Decision Maker: Director of Learning, Opportunities and Skills
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
SACRE is the statutory body responsible for
advising the local authority on Religious Education (RE) and
collective worship and is composed of four groups which
represent:
- Christian denominations and other religions (and their
denominations)
- The Church of England
- Teacher Associations
- the Local Authority (Elected Members)
In order for a SACRE meeting to be quorate, there must be at least
one Member from each of the above groups, and without this, no
formal decisions can be taken.
The main function of SACRE is to agree and review the syllabus for
teaching religious education in Doncaster schools. It must also
produce an annual report of its work and consider any requests from
a head teacher to be released from the requirement for collective
worship to be broadly of a Christian character. Members of SACRE
have responsibility for supporting and encouraging high standards
in RE and collective worship across schools in the Borough.
There have been a number of occasions over the past two years where
SACRE meetings have been inquorate due to inadequate representation
from the four groups. Currently there are eight vacancies across
these groups. Following a recent recruitment exercise with Teacher
Associations, Church of England and other religions, a number of
individuals have now been identified to fill these vacancies. The
Education Act 1996 Section 392 (2) states that “before
appointing a person to represent any religion, denomination or
associations as a members of the council, the authority shall take
all responsible steps to assure themselves that he is
representative of the religion, denomination or associations put in
question.” These assurances have been given for each of the
individuals named below, e.g. from the Bishop of Doncaster,
Sheffield Synagogue and Teachers Unions.
- Father Dan Parkinson (Assistant Curate at Doncaster Minster
– Church of England Representative)
- Carole Cahm (Sheffield Synagogue - Christian
representative)
- Sally Faulkner (NASUWT, Sandringham Primary School, Teacher
representative)
- Tara Moxon (NEU, Rowena Academy, Teacher Representative)
- Danielle Heath (NEU, Rowena Academy RE Lead, Teacher
Representative)
If the appointments are approved prior to its next meeting on 21
November, 2019 it would mean that the Committee would be able to
achieve a quorum and therefore ratify any decisions made and move
forward with the implementation and monitoring of the revised RE
syllabus.
This decision also seeks to reaffirm the current membership of
SACRE until the Autumn Term meeting of 2020 as this has not been
reviewed for a number of years. At this point consideration can be
given to reviewing the full membership and term of office of the
SACRE Members.
1) To appoint the following representatives
onto Doncaster Council’s Standing AdvisoryCouncil on
Religious Education (SACRE):-
- Father Dan Parkinson (Assistant Curate at Doncaster Minster
– Church of EnglandRepresentative)
- Carole Cahm (Sheffield Synagogue - Christian
representative)
- Sally Faulkner (NASUWT, Sandringham Primary School, Teacher
representative)
- Tara Moxon (NEU, Rowena Academy, Teacher Representative)
- Danielle Heath (NEU, Rowena Academy RE Lead, Teacher
Representative); and
2) Reaffirm the current Membership of SACRE as detailed at Appendix
1.
- Not approve the appointment of the five new
representatives
This is not felt to be a viable option as the meetings would
continue to be inquorate and SACRE unable to effectively undertake
its role.
Publication date: 26/11/2019
Date of decision: 15/11/2019
Accompanying Documents: