Agenda item

Report of the Director for Children and Families

•     Advisor

The SACRE were informed that Mary Gale had been recommissioned as the SACRE Adviser for the financial year 2023-2024. The commission started on April 1st, 2023.

•     RE Agreed Syllabus (AS) Launch

The SACRE were informed that the revised Staffordshire RE Agreed Syllabus was launched at the Entrust headquarters in Stafford on the 27 February 2023. The launch was well attended with over 120 schools represented. SACRE members, Headteachers, RE leads, Trustees, CEOs and SCC representatives were present at the event.

There were keynote speeches from Tim Moss, the SCC Assistant Director for Education Strategy & Improvement, and our Chair Preb. Michael Metcalf. A letter of support was read out from Councillor Price, who was unable to attend. Mary Gale presented the main changes of the AS, along with the statutory requirements of delivery required from September 2023, and a practising teacher gave a presentation explaining how her school would be addressing the requirements of the revised AS.

The feedback after the event was extremely positive. Many schools requested additional information, including additional examples of planning for the spring and summer terms. This was provided in draft format on request. Special schools were complimentary about the information provided for them - this resulted in face-to-face visits taking place to provide extra support - additional visits of this nature would continue throughout the summer term. A webinar presentation was also provided on Ofsted requirements for Special schools which included RE aspects.

Schools were reminded of the need to follow the AS from September 2023 onwards. This message would be reinforced via the headteacher’s e-bag and via the autumn term Governor Information Pack.

•     Continuous Professional Development

The Adviser continued to support RE leaders in several schools. This had involved supporting schools in understanding how to implement the revised Staffordshire Agreed Syllabus from September 2023.

The Adviser had provided support for schools who wished to carry out RE focus days, providing hints and tips and a schedule for the day. Some of this advice included a visit to the Open Centre-Faith Trail in Derby. Two schools followed this advice and reported that this had been an inspirational focus visit day and suited learners of all ages. For schools that could not afford a visit to Derby, speakers from the Open Centre were arranged to visit the school to support learning.

Governors and Trustees received information on RE in the summer 2023 Governor Information Pack. This included the status of the Agreed Syllabus. They had been encouraged to continue to work in their link governor roles to discuss the forthcoming revised Agreed Syllabus implementation. This information reached 300 plus schools and over 200 leaders. The information was presented through webinars led by the Adviser, and a face-to-face meeting at the training centre at the Entrust offices.

The Adviser also attended virtual meetings of the West Midlands Association of Religious Education Inspectors and Advisors and Consultants and a local National association of Teachers of Religious Education online meeting on the 6 and 14 March and on the 12 June 2023. Discussions centred around resources, the national plan for RE and the Staffordshire Agreed Syllabus.

•     Westhill Legacy project - Explore, Engage, Reflect (EER) in conjunction with Youth Net.

The SACRE had continued to fund the Westhill Legacy project from the 2022-2023 budget through commissioning the Entrust Minority Ethnic Achievement Service (MEAS) - to deliver workshops in conjunction with YouthNet.

The dates for the Spring term 2023 included:

•     Monday 6 February at Springhead Primary, Talke Pits,

•     Monday 6 March at Ravensmead, Bignall End,

•     Wednesday 27 April St Mary’s, Mucklestone,

•     Tuesday 16 April Walton Priory Middle School, Stone.

Dates were yet to be agreed for the support of Baldwins Gate CE VC Primary school. Seven additional schools in the Newcastle area had been contacted and replies were awaited.

The Adviser attended the workshops held at St Mary’s, Mucklestone and spoke to learners, staff and governors. All attendees agreed that these workshops had a positive impact on all. The learners were very aware of RE associated with Christianity and were able therefore to ask insightful questions regarding Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in Britain this century.

•     Continuation of the project

The Adviser had attended a meeting on the 21 June 2023 with Kathryn Wright, the CEO of Culham St Gabriel - an endowed charitable foundation. They had provided grants for projects, such as the Westhill Legacy project, and the meeting was held to further explore grant support and the necessary application processes.

•     Update on St Chad’s Pattingham application for the RE quality Mark

In 2020 St Chad’s had received a grant from the SACRE to support the application process of attaining the RE Quality Mark (REQM) award.

Due to COVID-19 the application process had been delayed and eventually had been moved to an online application process.

Recent information from the school had been received to inform us that the REQM assessment had taken place on the 21 June 23. It had been a challenging task to get all of the information compiled, but it had been achieved on time and the assessment went well.

The school would be invited to join the SACRE at the November 2023 meeting to share their experiences.

•     Request for support for RE resources from Flash Ley Primary School, Stafford. Possible £200 support from the 2023-24 budget

The SACRE were informed that Flash Ley Primary School, Stafford had made a request for support to help them with the delivery of Religious Education studies, as a result of the implementation of the Agreed Syllabus. This was requested in the form of resources or artefacts, which could be used to help inform lesson planning.

Notwithstanding the support options available from the RE Hubs (agenda item 8), a discussion took place to consider whether it would be possible to support the school financially, by providing a small allocation from the SACRE budget to allow the School to purchase its own materials and resources that could be used by future generations. This was discussed further as a part of Agenda item 9.

Resolved: That the report and updates be noted.