Agenda and minutes

To consider the appointment of a Chairman for the remainder of Municipal Year 2016/2017.

The Committee considered the appointment of a Chairman for Municipal Year 2016/2017.

Resolved:

That Tim Cox be appointed the Chairman of the Committee for the Municipal Year 2016/2017.

To consider the appointment of a Vice-Chairman for the remainder of Municipal Year  2016/2017.

The Committee considered the appointment of a Vice-Chairman for the Municipal Year 2016/2017.

Resolved:

That Councillor Fred Jackson be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the Municipal Year 2016/2017.

To welcome members to the meeting and receive any apologies.

The Chairman welcomed the members of the SACRE to the meeting.

Apologies were noted on behalf of Councillor Simon Blackburn and Tammy Hackney, NUT, from the Staff and Teaching Associations Group.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 27 January 2016 as a true and correct record.

The Committee considered the minutes of the last meeting held on the 27 January 2016.

Resolved:

That the minutes of the last meeting held on the 27 January 2016 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To receive a presentation on the NASACRE Conference 2016.

The Committee received a presentation on the NASACRE Conference  held on 17 May 2016 from Helen Sage who had attended the conference on behalf of Blackpool SACRE.

Mrs Sage highlighted briefly some of the key presentations given at the conference including the key note address by Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss and the presentation given by Professor Adam Dinham.

Mrs Sage also emphasised how beneficial it had been for members to attend the national conference and that the SACRE would hopefully continue to fund attendance at the National conference in the future.

Resolved:

To note the presentation on National Association of SACRE’s annual conference.

To agree the annual report of the SACRE.

The SACRE considered the draft annual report for 2015/2106 had been completed following comments made at the last meeting.

Mr Dave Brennand, Brokerage and Professional Development Adviser  presented the document and outlined the key areas required of the annual report namely the Role of the SACRE, Religious Education in schools and the Effectiveness and Delivery of the Agreed Syllabus.

It was noted that an annual report had not been completed for a number of years and that this document had been completed by officers to bridge the gap between reports and that in future the annual report would be produced by the SACRE itself.

The Committee endorsed the annual report subject to the addition of details of GCSE results in the report. The Committee also requested that the results for the past three years be circulated for information to the SACRE.

Resolved:

To approve the SACRE annual report 2015/2016.

To consider actions towards agreeing a Religious Education Syllabus for Blackpool.

The Committee considered the development of an agreed syllabus for Religious Education in Blackpool.

Mr Brennand, Brokerage and Professional Development Adviser presented the report and highlighted the development of an agreed syllabus by Lancashire County Council. He also highlighted that Blackpool needed to have a syllabus 

Mr Brennand highlighted the support of local RE Network to the continued use of the same syllabus as in Lancashire given the movement of children and teachers across the local authority boundary. The Committee noted the support of the RE network but expressed concern that it had not been able to consider fully other options

The Committee expressed concern that it was being asked to approve a document had not yet been produced and within a short timescale. While noting the support of the Blackpool RE network it concluded that it may be beneficial to in future provide a longer period to review and develop a syllabus. The Committee also suggested that it would be useful to receive a presentation on the new syllabus at its next meeting.

Resolved:

1.      To adopt the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus as the agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in Blackpool Community schools.

2.      To agree to receive a presentation on the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus at the next meeting.

3.      To agree that Academy schools who wish to use the Lancashire Agreed Syllabus be charged a fee for this curriculum.

To consider a report on the future working of the SACRE.

The Committee considered its future. It noted that the National Association of SACRE's had now recommended against joint Committees.

The SACRE considered that in light of this advice, it should now not consider any potential merger with Lancashire SACRE but still seek to maximise joint working opportunities.

The SACRE noted that there remained a number of vacancies on the Committee and asked the clerk to take action to contact the relevant groups to fill the vacancies.

Resolved:

1. To agree that the SACRE continue to meet.

2. That officers to continue to maximise the opportunities to work collaboratively with other SACRE’s.

3. To seek nominations to fill the outstanding vacancies on the SACRE.

To agree the dates of future meetings.

To agreed the dates of next meetings as follows:

Wednesday 19 October 2016

Wednesday 22 February 2017

Wednesday 17 May 2017