrs G Winnall

Group D: The Local Authority

Councillors C Channon, P Colthorpe, A Hannan and M Squires

Co-opted Members

Mr J Marshall, Mr J Roberts, Mrs S Spence and Mrs T Griffiths

Apologies:-

Councillors E Barisic and R Younger-Ross, Mr R Halsey, Ms P Hammett, Mr I Jamison, Mrs T Pritchard, Dr J Saha, Dr K Walshe, Mrs T Wilson and Dr B Wintersgill

23 Minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2013 be signed as a correct record.

24 Devon SACRE Membership

It was noted that Mr MarkAndrew Dearden, Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Health and Welfare at the University of St Mark St John, Plymouth had replaced Mrs T Griffiths as a Church of England Representative. The Chairman welcomed Mr Dearden to his first SACRE meeting.

The Chairman then paid tribute to the service given to SACRE by Mr R Lawrence, Roman Catholic Representative, and Mrs K Hughes, Baha i Representative, who were both attending their last meeting. She indicated that Mr Lawrence had been a member of Devon SACRE for a total of 38 years in different capacities which was a remarkable achievement and reflected a very high level of commitment. Miss Hext commented that Mr Lawrence had been a most supportive and encouraging member and that his calm, wise words would be missed. Mrs Hughes had made a significant contribution to the work of SACRE and would also be missed. The Committee joined the Chairman in wishing Mr Lawrence and Mrs Hughes very best wishes for the future. Both outgoing representatives indicated that replacements had been identified who they expected would attend the next SACRE meeting.

Mr Pawson reported that he was following up the matter of representation of the Sikh Community at SACRE meetings and that he understood Dr J Saha would be standing down as Hindu Community Representative.

25 Update on SACRE Work

(a) Agreed Syllabus Review

Mr Roberts reported that the Working Group was making good progress on the new Agreed Syllabus. The Agreed Syllabus would follow the style of the new National Curriculum statements and be a concise document focused on statutory elements; it would reflect current philosophy and guidance and be based on the enquiry model . The Agreed Syllabus would include the eight level attainment scale and links to support material to help teachers with its delivery. The Working Group would meet again after the Spring Half Term holiday to discuss the latest draft version of the Agreed Syllabus which was now at an advanced stage.

Mr Pawson anticipated that the Agreed Syllabus could be finalised after Easter and launched over the Summer Term following formal approval by SACRE.

SACRE members were interested in learning more about the RE Syllabuses that were being taught in Devon academies and free schools, encouraging the use of the new Devon Agreed Syllabus and offering them support, subject to resource considerations.

(b) SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development) Working Group

Mr Pawson reported that the SMSC Working Group had completed their review and their report was nearing completion. The report would be published on the internet and paper copies would be available for a modest charge.

(c) Monitoring

Mr Pawson reported that Mr Langtree had been contracted to undertake monitoring work.

26 Religious Education Review (Minute 17(a)/14 November 2013)

Mr Pawson gave a further presentation on the Religious Education Council s Religious Education Review Report, in line with the decision taken at the last meeting. The REC s Report included: the Religious Education curriculum framework; a discussion of the wider context for Religious Education; a series of questions to inform future work and development; and recommendations of the Expert Panel covering aims, the curriculum, good practice, progression/assessment and promotion. The new Agreed Syllabus currently under preparation was influenced by the Review.

SACRE welcomed:

the news that the Rt Hon Michael Gove, MP, Secretary of State for Education supported the findings of the Review, although SACRE expressed reservations about whether any significant additional Government funding would be provided for Religious Education;

the idea of pupils "engaging with the concept of religion and non-religious belief" in view of the importance of pupils studying non-theistic belief systems and world views;

the idea of retaining the eight level attainment scale as an assessment tool;

the proposed retention of the six dimensions of Religious Education to define the breadth of the areas of enquiry.

27 Devon SACRE Annual Report 2012/13

The Council considered the Annual Report for 2012/13 on:

strengths and areas for development in Religious Education in Devon;

standards and quality of provision in Religious Education covering compliance and time allocation and entries and examination statistics for Religious Studies (short and full course) in secondary schools;

management of SACRE and partnership with the local authority and other key stakeholders.

Salient points in the Annual Report included the following:

GCSE examination entry levels and results for Religious Education/Religious Studies had remained relatively high and were broadly in line with the national picture - exclusion of Religious Education from the new EBacc qualification seemed to have had little impact so far in Devon;

a small but growing number of schools had compliance and time allocation issues with Religious Education especially at KS4 and low examination entry levels;

there had been a significant shift from students taking the short course to the full course GCSE examination, reflecting a national trend, and there were some associated concerns about the quality of learning and study time;

there were concerns about the increased teaching of Religious Education by non-specialist staff;

the need for more emphasis on linking Religious Education to local, national and global places and events;

Devon SACRE s strong links with both the Devon and Exeter inter-faith networks and active contribution to community cohesion in Devon;

SACRE s involvement in national initiatives and representation on national bodies;

the new Agreed Syllabus was being developed in collaboration with Plymouth and Torbay SACREs and the Exeter Diocese;

the Agreed Syllabus would be strongly rooted in the recent national Religious Education Review but would also build on existing good practice and expertise.

RESOLVED that the Annual Report for 2012/13 be noted.

28 National Developments

Mr Pawson reported that:

Government had declined to reintroduce training bursaries for Religious Education following representations from the Religious Education Council which was now working with educational and religious charities to promote the availability and use of trust funds to support trainee teachers;

REC/NATRE were working together on more effective use of the media;

NATRE had launched a campaign to attract more members;

progress was being made with the development of South West and national hubs .

29 Holocaust Memorial Day 2014 Review

Mr Pawson reported on this year s Holocaust Memorial Day event held in Exeter on 27 and 28 January 2014, the theme for which had been Journeys . Activities had included an exhibition at The Guildhall; showings of the film Porajmos : untold story of the gypsy holocaust; guided reflective walks around the city centre; and presentations by students at Southernhay URC Church.

Mrs Spence, Chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Day Steering Group, commented that she felt the event had been very successful and thanked everyone involved for the contribution they had made. The Steering Group would, as usual, meet to review the event.

30 Learn, Teach, Lead Project Update

Mr Pawson reported on recent developments on this project which aimed to improve the quality of Religious Education teaching, learning and leadership through better training and support for Religious Education teachers and more effective partnership working (a briefing paper was circulated with the agenda). He drew attention to proposals for the continuation and expansion of the project beyond 2015 and a bid for the funding that would be required.

31 South West SACRE Conference 2014: Dillington House, Ilminster, Somerset - Thursday 20 March 2014

Mr Pawson reported that to date places had been booked at the Conference for four Devon SACRE delegates and asked any other members who wished to attend to signify their interest as soon as possible.

32 Future SACRE Meetings

Noted as Tuesday 3 June and Wednesday 5 November 2014 (both 10.00am at County Hall).

The meeting started at 10.00am and finished at 12.30pm.

Minutes of this Committee are published on the County Council s Website at: :