Present:-

Group A: Christian and Other Religion and Belief Communities (with the exception of the Church of England)

Mr R Halsey, Miss M Hext, Mr B Lane and Mrs N Nation and Ms V Rain

Group B: The Church of England

Mr M Dearden, Ms P Hammett, Mrs C Hulbert and Mr E Pawson

Group C: Teachers Associations

Ms L Clay, Mr P Cornish, Mr J Gooddy, Mrs W Harrison, Mrs S Shute and Dr G Teece (substitute for Dr K Walshe)

Group D: The County Council

Councillors Berry and Younger-Ross

Co-opted Members

Ms P Fletcher, Mrs T Griffiths, Mr J Marshall, Mr J Roberts and Mrs S Spence

Observer

Ms J Taylorson

Apologies:-

Mr K Denby (Group A) and Mr R Nathwani; Mrs T Wilson and Ms T Pritchard (Group B); Dr K Walshe (Group C); and Councillors Channon, Colthorpe Hannan and Squires (Group D) and Mr G Langtree (Co-opted).

93 Annual Report

MR GOODY IN THE CHAIR

Mr Pawson reported that submission of the Annual Report 2014/15 to SACRE had been deferred until the June meeting as information on last year s exam results was still not available from Babcock LDP. While it was preferable for it to be presented to the November meeting this was likely to be the situation in future years.

94 Election of Chair and Vice-Chair

RESOLVED that Miss M Hext and Mrs C Hulbert be elected Chair and Vice-Chair respectively until the meeting in November 2016.

95 Interfaith Focus - Faith and Belief Training and the Interfaith Conference

(a) Faith and Belief Training

Mr Roberts reported on the three Faith and Belief training workshops held over October/November 2015 at the Exeter Community Centre designed to help build people s communication skills amongst Devon s diverse faith and belief communities. He indicated that the workshops had proved successful and that another series was being arranged for Spring 2016.

Mr Pawson reported that he was building a data base of speakers to make presentations in schools and local communities and publicise their availability. He thanked Jude Taylorson, Chairman of the Devon Faith Belief Forum for her help in organising the sessions.

(b) Interfaith Conference

Mr Pawson reported on this Conference held on 14 November at the Mint Methodist Church, Exeter marking the Inter Faith Week 2015 on teaching British Values with contributions from local Faith and Belief Groups, which had been open to the public, teachers and school leaders, parents and young people. The event had been well attended and received helping to establish and improve inter faith links.

Plans would be made for a similar multi-faith event in 2016 with the co-operation of the Exeter Anglican Diocese with the aim of promoting interfaith dialogue at all levels.

96 Minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2015 be signed as a correct record.

97 Devon SACRE Membership

Mr Pawson reported the resignations of Ian Jamison (Group A - Pagan rep) and Rev Master Myfanwy McCorry (Group A - Buddhist rep) and welcomed Ms Jude Taylorson (Buddhist Community) to this meeting as an observer. A nomination would be sought from the Buddhist Community for submission to SACRE in due course. Mr Pawson also welcomed Ms Rain (Pagan Community) and Mr Cornish, Principal Newton Abbot College to the meeting.

Vacancies within the Teachers Associations (Group C) were also noted.

RESOLVED

(a) that Viannah Rain be appointed as the Pagan representative in place of Mr I Jamison (Group A);

(b) that Mr P Cornish be appointed as the Secondary Schools headteachers representative (Group C); and

(c) that Dr G Teese be re-designated as the named substitute for Dr K Walshe; and Mr Roberts be re-designated as a Co-opted member.

98 Learn/Teach/Lead Religious Education (LTLRE) - Devon SACRE Support

Mr Pawson reported on SACRE s annual conference arranged for 20/21 October 2016 at St Mellion, Cornwall for teachers and others, details of which would be publicised shortly. He also reported on new and proposed Hub Group area arrangements and changes in leadership and the benefits of inviting a Hub Leader to join SACRE (within the Teachers Associations - Group C).

The meeting discussed funding arrangements for the LTLRE Hubs and Devon SACRE support including a 500 annual grant from SACRE (within the Development Plan), and other sources of funding including the St Luke s Trust and Jerusalem Fund. Councillor-Younger Ross also referred to the County Councillors local devolved budgets as a potential source of additional funding for the LTLRE project.

RESOLVED that a nomination be sought for the appointment of a Hub Leader to join SACRE (Group C).

