Agenda item

Lat Blaylock and Paul Ruane informed the meeting that the Agreed Syllabus event had taken place earlier in the day and reported that 38 delegates attended, including representatives from academies. There were no delegates representing any of the secondary schools in the Borough.

The launch event focused on RE lesson planning, teaching and learning, delivering the syllabus, outcomes and assessing progress. Evaluation forms indicated that 68% of those in attendance thought the event was “very good” with 22% rating the event as “good”.

The launch event provided the opportunity to engage with schools and further develop the syllabus. It was expected that the syllabus would be fully implemented by September 2019.

Members were provided the opportunity to ask questions and the following issues were raised:

Mr B Teimoori enquired if information relating to the Baha’i Faith could be included in the syllabus. Lat Blaylock confirmed he would make arrnangements to ensure information on the Baha’I faith was appended to the syllabus.

It was acknowledged that further efforts should be made to engage with secondary schools.

Members asked about parental rights to withdraw their children from RE lessons and were informed that parents are initially advised to discuss this with their Headteacher to confirm the school’s arrangements. It was agree that as part of its ongoing work programme SACRE may wish to find out details of the number of children who withdraw from RE and the reasons.

Members enquired about the monitoring arrangements to ensure the RE syllabus was being taught effectively in schools. It was reported this could be a key role for SACRE and a further suggestion made that developing and distributing a questionnaire to schools could further assist with this.

Members discussed the importance of RE in contributing to and shaping the spiritual, moral development of children and young people.

The following actions were agreed at the meeting: