To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from: Mrs S Catlow-Hawkins; Sr. D O’Donnell and Mr Z Pandor.

To receive details of any Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

There were no named substitutes.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 5 July 2010.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held 5 July 2010 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To answer any pre-received written questions from members of the public.

No written questions had been received.

To consider the further drafting work undertaken by the Consultant for RE as part of the review of the Agreed Syllabus.

(NOTE: copies of the draft pages will be despatched to Members of the Agreed Syllabus Conference with this agenda for their initial consideration.  This work will form the basis of the publicly available published work early in 2011)

The Syllabus Conference considered the further drafting work undertaken by the Consultant for RE as part of the review of the Agreed Syllabus.

Copies of the draft Syllabus had been despatched to members of the Agreed Syllabus Conference with the agenda papers for their prior consideration.

The Consultant for RE reported that in compiling this further draft he had taken account of the lengthy debate and resultant views expressed at the last meeting.  He also reported that further meetings had recently been held with both primary and secondary teachers and due to time constraints he had been unable to include their specific comments in the current draft. However, he would refer to the comments when taking the Conference through the draft document.

On taking the Agreed Syllabus Conference through the draft Syllabus the following principal points were noted:

• Page 4 – Introduction – this was very similar to the previous page but updated to include anticipated government reference to core knowledge.  Some of the bullet points had been slightly reworded to provide more flexibility, and teachers’ request concerning the study of Islam.  The final bullet point had been added to cross refer to schools developing their own key questions.
• Page 5.  as requested at the last meeting, while keeping the five aims they were now encompassed by one principal aim.
• Page 7 – had been revised to reflect current government guidance. It was questioned whether reference could be made to encompassing different beliefs within a pupils family or social circle.
• Page 8 – none of the main legal requirements had changed, however, account had been taken of recent indications from government concerning academies and their teaching of RE.  It was noted that no guidance had yet been received concerning RE in ‘free schools’.  Conference agreed that should definitive guidance be received then the new syllabus should, if possible, reflect that guidance.
• Page 9 – Conference noted that the DfE does not stipulate the minimum number of hours that should be devoted to teaching RE and that therefore it was not appropriate for the Herefordshire Agreed Syllabus to do so.  Conference requested that further thought be given to the wording around ‘recommends’ in this paragraph.  The term ‘community cohesion’ may be amended to reflect new government terminology when received.
• Page 12 – Breadth of Study – reflecting one of the suggestions received during the teacher consultations the Consultant for RE recommended that in the ‘Religions to be taught’ table for Key Stage 2 the religions should be amended to ‘ Christianity plus at least two from Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism. Similarly for 14-16 (Key Stage 4) it should read ….Christianity and at least one other principal religion.   This recommendation was agreed.  Conference questioned and debated whether Buddhism and Baha’i should also be included in the list at KS2 and noted comments from the teaching members (Committee C) particularly concerning the problems that already exist in assessing the varying level of pupil knowledge in religions when they progressed to secondary school.  Increasing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

To consider any further issues requiring attention as part of the review of the Agreed Syllabus.

Conference considered further issues requiring attention as part of the review of the Agreed Syllabus.

Publishing and launch of the new syllabus

Bearing in mind the budget limitations and the need to maximise the value for money the Lead Officer for the Conference sought the views of Conference on the publishing and launch of the new syllabus.

In relation to the publication Conference noted that there would be no cost involved in placing the syllabus on the web site and that this would be done as a matter of course.  In relation to issuing paper copies to schools, Conference expressed a preference for a paper copy to be sent to RE teachers for placing into the existing folder.  However, Conference agreed to leave the matter in the hands of the Lead Officer for the Conference.

On debating the launch of the new Syllabus, the Consultant for RE circulated a suggested programme for consideration.  Due to budgetary constraints the launch would replace the traditional SACRE Annual conference for 2011, usually held in the autumn.  In relation to the date for the launch Conference were mindful of the need to give teachers time to plan for the delivery of the new syllabus in September 2011 and possible problems with teachers needing to be out of school during exam times.  May or June was suggested.  It was suggested that the Earl Mortimer College be explored as a possible venue.

The Lead Officer for the Conference commented that she was already exploring whether twilight teacher training sessions could be supported to supplement the launch.

Conference noted that due to the May Local Government elections members of Committee D may not be appointed until June.

RESOLVED: that the local authority be requested to note the views expressed concerning the publishing and launch of the new syllabus.

Multi-faith Events

The Chairman reported that he had attended the very successful Multi–faith event at Queen Elizabeth High School, Bromyard.  Conference noted that Whitecross High school had hosted a very successful multi-faith event for many primary schools which had been video linked to pupils in another primary school.

RESOLVED: That the reports be noted.