Birmingham Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education Annual Report 20122012----20132013 www.faithmakesadifference.co.uk S:A:C:R:E 2009-2010 - 1 - Contents 1. SACRE meetings 1 Full Council meetings during 2012/2013 The statutory role and responsibilities of SACRE: Functions of Officers 2. The Birmingham Agreed Syllabus 2007 Developments 2 3. Website and updates 3 4. Films and Collective Worship 4 5. GCSE Results 5 6. DVDs Supporting the Agreed Syllabus 6 7. Determinations for Collective Worship 7 8. SACRE Membership to September 2012-13 9 Committee A Committee B Committee C Committee D Co-option(s) to SACRE Officers in Attendance SACRE Working Groups 9. Appendices 11 10. Appendix 1 – Determination Application Form 12 11. Appendix 2 – SACRE Constitution 14 S:A:C:R:E 2012-2013 1.MEETINGS The statutory role and responsibilities of SACRE : Full SACRE meetings during 2012-2013 • To advise the Local Authority (LA) upon such matters connected with • 15 th October 2012 religious worship in community • 21 st November 2012 schools as the authority may refer • 13 th February 2013 to the council or as the council may • 19 th June 2013 see fit. • To advise the LA upon such SACRE membership (see appendix) matters connected with religious for the 2012/2013 municipal years was education to be given in approved by the City Council. accordance with the agreed syllabus in community schools as After 8 years of service, Guy Hordern the authority may refer to the stepped down as Chair and in May council or as the council may see 2012 Councillor Dr Barry Henley BSc fit. MSc DBA MCIM FCMI took over the role. Dr Henley is a deputy Chair of • To consider applications made by a Governors at Uffculme, an all age head teacher for a determination school for children with autistic which lifts the requirement for spectrum disorders and Chair of collective worship to be wholly or Governors at King David Primary mainly of a broadly Christian School. character for some or all of the pupils at the school. The practice was continued of alternating SACRE meetings between • To publish an Annual Report. afternoons and evenings on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to • To consider whether or not to accommodate the attendance of as require a review of the agreed many members as possible. syllabus currently adopted by the LA and to require a Statutory Conference to be Officers called into being to review the agreed syllabus. The following people have had a Constitution function with regard to SACRE: During the year a revised constitution for Simone Whitehouse, SACRE was drawn up under legal advice RE Adviser, Learning and from Birmingham City Council, and a Assessment Service copy is attached to this report. The new document reflects the substantial change Sarah Marshall in the demography of the city between Learning and Assessment the census in 2001 and the one n 2011. In particular, the number of representatives from each faith in Committee A was adjusted to reflect the All other officers attend at the new census data. invitation of SACRE 1 Page S:A:C:R:E 2 01 2 – 2 0 13 2. THE BIRMINGHAM AGREED SYLLABUS 2007: DEVELOPMENTS 4.Future Action: 1. Review: c. Continued work on the Agreed Syllabus monitoring and In June 2012 an Agreed Syllabus evaluation survey Conference approved the continuation d. Extending the use of the of the use of the agreed syllabus for a material developed for the further five years. Syllabus into daily Collective Worship in schools to make it 2. Enabling Resources Context more meaningful and spiritually a. The website uplifting than the conventional www.faithmakesadifference.co.uk format. was further developed as a teaching tool in a number of 5. In sum: ways: information, news and The continued reaction to the Agreed interactivity. Syllabus is favourable. This led to the b. Videos of lessons at the decision to continue the use of the different key stages were added 2007 Syllabus and not to call a drafting to show teachers how the conference for a new one. learning materials could be used effectively in a classroom Much of the work referred to above setting. has been made possible by the dedicated commitment of volunteer 3.Protecting and Embedding the teachers; the Religious Education Syllabus in the Community: Advisor; the Chair of Committee D and Agreed Syllabus, Mr. Guy Hordern; and members of SACRE. a. We adopted a systematic approach to Academies to Our thanks must go out to them all. encourage them to continue to use the Syllabus if they left local Dr Marius Felderhof authority control Drafting Secretary b. Similarly we were pleased to note that Free Schools set up in Simone Whitehouse Birmingham also adopted the Adviser Syllabus even though not legally obliged to do so. 2 Page S:A:C:R:E 2 01 2 – 2 0 13 3. Website Updates Purple