Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (Sacre) Agenda
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Ealing Borough Council Democratic Services Officer: Town Hall Paula Portas New Broadway Direct Line: 020 8825 8476 London Fax: 020 8825 6909 W5 2BY Email: [email protected] STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (SACRE) AGENDA Venue: Council Chambers, Ealing Town Hall, New Broadway, Ealing, London, W5 2BY Date: Wednesday, 28 February 2018 at 19:00 COMMITTEE MEMBERS EALING COUNCIL Cllr Charan Sharma (Chair of SACRE), Cllr Munir Ahmed, Cllr Tej Ram Bagha, Cllr Swarn Singh Kang, Cllr Sanjai Kohli, Cllr Roz Reece, Cllr Tariq Mahmood, Cllr David Millican, Cllr Aysha Raza. CHURCH OF ENGLAND GROUP Rev Karen Greenidge, Rev Laurence Hillel, Dr Peter Hounsell, Graham Marriner. TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATIONS GROUP Ms H O’Neill (Chair of Group) (NASUWT), Mr Kris Bolt, Mr Glenn Burchell (NASUWT), Dr Liz Day. GROUPS REPRESENTING OTHER RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS Ms Kath Richardson (Chair of Group) (Humanist), Mr Luxman Dissanayake (Buddhist), Ms Kim Burke (Roman Catholic), Mr S K Dhanda (Sri Guru Ravi Dasia Page 1 of 226 Sabha), Dr Marianne Izen (Jewish), Mr. Simon Motz (Liberal Jewish), Mrs Barjinder Lall (Ramgarhia Sabha), Mr Sam Lyle – substitute (Baha’i), Ms Marion McNeill (Free Church Federal Council), Mr Kasim Minhas (Islam), Mr Oliver Murphy (West London Humanists and Secularists), Mrs P Pank (Ramgarhia Sabha), Mr Rabindra Pathak (Hindu), Ms Nadine Sayir (Baha’i), Mr Naif Sheikh (Discover Islam). 1 Apologies for Absence 2 Matters to be Considered in Private 3 Declarations of Interest 4 Urgent Matters 5 Minutes of the Meeting Held on 02-11-17 3 - 10 6 Application for the Renewal of a Determination 11 - 204 7 Revised Determination Application Form 205 - 214 8 Ealing RE Curriculum Survey Report 215 - 220 9 NASACRE Briefing Report 221 - 226 10 Date of Next Meeting The next meeting will be held on 21 June 2018. Paul Najsarek, Chief Executive, 20 February 2018 Page 2 of 226 SACRE – 02 November 2017 STANDING ADVISORY COUNCIL ON RELIGIOUS EDUCATION THURSDAY 02 NOVEMBER AT 7PM PRESENT: LOCAL AUTHORITY GROUP Councillors: Cllr Charan Sharma (Chair of SACRE), Cllr Munir Ahmed,5 Cllr Tej Ram Bagha, Cllr Tariq Mahmood, Cllr David Millican, Cllr Aysha Raza. CHURCH OF ENGLAND GROUP Rev Laurence Hillel. RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS OTHER THAN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND GROUP Ms Kath Richardson (Chair of group) (Humanist), Marianne Izen (Jewish), Rabindra Pathak (Hindu), Mr Oliver Murphy (West London Humanists and Secularists), Mr Simon Motz (Liberal Jewish), Mr Kasim Minhas (Islam), Mrs Barjinder Lall (Ramgarhia Sabha), Ms Kim Burke (Catholic Church), Ms Marion McNeill (Free Church Federal Council), Mr Naif Sheikh (Discover Islam) TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATIONS GROUP Dr Liz Day (Vice Chair), Mr Glenn Burchell ALSO PRESENT Lesley Prior, SACRE consultant, Paula Portas, Democratic Services Officer. 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE (Agenda Item 1) Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Roz Reece, Councillor Swarn Singh Kang, Rev Karen Greenidge, Mr Graham Marriner, Dr. Peter Hounsell, Mr. Kris Bolt. The Chair welcomed new SACRE members Mr Simon Motz and Mr Kasim Minhas. She invited new members to introduce themsevels to the Council. Simon Motz said that he had trained as an RE teacher and was a representative of Liberal Judaism in the Council. Kasim Minhas said that he had trained as an engineer and was member of a Southall Mosque. He said would from now onwards come in place of his father, longstanding SACRE member Sikander Minhas. The Chair noted also that there had been a resignation of a SACRE member, Ms Naheed Mir. Page 1 of 8 Page 3 of 226 SACRE – 02 November 2017 2. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED IN PRIVATE. (Agenda Item 2) There were none. 3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST. (Agenda item 3) There were none. 4. URGENT MATTERS. (Agenda Item 4) The Chair explained to the Council that, as a result of having two consecutive inquorate meetings, letters to remind members of the importance of their attendance and to ask them to nominate a substitute had been sent out. She reminded members to name a substitute that could attend the meetings on behalf of their organisation should they need it. The Chair invited members to join in the group who visited Schools as part of the process for renewal of determinations. Councillor Munir Ahmed and Mr Simon Motz agreed to visit schools in the future. Rabindra Pathak said that visiting SACRE members had been contacted by Schools recently, but they had been given very short notice to arrange visits. Lesley Prior responded that Schools had been contacted about renewals of determination with plenty of tme in advanced, but they were