The Associate Advisor for Religious Education introduced the report and in doing so explained that in order to discharge its legal duties SACRE monitored the provision for religious education within its local area, where Religious Education was delivered in accordance with the local agreed syllabus. She continued by stating that in the past it had been possible for SACRE to carry out its monitoring functions using a variety of methods such as school visits and analysis of data.

Members discussed the document in appendix 1 of the report commenting it was good news in relation to key stage three where provision appeared to be fairly consistent however the number of schools offering key stage four religious education seemed low. It was mentioned that schools needed to keep websites and information up to date, has it been brought to the associate advisors attention that the data reported by St Cleres school was not correct.

During discussions, the importance of schools ensuring data and information on the website being correct was raised. Members commented that perhaps SACRE could write to schools reminding them of their statutory duty to provide this information.

The teachers present commented that sometimes it could depend on the title of the subject on the school timetable as some schools would report their teaching hours under philosophy for example and therefore when data collecting would not receive all of the relevant data required as any system. The adviser explained that she had checked the philosophy data and did not find any Thurrock Schools reporting hours under that heading. The system used would not pick up on a different subject names so schools needed to be vigilant about this matter or risked misleading SACRE and others that use this data. SACRE Members heard how some schools were struggling to find time to teach key stage three and above in relation to Religious Education which was a shame as children who were taking the subject love the lessons and the schemes of work of which teachers followed.

Members moved on to discuss appendix 2 of the report which proposed a means of evaluating school websites for RE. It was commented that it was interesting to see the differences between the local primary schools’ website descriptions of REand the importance of following the syllabus it was stressed of the, one member who had looked at Aveley Primary School stated she felt it fell into the exceptional category set out on the table.

It was commented that headteachers would find this document useful and during discussions it was decided to include a document within the headteachers news bulletin and suggest that it might be used for self-evaluation and exemplifying good practice. 

RESOLVED:

1.1         That SACRE considers

·         The school workforce data for 2019 in Appendix 1

·         The task for reviewing primary school website in Appendix 2

1.2         The SACRE consider any follow up action that might be warranted such as:

·         Where good practice is identified

·         Where there is no evidence that the requirements of the Agreed Syllabus are met

·         Where there looks to be limited or no provision.