Mash www.faithmakesadifference.co.uk (www.purplemash.co.uk ) Updates Birmingham SACRE has worked in The website continues to be a dynamic conjunction with the creators of vehicle for how SACRE’s vision for the Purple Mash. RE made in Agreed Syllabus is shared within Birmingham now links to this award schools. For teachers, the schemes of winning site. Our materials can be work have been amended and changes used with their full range of fun have been instantly accessible. learning activities including making • A comprehensive, multimedia posters, leaflets and post-cards. magazine featuring inspirational films and articles to guide you through the Birmingham approach to Religious Education. • Information for planning Religious Education and delivering Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education for Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Academies. • Films featuring parents, governors, faith leaders and teachers using and endorsing the Birmingham approach. 3 Page S:A:C:R:E 2 01 2 – 2 0 13 Collective Worship The Faith Makes a Difference films have been integrated into the SACRE has worked with Vyka Ltd lessons on the Website. There are to produce films demonstrating now over 100 film clips to use with effective collective worship. The pupils and a wealth of lesson film illustrates the priority resources including interactive disseminated ‘Inspiring Collective games. Worship’ leaflet and explores collective worship as being educational, inclusive and spiritual. Training provided by Birmingham SACRE will take place next year. 4 Page S:A:C:R:E 2 01 2 – 2 0 13 5. GCSE Full & Short Course Results 2013 FULL COURSE A* - C Birmingham Full Course results are 74 2% lower than the national average for 2013. Half of the pupils in the city were entered for this exam. 73.5 73 National 72.5 Birmingham 72 71.5 71 % A* - C FULL COURSE 2013 SHORT COURSE A* - C Birmingham Short Course results were 5% below the national average. 50 A quarter of the pupils on role were entered for the exam. 49 48 47 46 National 45 Birmingham 44 43 42 % A*-C 5 5 Page S:A:C:R:E 2 01 2 – 2 0 13 everyday practice in the Early Years phase of education. 6. DVDs SUPPORTING THE Whilst RE is not statutory in the Early AGREED SYLLABUS Years Foundation Stage, the film demonstrates how practitioners and To enhance the implementation of the leaders find the syllabus useful in new Agreed Syllabus, and working planning their activities. with Television Junction, SACRE has commissioned a series of DVDs to support the syllabus. Ownership by Parents and Faith Communities “Religious Education in Birmingham” provides a series of films in which faith communities and parents endorse the Agreed Syllabus. Teaching Resources These include “ Faith makes a difference ” which provides over four hours of material which takes a unique look at faith through the 24 dispositions. These are suitable for primary and secondary phases of education. More recently, this has been augmented by “ Learning from Faith: Early Years ”. “What I like about the new Syllabus is that it takes children’s spirituality It introduces the aims and shows how seriously.” 6 the new RE syllabus can be built into Bishop David Urquhart, 6 Bishop of Birmingham Page S:A:C:R:E 2 01 2 – 2 0 13 7. DETERMINATIONS FOR COLLECTIVE WORSHIP which lifts the requirement that the The 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) majority acts of collective worship should states that “the majority of Acts of be “wholly or mainly of a Christian Collective Worship must be wholly or character”. mainly of a Christian character. They should reflect the broad traditions of In 2012/2013 SACRE’s Collective Worship Christian belief without being distinctive of working group completed the development any particular Christian denomination”. of a new application form for a Determination. This now includes the However, it recognises that, although the details of the Governing Body resolution spiritual traditions of the country are and the signature of both the Headteacher Christian, in some schools the and the Chair of Governors. It also spiritual/cultural make-up includes requires a description of the new significant numbers of pupils of many arrangements to be put in place. A copy of faith traditions. the new form is attached as an Appendix. In these schools an application can be made to SACRE for a Determination School Date determination Date of Expiry/ Granted by SACRE Renewal Adderley Primary April 2010 April 2015 Anderton Park Primary January 2008 January 2013 School Arden Primary School September 2009 September 2014 Birchfield Community School September 2010 September 2015 Bordesley Green Girls’ September 2013 September 2018 Specialist and Enterprise School Broadway School September 2012 September 2018 Canterbury Cross June 2010 September