To report the findings from school RE monitoring visits undertaken in 2006/7 and to discuss issues or themes arising from the visits.

SACRE considered the findings from school Religious Education monitoring visits undertaken during 2006/07 and discussed issues or themes arising from the visits.

The Consultant for Religious Education reported that as a continuation of her monitoring visits to schools, the result of visits to 5 primary schools had been reported to the July 2006 meeting, she had visited a further 4 primary and 1 high school during January/February 2007.

She explained that all schools visited had been sent a religious education self evaluation document in advance of the visit which acted as a starting point for discussion.  Schools had also been invited to provide examples of pupil’s RE work, together with any RE planning documents.  Her key findings were:

Report on Primary Schools visit:

Ofsted recognise the subject co-ordinator as the pivotal factor in developing good RE in a school.  All 4 primary schools visited had new subject co-ordinators.  Supporting and developing the confidence of the co-ordinator became a key issue.   All were committed to improving the teaching and learning of RE; most had a clear vision for the subject; however, all felt at least somewhat inadequate for the task facing them.  Most wanted guidance and reassurance about what they should be doing.

Agreed Syllabus implementation:  Implementation was found to be mixed.  One school had only partially introduced it; one had not started it and was still using the previous syllabus, others had made more progress.  In one school the planners had been redeveloped in line with the 2006 syllabus, documents were available both as hard copy and in folders on the school network.  The issues identified related more to helping teachers be clear about what they were trying to achieve within the units – to select appropriate learning strategies, which achieved these ends.

Standards:  most of those interviewed had little idea about the standards of achievement of children in RE and several were not aware of the levels.  One was keen to use  ‘I can’ approach and had tried linking RE objectives to the whole school approach (MUST  SHOULD  COULD) –   but needed more help and reassurance with this.

Teaching and learning:  the schools seemed adequately resourced in terms of pupil resources with frequent reference made to the use of interactive white boards and software such as Espresso.  Issues arising related to how resources were used to enable children to achieve the outcomes expected by the syllabus.  Teachers were still largely focusing on AT1 – learning about religion – and were much less confident about AT2 learning from religion.

Time:  adequate time was given ‘on paper’ to the teaching of RE, although it was not always possible to verify how much was actually in place.  Concerns about time in a pressurised curriculum were raised several times.  In one school RE was only just being implemented because planning time was prioritisedfor the new maths and literacy training ready for Sept 07.

Planning to ensure implementation of the syllabus:  This was found to be underway and ongoing.  Issues were identified concerning the use of: the key questions; the use of the levels, and making sure teachers’ customised planners to show what they were actually doing.

Non statutory guidance: had been found to be very welcome and helpful.

Report on the High School visit:

• Excellent achievement in GCSE had been identified with pupils voluntarily undertaking the full course in a very limited time slot and achieving excellent results.
• Examples of creative and imaginative work in RE – focus of the department was on making RE ‘relevant and engaging’.
• The requirement to provide RE for all in the 6^th form was taken seriously.  Some provision was made but it was hoped that more development might follow.  She had suggested the possibility of linking with another high school with 6^th form for day conference.
• The School had particularly valued the visit from Zack Pandor to talk about the Muslim faith.
• The opportunities for working together with other High schools had been valued in the past - especially the school closure day meeting of RE departments across the county – the school would value more of these.
• Contact with feeder primaries was largely limited to one local primary but the school had excellent primaries in the area with good RE.  It was suggested that the school could be more pro-active about establishing RE links with other schools.

SACRE noted that the monitoring visits had been found to be very useful by all those taking part.  The use of the self-evaluation tool (part of the self-evaluation framework) had helped the school to think about what they should be doing and gave some criteria against which they could judge themselves.

During debate on how to involve those schools, which for whatever reason may be reluctant to invite a visit, the Primary School Improvement Manager reported that the schools inspection team may be in a position to broker appropriate contact.

RESOLVED That

a)      the report on the 4 primary schools and 1 high school as outlined above be noted; and

b)     it be recommended to the local authority that the monitoring visits be continued and efforts be made to encourage those schools who may be reluctant to invite a monitoring visit to do so.