To receive feedback from the 2022 RE conferences.

The acting chair invited Stephen Pett to present feedback on the conferences.

Stephen Pett (SP) Detailed that Herefordshire Primary School Conference took place online on 4^th July 2022 with over 22 teachers attending, which was a good number. The attendance was slightly lower than it had been in previous years, but over half of respondents felt the conference was ‘excellent’ and the other felt it was ‘good’. At the conference Mr Pett was joined by his new colleague Adam Robertson, who having been a primary school teacher for 14 years was able to draw on a wealth of personal experience and practice during his sessions.

Overall there were very positive comments and responses from teachers who attended. A lot of teachers were aiming to be very active and share resources they had received on the day when they got back to their schools. The vice chair noted that it all sounded very positive.

The acting chair then read out a statement from Lama Choesang regarding the Three Counties Secondary School Conference on 23^rd June 2022. Lama Choesang noted that Covid had adversely impacted the number of people present, but the conference was lively and benefitted greatly from input from Stephen Pett and Matt Blaylock, who were inspiring as lecturers and facilitators. In the morning there was a thought-provoking workshop on World Views and an in depth exploration of the Sikh faith. At lunch teachers were able to engage with Lama Choesang and ask questions about SACRE and the Buddhism. Overall it was felt that all attendees benefitted greatly from the workshops and were hopefully able to return with thought-provoking materials for their pupils and classes.

The acting chair noted that one of her colleagues had attended and came back very positive about the conference.

Cllr John Stone had attended the secondary conference for half a day and very much enjoyed it. He thought it was very well organised and benefitted from the excellent venue.

Stephen Pett gave an overview of feedback from the conferences. Attendance was impacted by Covid and securing release for teachers (only one teacher from Hereford attended), but there was very positive feedback from teachers who attended - who detailed what they intended to do with the information they had obtained from the workshops and sessions.

The committee asked Mr Pett if the location might have been a factor in only one teacher from Hereford attending, but Mr Pett suggested that this hadn’t been the case in the past. Puckrup Hotel was used because of its close proximity to each of the three counties. In the past there had been many more Herefordshire schools attending, but numbers had gone down over the last few years. SP didn’t think location was a barrier and brining it closer to Hereford might have an impact on Worcestershire and Gloucestershire attendance.

The committee also asked if holding the conferences slightly earlier in the year might help with attendance. SP explained they’d tried different times of the year, but schools had always had plausible reasons for not attending. Over the last few year’s attendance had fluctuated, but getting information out to schools early would potentially reduce stress on schools in terms of arranging release.

Cllr John Stone, pointed out that historically all sorts of different venues and times of the year had been tried with varying results. He felt this year’s venue had been very good and was easily accessible from the M50 and M5, He noted that this was the first time in three years that local RE conferences had been held, which may have been a factor on attendance. Cllr Stone stated that face-to-face meetings were generally preferable, but as with everything else, hybrid was the answer at the moment.

Ruth Stanier, stated that she had attended and enjoyed the primary conference and that a lot of primary school teachers valued it being online as it allowed for easier attendance.

The acting chair also acknowledged that the online model had benefits and also reduced costs.