Agenda item

Further to the last meeting, Sameena Choudry presented a verbal report on Doncaster schools 2019 Religious Education GCSE Entries and Local Authority results. In presenting the information, comparisons were made with the previous two years RE GCSE results, noting that in 2017, the way that exams were marked had changed from grading candidates from ‘A’ to ‘U’, with ‘C’ being a pass to scoring candidates from ‘1’ to ‘U’, with ‘9’ being the highest and ‘U’ being the lowest grade.  In assessing the results, Sameena Choudry focussed on candidates scoring ‘4’ or above (4 being a standard pass and ‘5’ being a strong pass).

2019 RE GCSE Entries

It was noted that in 2019, 533 pupils that were entered for the full GCSE course and as a result of this, 6 secondary schools had entered pupils for 4 different examination boards as follows:-

1st Exam Board had 139 entries from 3 school, with the first school having 39 entries, the second school, 31 entries and the third school with 16 entries.

2nd Exam Board had 258 entries from 1 school

3rd Exam Board had 14 entries from 1 school

4th Exam Board had 125 entries from 1 school

2018 RE GCSE Entries

In 2019, the total number of entries for GCSE full course was 530 pupils, with 8 secondary schools entering pupils for GCSE RE for 5 different exam boards as follows:-

1st Exam Board had 121 entries from 3 schools, with the first school having 14 entries, the second school, 65 entries and the third school with 42 entries.

2nd Exam Board had 242 entries from 1 school

3rd Exam Board had 14 entries from 1 school

4th Exam Board had 31 entries from 1 school

5th Exam Board had 122 entries from 1 school

2017 RE GCSE Entries

The overall entries in 2017 for GCSE full course was 530, 3 different exam boards, with 12 secondary schools entering pupils for GCSE RE as follows:-

1st Exam Board had 468 entries from 10 schools, with the first school having 27 entries, the second school 13 entries, the third school with 17 entries, the fourth school had 40 entries, the fifth school 17 entries, the sixth school 8 entries, the seventh school 56 entries, the ninth school 256 entries and the tenth school with 1 entry.

2nd Exam Board had 100 entries from 1 school

3rd Exam Board had 15S entries from 1 school

The entry and pass rates for each of these years were shown in the table below:-

In noting that some schools RE entries numbers have declined since 2017 and recognising the Ofsted requirement for the ‘three Is’ and RE, Members supported the suggestion that as part of the survey to seek information from schools on a variety of issues, SACRE could help to support schools in promoting RE.

Action:

1.   Sameena Choudry to liaise with Lat Blaylock to draft a series of questions for inclusion in the survey for circulation to schools.

2.   Sameena Choudry to draft a cover letter in relation to the survey in the name of the Chair.

3.   The draft survey and cover letter be approved by the Chair, prior to circulation to schools.

4.   A report to include responses to the survey be submitted to the June meeting in respect of which schools have replied.

AGREED that

(1)      the verbal presentation on the RE GCSE Entries and Local Authority Results for 2019, be received and noted;

(2)      Sameena Choudry to liaise with Lat Blaylock to draft a series of questions for inclusion in the survey for circulation to schools;

(3)      the draft survey and cover letter be approved by the Chair, prior to circulation to schools; and

(4)      a report to include the responses to the survey be submitted to the June meeting in respect of which schools have replied.