99 SW SACRE Conference (Monday, 7 March 2016)

Mr Pawson reported on arrangements for the SW SACRE Conference on Monday, 7 March 2016 at Dillington House, Somerset for which SACRE delegate funding was available. The programme included an address from the new Chief Executive of the Religious Education Council (REC).

Mr Pawson also referred to the NASACRE annual conference - Shaping the Future - on 17 May 2016 in Westminster, London with The Rt Hon Baroness Elizabeth Butler Sloss GBE and Professor Adam Dinham as key speakers.

Reference was also made to NASACRE s informative web site: http://www.nasacre.org.uk/ and the All Parliamentary Group for RE and the need for it to hear the views from a broad range of SACREs.

100 Working Groups - Assessment Project

Mr Roberts reported on work taking place with Schools and their teaching staff etc. on the implementation of assessments without levels following SACRE s commitment to support and contribute to LTLRE s project (rather than develop its own scheme).

Discussion points with members included:

financial support available from SACRE

the complex governance arrangements in schools and the different practices of schools in their assessment of RE teaching and learning

materials being developed for use by schools and the work of the Diocese in this respect relating to the syllabus and exemplars of good practice

teaching and assessment issues throughout the 4 Key Stages (including the loss of a clear syllabus and assessment framework for KS 3) and the lack of guidelines particularly for KS 1 teaching, the need for further dialogue and the importance of sharing good practice

the difficulties involved from pupil transition from primary to secondary

the lack of government guidance and the need for a flexible approach and to avoid a prescriptive formula, bearing in mind the rapidly changing school environment.

The Chair thanked Mr Roberts for his update and noted that this remained a work-in progress for the SACRE Working Group.

101 Promoting British Values and the Prevent Agenda

Mr Pawson reported, that following recent guidance issued by Lambeth for its schools, he had drafted guidance on behalf of the Devon SACRE (previously circulated to SACRE members) for all schools/academies in Devon to support them in their provision of religious education, collective worship and pastoral support following recent terrorist events.

Members discussion points included:

circulation of the guidance to include the Chairmen of Governing Bodies as well as head teachers

order of Appendix I and II

consideration of inclusion of references to all 6 religions (alphabetic order) in Appendix 1

re-draft of the third paragraph (second sentence) in the section headed Advice for Schools on Supporting the Needs of Pupils

process for approval.

Mr J Marshall gave an example of a situation in Plymouth which had highlighted the potential conflict in relation to a parent s right of withdrawal of the child from religious instruction and recent guidance in terms of the Prevent Agenda and promoting British Values. In this particular example after meeting local faith leaders the Parent had allowed her child to resume RE studies and the matter had been resolved satisfactorily.

Councillor Younger-Ross advised that in view of the difficulties encountered by Mr Marshall in seeking advice from the DfE in this instance support could be sought, in future, from the local MP who could make representations directly to the appropriate Government Minister.

RESOLVED that Mr Pawson, in consultation with the Chairman and Mr J Roberts be authorised to approve revised Guidance for circulation to Devon Schools.

102 Educating Ourselves

This item was withdrawn by Mr Pawson.

103 National Developments

Mr Pawson reported on the following:

Religious Education Council (REC): and establishment of a commission on the future of RE

All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG): looking at the balance between academic achievement and Spiritual, Moral, Social learning;

National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE) survey 2015: on legal compliance rates in meeting requirements for RE in KS 4, entries for GSCE RE courses, entries for the short RE Course, timetabling of and time for GCSE studies and mode of delivery.

In terms of the NATRE secondary survey the meeting noted that OFSTED did not inspect compliance of the RE curriculum (other than for the EBAC course) and SACRE had not raised this with the Education Funding Authority (EFA) as this could have a deleterious impact.

104 Holocaust Memorial Day 27 January 2016

Mr Pawson reported on the success of the Holocaust Memorial Day in Exeter with the theme don t stand-by which had included participation of children from 10 schools across Devon, moving public talks from Kemal Pervanic survivor of the Bosnian genocide and Leslie Kleinman, survivor from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. Mr Halsey referred to Jewish visitors to the City who had been very impressed by the Memorial Day events. The Chair congratulated Mr Pawson and colleagues from the City and County Councils for the work in making the day a great success.

105 Future SACRE Meetings

Agreed as:

Tuesday 7 June 2016

Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Wednesday, 8 February 2017

(all 10.00am at County Hall).

The meeting started at 10.00am and finished at 12.36 pm, following an adjournment from 11.22 am to 11.35 am

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