trying to make all the arrangements in the last minute. She said that arrangements would be made regarding visits to schools by members at the end of the meeting. Oliver Murphy said that he and Marianne Izen had just visited Dormers Wells High School. He said that in their view schools did not plan ahead sufficiently. Besides, the process of renewals was ambiguous and needed to be tightened. In his view, only once all the school’s documentation is submitted to Ealing Council and checked should SACRE members be contacted to arrange a visit. He said that Marianne Izen and him had just sent a document to the Chair detailing changes that could be implemented to improve the process. The Chair acknowledged that she had just received the document from Oliver Murphy. She said that the process and the documentation used in the renewals of determinations were being tightened and updated. Page 2 of 8 Page 4 of 226 SACRE – 02 November 2017 The Chair said that the two schools whose determinations had expired were being notified of that fact and of the need for them to revert back to wholly or mostly Christian worship. 5. MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 22 JUNE 2017 (Agenda Item 5) The Chair noted that the invitation to become SACRE Vice Chair that she had extended to members should be added to the minutes of the meeting held on 22 June 2017. Dr Liz Day said that she had been SACRE Vice Chair in the past and would be happy to be Vice Chair again. Resolved: That (i) the minutes of the meeting of SACRE held on the 22 of June 2017 be amended to include the Chair’s invitation to members to become a Vice Chair; and (ii) that Dr Liz Day be SACRE Vice Chair. 6. ANNUAL REPORT 2017/18 (Agenda Item 6) The Chair introduced the Annual Report 2016/17 and asked members to indicate whether they considered that anything should be amended or changed. Lesley Prior said that the production of the Annual Report was a legal requirement for all SACREs. The report provided a brief account of the SACRE activities during the year. Marianne Izen noted that Teacher’s Association Group PAT was now called Voice and their name should be amended in page 22. Oliver Murphy suggested that the list of schools for determinations should include the dates when renewals expire. Lesley Prior responded that such list was available and it would be included. Councillor Aysha Raza asked that ‘Chairman’ be changed to ‘Chairperson’ in page 23. Page 3 of 8 Page 5 of 226 SACRE – 02 November 2017 Resolved: That (i) the Annual Report 2016/17 pages 22 and 23 be amended to say Voice and Chairperson; and (ii) That a list of the schools’ renewals for determination including dates be added; and (iii) That the Annual Report 2016/17 be noted. 7. EALING SACRE BRIEFING REPORT. (Agenda Item 7) The Chair invited Lesley Prior to present the reports. Lesley Prior said that two major reports had been published since Ealing SACRE last met: the RE Council of England and wales’ Commission on Religious Education Interim Report and NATRE’s ‘The State of the Nation: A Report on Religious education in Secondary Schools in England’. NATRE’s report was based on research on the provision of RE in secondary schools. It showed that more than 1 in 4 state schools struggle to meet their legal obligation to teach pupils about major religions and systems of beliefs. Although all state funded schools are legally required by the 1998 School standards Framework Act to provide RE as part of a balanced curriculum, RE was most likely taught adequately in church schools, followed by schools under local authority and it was unsatisfactorily taught in academies. The RE Council’s Interim Report aimed to publish a review of RE teaching designed to inform policymakers. The commissioners were seeking public engagement with their proposals, and there was an opportunity to repond to the report until the 4 December 2017. Lesley Prior suggested that the meeting should discuss the executive summary of this report, which was included in the Agenda, and submit the meetings’ conclusions as Ealing SACRE’s response to the Commission. The Chair invited members to discuss the executive summary of the RE Council’s report. The meeting procedeed to discuss the key points of the Executive Summary to the RE Council’s Interim Report. Lesley Prior drew attention in the document to pages 40 to 44, which contained the ‘National Entitlement for RE’ and asked Ealing SACRE members for their views on it. Members asked what types of schools had been included in NATRE’s reseach. Lesley Prior responded that independent schools were not included, but the plurality of state funded schools had been included. She said that RE Council’s Interim Page 4 of 8 Page 6 of 226 SACRE – 02 November 2017 Report was aimed at all types of schools and explicitly recommended that its suggestions were applied in all state funded schools. Councillor Tej Ram Bagha enquired about the availability of the religious festival calendar.