Agenda and minutes

·        Apologies were received from the Chair; Jenny Stonhold so Mr Nick Bradley chaired this meeting. 

·        Apologies were also received from Ms N Parmar, Mr A Yarrow and Mr N Bacrac. 

Members were asked to complete the tabled forms asking them to supply phone numbers and email addresses as the database only had home addresses for some members.   

Members were also asked to complete a tabled form asking for areas of discussion at the forthcoming NASACRE AGM which would be attended by the Chair, Jenny Stonhold.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting hel on 15 December 2005 and any matters arising

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

Matters Arising

Rev Allaway advised members that a Second Draft of the Faith Directory had now been circulated to 124 churches.  He agreed to send the link to the Clerk to SACRE for loading on the web pages.

Leon Joseph updated members on the events of the Holocaust Memorial week; members noted the Theme for 2006 had been ; ‘One Person can Make a Difference’ and that it had covered many examples of inhumanity not just the Holocaust, and  focused on the current problems faced by Refugees and Asylum Seekers.  In summary; members were advised of the programme of events which had included speeches from the Mayor and Leader;  a testimonial from the stepsister of Anne Frank, prayers from the Rev Nims Obunge, moving anecdotes and Violin playing from Rabbi Lister, the Haringey Youth Choir and children lighting candles and  flag raising.  Leon advised that 2 new flags had been purchased for this event.  

The Film ‘Hotel Rwanda’ had been screened at Cineworld but Secondary School attendance had not been as high as would have been expected.  Bunmi Otubushin advised members of the forthcoming  screening of a film about Afgan Refugees in Haringey at the Park View Academy and would pass details on to the Clerk. 

Leon also briefed members on the exhibition mounted for Holocaust Memorial Day ; which he felt was a considerable improvement on last year and the screening of a video on 24 January from the Liberator of a concentration camp.  Jennifer James agreed to discuss with Leon its suitability for showing in schools.  Tribute was paid to Denise Chaplin’s work on the web based educational resources which covered inhumanity through the ages. 

Concern was raised about poor response from schools to the  Hotel Rwanda showing and memebers questioned whether the information was raching the subject departents. Members suggested that in future Heads of Departments be contacted about the educational events, rather than or as well as  Head Teachers. 

The Clerk to SACRE would like to welcome Ms Sara Joy Leviten to Haringey’s SACRE

The Clerk advised members that Ms Sarah Joy Leviten had replaced Rabbi Lister and the Chair welcomed her to Haringey SACRE.  Members noted that SACRE was currently carrying 4 vacancies; the Salvation Army, The Diocese of Westminster RC, Quaker and Seventh Day Adventists but the Clerk was actively pursuing replacements.

Feedback from RE Advisor to SACRE

The RE Advisor to SACRE (Denise Chaplin) took members through the form which the Chair had asked SACRE to complete in order to take a consensus of opinion to the AGM on 4 May.   The Clerk noted the responses.  There was some discussion about sections of the form and members noted that regional representation could be over concentrated in some parts of the country.

 The Clerk would order extra copies of the Non Statutory National Frameworks for all members and although members were happy to adhere to the 8 level scale for RE; that felt that local context should also be considered. 

The proposal to collate information from schools using the Self Evaluation Form produced by Culham College was discussed. Members were concerned about its effectiveness. Denise Chaplin agreed to bring an example of the Lewisham pilot of Heads of Syubject using the fomr  following which feedback members could discuss the Culham RE-online service more meaningfully at the next meeting, prior to making a firm commitment.  Haringey expressed their thanks to Lewisham and for taking a lead on this pilot.

Finally, Denise  took members through page 4 of the NASACRE Newsletter;  the article which she had written but explained to members that she had missed a day of the NASACRE conference in December as she had been recovering from an operation.

SACRE will need to consider the implications of this for the work of an Agreed Syllabus Conference

SACRE were asked to consider the implications of this for the work of an Agreed Syllabus Conference.  There was a discussion and concern from some members’ interpretation that the Bishop was not just referring to Church of England Schools and was suggesting a possible veto on any schools not complying with the National Framework.

Eddie Griffith offered to speak to his Church of England colleagues about this and offered to write to the Bishop setting out the concerns of SACRE raised at the meeting.

Members noted that the Excellence and Distinctiveness Report was very useful and was now available on the National Society’s website.

See item 13

www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/annual report0405/curiculum_reports.html

Members noted that these reports had been in circulation for a while and that there would be no further Ofsted reports after this year.   It had been particularly critical of school managers and leadership.  In answer to questions about using the Ofsted report headings when compiling the next Annual report, Denise Chaplin advised that we were obligated to comply with QCA guidelines in how the report is set out as QCA analyse all Annual reports across the country.

There was some discussion on schools’ experience in monitoring and dealing with racial discrimination and members noted that the Council had a statutory responsibility for monitoring discriminatory incidents; facilitated through the Ethnic Minority Achievement Team and Leon Joseph, the School Links Officer.  Members discussed the importance of raising community awareness and developing strategies for tackling bullying in particular.

Denise Chaplin had been in touch with the organisers and advised that the packs would be ready to send out the following week.  SACRE agreed to send this information centrally to RE subject leaders in primary and secondary schools with a covering letter to encourage schools to attend.   Members were generally very much in favour of this and the teachers present were interest in taking school groups.

The Deputy Chair volunteered to be the SACRE representative to the Haringey Parental and Community Involvement Strategic Steering Group and this was agreed by the members present.

Proposal form Barnet SACRE

Denise Chaplin explained this proposal from Barnet SACRE and reported back to members on the meeting she had attended with the Chair on 20 March.  They felt that future attendance would only be necessary on a ‘need to know’ basis for vital information. 

The Chair of Brent SACRE commented on some difficulties when contacting Council switchboards in that the operators did not know who the members of staff supporting SACRE were.  The Clerk would check that staff on the Haringey switchboard were aware. 

Analysis and feedback from the RE Advisor to SACRE

Denise Chaplin provided an analysis and feedback on the above survey.   In summary, 6 primary, 2 infant and 5 secondary schools had responded.   The responses were mixed so members suggested that any further surveys should prompt a more strategic response.  The primary schools in general had asked for more support and guidance and the secondary schools had asked for lesson plans and units of work.  Members suggested some further assistance via surgeries and review sessions but noted that all of these carried budgetary implications and members noted that Waltham Forest had taken 2 years to complete Key Stages 1 & 2 of its revised syllabus.  Denise agreed to bring an action plan back to the next meeting.

Rev Allaway warned members of an alleged ‘Christian Council of Britain’ web site which is in fact a front for the British National Party.

            Rev Allaway also advised members of the publication of the new Forty Days Prayer Guide and had brought 2 copies to the meeting.  Denise Chaplin advised that various Christian Resource Groups had expressed an interest and offered to pass their details onto Rev Allaway.

            Councillor Haley asked if a list of the statutory requirement and obligations on SACRE could be provided at the next meeting in order that a budget and match funding could be identified.  Denise Chaplin and Jennifer James agreed to provide this information

21 June 2006, subject to confirmation of the Municipal Diary

As this was Refugee Week members suggested that the next meeting should take place at Bruce Castle which would be holding an exhibition and members noted the PDC is also running events on this theme.  The Clerk would investigate use of a meeting room at the Castle.