Agenda item

(a)  Newsletter Working Party 

Jonathan Sharp sought clarity from Members regarding the preparatory work to be undertaken for the E-Newsletter.  Members of SACRE were asked to submit any ideas or suggestions of items for inclusion in the Summer Term SACRE E-Newsletter, which was expected to be published in June.

During discussion on the content of the newsletter, it was suggested that the newsletter be adapted to meet the relevant target audience i.e. primary, secondary, free schools and Academies.  Members felt that teachers should be encouraged to write short informative articles and include issues that were to impact upon young people.  In addition, it was suggested that the newsletter could include a learning piece, informing schools about different religious festivals and forthcoming events.  Members emphasised the importance of the newsletter and spoke of the need to highlight in the Newsletter the importance of RE and for schools to understand the role and purpose of SACRE.

The Vice-Chair, Bruce Gillham, agreed to meet with Jonathan Sharp at the Civic Office prior to the next meeting, to provide assistance in putting the newsletter together.  The Chair confirmed that he was also happy to contribute material for the newsletter.

RECOMMENDED that Jonathan Sharp and the Vice-Chair Bruce Gillham meet to discuss the preparation and content of the newsletter.

(b)  Building Outreach Capacity

Members were asked to consider looking at ways to build outreach capacity in schools. The Vice-Chair, Bruce Gillham, referred to a successful model adopted by the Group two years previously, which had involved Members of SACRE visiting a primary schools in the Borough, introducing children to the six different faiths.  Members expressed their enthusiasm for this model to be offered to all schools in the Borough on a regular basis.  It was agreed that Jonathan Sharp, Senior Education Standards and Effectiveness Officer explore the feasibility of putting arrangements in place, for an offer to be made to both primary and secondary schools, for Members of SACRE to visit the schools and that a further report be submitted to the next meeting of SACRE.

The Chair suggested that it would be beneficial to highlight this particular model of good practice at the Challenging RE Conference on 14th March, 2017.  It was also suggested that an article on this initiative be included in the Summer Term E-Newsletter sent out to schools in order to promote the role and work of SACRE.

RECOMMENDED that a scoping report exploring the proposal for Members of SACRE to visit schools in the Borough, be submitted for consideration and ratification at the next meeting of SACRE.

(c)  Grant of £4000 for a project bringing Christians and Muslims together (as noted at the end of Rev Tom’s Chair’s introduction in the draft SACRE Annual Report).

The Chair reported that he had been successful in securing a grant of £4,000 from the Common Good Fund for a project bringing Muslims and Christians together in support of refugees and asylum seekers.

The Chair outlined the various planned events on how the grant money was to be spent which included:-

·       “Meet your Muslim Neighbour” - Monday, 27th March, to be held at the Waterfront Restaurant, Doncaster College at 6.00pm.  Members were informed that this event had arisen out of people’s mis-understanding of Muslim and Hallal food and Hallal slaughtering.  This event had received support from the Muslim community.  50-60 people had been invited to attend, including speakers from the Muslim faith.  The Chair encouraged all Members of the Committee to attend in particular, an invitation was extended to Alison Nicholson.  He added that Doncaster College was his first choice as the preferred venue for the event, in order to engage with college students who would be providing the catering and would learn about Hallal catering at the same time. In conjunction with this event, it was reported that a colleague of the Chair would be attending the event to provide cultural training on understanding Islam to college staff who had also been invited to attend.

Jonathan Sharp confirmed that he was to attend this event at Doncaster College on 27th March. Jonathan’s attendance was welcomed by the Chair.

·       “Multi faith Vegetarian Dinner” on St. George’s Day, Sunday, 23rd April 2017, at 6.00 pm.  The Chair reported that the Vice-Chair, Bruce Gillham, was to attend this event and if any other Members of the Committee wished to come along, there were some places available. Invitations had been extended to the Civic Mayor and his wife, Bishop Peter and Police Constable Alison Atkinson.

The Chair advised that there would be no events involvingfood and music during Ramadan due to poor attendance of people last year.

·       Benefit Concert of “Songs of Freedom and Justice”on Sunday, 14th May, 2017 for refugees and asylum seekers.

·        “African Drum Workshop” on Wednesday, 24th May, 2017

·       Muslim Festival “Eid in the Park”, hosted by a group of young Muslims.

The Chair advised that he would provide Jonathan Sharp with full details of the dates and times, in order to invite SACRE Members to the events.  Jonathan agreed to communicate this information to Members via email.

RECOMMENDED that Jonathan Sharp to send details of the dates and times of all of the events to Members of SACRE via email.