Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Mr Alli, Mr N. Bradley and the Rev. Allway.

There were no items of urgent business.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 23 March 2006

Matters arising:  

Islam Expo 2006

Letter to the Bishop of Portsmouth

The minutes of the above meeting were agreed and signed by the Chair.

Matters Arising

Members were informed of the Islam Expo, which is taking place from 6 to 9 July 2006. Letters and information packs had been distributed. Further information was available on the internet on http://islamexpo.info/.

A letter had been sent to the Bishop of Portsmouth, as requested at the previous meeting. 

Theme paper to consider ways to support schoolsin addressing the 2007 Theme – for information and discussion - Denise Chaplin; RE Advisor to SACRE

Claire Barnes from the Equality and Diversity Unit presented a report on the plans for Holocaust Memorial Day 2007. The Haringey event would be held in Bruce Castle.

The theme of the day would be “The Dignity of Difference”. Events would investigate how certain groups of people were excluded and how professionals colluded in this.

In addition to looking at the Holocaust itself, there would also be examination of more recent persecution of people on the grounds of race, religion, sexuality and political belief. 

Ms Barnes informed members that the Council was keen to get involved with other events being organised by other bodies and urged people to contact her at Claire.barnes@haringey.gov.uk or by telephone on 020 8489 2579.

The Chair indicated that she wished SACRE to be involved as in previous years in HMD.

Denise Chaplin, the Advisor to SACRE, enquired as to whether there were any materials that could be given to schools for their collective worship sessions. She also asked if members of SACRE had suggestions for prayers or poems that could be used.

Jennifer James suggested that there be liaison between Equalities and the Youth Service to develop HMD educational events and activities that would bring home to young people the lessons to be learned from that era.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the Chair invited Ms Barnes to return to the next meeting of SACRE to update the Committee on developments to Haringey’s plans for HMD.

2.      That the Clerk would write to Committee members who were not present at the meeting to ask if they had any suggestions for prayers, poems and other pieces of writing that could be used in ceremonies to commemorate victims of the Holocaust and in school collective worship on the issue.

Welcome to Mr Peter Ward from the Diocesan of Westminster (RC), Councillors Santy and Jones on the LEA Group.  Ms Bunmi Otobushin has  tendered her resignation, creating a vacancy on NASUWT.  Membership attendance grid from 2004-2006 is attached for members’ attention.   Members are invited to discuss what they would like to achieve from attending SACRE meetings and what they could input? 

The Committee welcomed Cllrs Jones and Santry as the new LEA reps following the local authority elections.

The attendance grid was presented for members’ attention. Peter Adeniyi and Graham Marriner mentioned that they had been present at the September 2005 meeting and that this had been erroneously omitted from the attendance grid.

There had been difficulties in quoracy facing the Committee, since at least one member needed to attend from each of the four categories of membership.

There were also vacancies for NUT and NASUWT representatives.

letter previously circulated to SACRE Members – a discussion on members views and responses – Denise Chaplin

The consultation on term dates was discussed. Concern was expressed as to SACRE being notified late and thus not having much time to feed into discussion on the issue.

Cllr Jones mentioned that, from her experience as a teacher, she felt that the best learning was done by younger children in the spring term. It would thus be helpful if that term was as long as the others.

Mr. Yarrow commented that he had observed that absence was higher in spring than in summer.

Representatives of the C of E and of other Christian denominations expressed their concerns about not having an Easter break. If the modified model for term dates was introduced, then Maundy Thursday would not necessarily be a day off. This could cause problems for schools if a significant number of Christian teachers wished to take leave on that day.

a message from Mark Chater, newly appointed QCA Curriculum Advisor for re and an analysis of the QCA Annual Reports – for information and discussion – Denise Chaplin; RE Advisor to SACRE

Denise Chaplin, the Advisor to SACRE, informed members about the QCA report which reflected the 125 reports from local SACREs that had been sent to them for the year 2004.

It was suggested that the self-review tool should be included in the agenda for the next meeting.

Item for information and discussion – Jenny Stonhold; Chair of SACRE and Denise Chaplin; RE Advisor to SACRE

Jenny Stonhold ,Chair, spoke about the DfES supporting a national strategy for religious Education. This will support the non-statutory national RE framework. A NASACRE representative (Denise Chaplin) is now on the RE council and they are working with the DfES on a development plan for the national strategy.

Denise Chaplin, the Advisor to SACRE, presented information to members about the HMI subject inspection for RE.

They were focussing on boys and RE since, as the figures indicated, boys were performing worse than girls in RE exams. The figures available were for GCSE and A-level results, there was not so much information about attainment at Key Stage 2 or Key Stage 3.

The HMI tended to inspect at least one London borough as part of their work in a subject inspection. Ms Chaplin informed members that she was aware that they had investigated Southwark.

Members were informed that Greenwich and Southwark had worked together on a new syllabus. It included an 8-level scale for attainment. It was suggested that Haringey might wish to look at co-operation with other boroughs when drawing up a syllabus.

There was discussion among members about whether to include a self-evaluation toolkit for schools for RE. Concern was expressed by schools reps about this, feeling it would add to workload.

There was discussion around continuous professional development for RE teachers. There was a possibility that higher education providers would offer 10 day courses for subject leaders as part of their professional development.

RESOLVED:

That copies of NASACRE newsletter be obtained for Haringey SACRE members.

An update from Denise Chaplin; RE Advisor to SACRE

Denise Chaplain informed members that she had had a meeting with Janet Karklins (Deputy Director School Standards). A budget had been allocated to SACRE of approximately £19,000 which could be used for the agreed syllabus review.

The Deputy Director had suggested that Haringey could look at syllabus reviews that had already been completed, starting with Key Stages 1 and 2.

It was suggested that the funds could be used to buy copies of the syllabi of other authorities and rights to edit them to address Haringey’s needs and requirements.  Hackney and Enfield were authorities that had worked on the agreed syllabus review already. Haringey could contact them.

It was requested by the SHA representative that, at the next meeting, figures be provided for the religious affiliation of children in Haringey schools. This would be helpful in working on the agreed syllabus, as it would be more clear what the backgrounds of the children the material was aimed at would be.

Concern was expressed that the religious affiliation figures would reflect data on religious affiliation provided by parents. This would cause problems with regard to children who had parents of different religions or parents who had not provided data or who did not have a religion.

RESOLVED:

1.      That the syllabi from other authorities be acquired.

2.      That figures on religious affiliation be provided at the next meeting.

21 June 2006; 7 September 2006; 14 December 2006 and 22 March 2007

Members were concerned that the previously set date for the next meeting of 7 September 2006 clashed with the beginning of term. Also Denise Chaplin, the Advisor to SACRE, had another SACRE meeting so would not be able to attend.

RESOLVED:

That the clerk set a new date, after consultation with the Chair and Party Whips, for the next meeting of SACRE.

7.                  AOB

The Committee resolved to thank Julie Harris for her work as outgoing clerk to the committee.