Hampshire County Council Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education Meeting

Apologies were received from Councillor Pal Hayre, Councillor Jackie Branson substituted for her at the meeting as the deputy member.  Apologies were also received from Rachel Jackson, Charmian Harrison, Rhiannon Love, Rhian Jones, Alasdair Richardson and Maureen Barnes.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Elizabeth Jenkerson declared that she was a judge for the Westhill Awards which gives grants to SACREs.

The minutes of the previous meeting on 20 July 2022 were agreed as a correct record.

The Chairman announced that this was sadly Dr Patricia Hannam’s last SACRE meeting before her retirement and invited SACRE Members to stay on after the meeting for some light refreshments and to wish her farewell.  The Chairman also welcomed Jackie Taylor to the meeting, who had taken over as the Clerk from Sue Butler.

The Chairman also announced that sadly Sushma Sahajpal had resigned from her role as the Hindu representative on SACRE, and on behalf of the Committee, wished her all the best for the future and extended thanks for her contribution to Hampshire SACRE.

Members noted that Hampshire SACRE’s training package with NASACRE allowed all Hampshire SACRE Members to take part in any of the additional training sessions for 2022/23, and the Chairman encouraged Members to sign up for these.  Details of these training sessions had been recently circulated to Members by the Clerk.

There were no deputations.

SACRE received a report from Patricia Hannam, County Inspector/Adviser, on the discussions of the Monitoring Group at its recent meeting on 5 October 2022 (Item 6 in the Minute Book).

The report was introduced By Patricia Hannam and it was noted that Justine Ball will be seconded into the County Inspector/Adviser role following the retirement of Patricia in November.

In relation to the SACRE Constitution review it was explained that legal advice was to wait until the results of 2021 Hampshire census data is known, which will assist in informing the constitution and membership of Group A.

In discussing the current situation of GCSE RE results it was heard that no detailed data was available at this time.

Attention was also drawn to the ongoing crisis in recruiting RE teachers and the low number of candidates applying for these courses.  It was explained that there were no such courses at Southampton or Chichester University, and at Winchester University there was only one student on the course majoring in RE. 

Justine Ball updated Members on Living Difference IV implementation, and it was heard that all plans were now updated on the Hampshire RE Moodle and Hampshire RE website.  Members heard that this had been a major piece of work which had included many visits to schools to form the basis of the new syllabus.  In relation to Golden threads, there had been lots of requests from schools around guidance around this.

Members were informed about the opportunity for monitoring visits to schools, and also heard further information on surveys of Hampshire and Isle of Wight schools’ withdrawal from RE, and the monitoring of collective worship.

In concluding, and as referenced at the 20 July 2022 meeting, Justine drew attention to Appendix 1 of the report which captured a collection of children’s voices, 7-11 years old, talking about RE as part of a national project she was involved in. 

RESOLVED:

That SACRE noted the Monitoring Group report.

SACRE Members considered the Annual Report 2021/22 presented by Patricia Hannam (Item 7 in the Minute Book).

Members were reminded that SACRE had a duty to produce an annual report on its activities, and this would be forwarded to the relevant internal and external bodies and published on the NASACRE website.  A foreword from the Chair of SACRE would be added in due course.  Faiths represented on SACRE were highlighted, and also attendance at meetings.  It was noted that the Clerk to SACRE would write to individual Members if attendance was low at meetings.

Members were supportive of the report.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE approved its Annual Report for 2021/22 and would forward to the relevant internal and external bodies.

SACRE considered a report from Patricia Hannam, the County Inspector/Advisor, on key national and local RE matters (Item 8 in the Minute Book).

The report was introduced by Patricia Hannam, who informed Members that Justine Ball and Chris May, Head of Humanities at Park Community School, had recently attended an ReXchange2 conference, and had presented at this.  One of the topics discussed at the conference was around work nationally to recruit more RE teachers.

Justine Ball informed SACRE Members about some of the Culham St Gabriel’s Trust Initiatives, which included the conference she recently attended and the national RE Leadership programme. 

It was also heard that Chris May had recently been seconded to the Secondary RE position, which would ensure continuity going forward following Patricia’s retirement.  He is also a member of the RE steering group.

RESOLVED:

That SACRE noted the report.

The Council received a verbal report from Justine Ball, the Primary  Inspector/Adviser on the activities of the South Central SACRE Hub.

SACRE Members were updated on discussions from the recent meeting of the Hub, which included shared monitoring websites, collective worship monitoring and structures for RE visits.  Diversity in RE was also discussed, and a variety of presentations were given which highlighted initiatives in this area.

The next meeting, to which all SACRE Members are welcome to attend, will be held on Microsoft Teams on 10 January 2023.

Patricia Hannam highlighted the recent RE Conference held on the 12 October, which involved both primary and secondary school elements, and was the first to be held since the Covid pandemic.  It was heard that this was attended by SACRE Members Yasmeen Hussain, Chris Hughes and Gill Heron who part in panel discussions and ran workshops.  Emma Adam, Head of RE, PSHE, SRE and Citizenship at Wyvern College and a colleague also ran a workshop.  Overall it was a very exciting and dynamic conference.

Also highlighted was a secondary RE teacher visit to the Wessex Jamaat Mosque due to take place on the 9 November by the SACRE adviser with Sheikh Fazle Abbas Datoo, resident Imam and Hampshire SACRE Member.

Elizabeth Jenkerson highlighted the NASACRE training session on the 17 November, which would cover the Government White Paper, and encouraged all Members to attend this virtual training.

The SACRE Clerk would circulate a paper copy of Living Difference IV to those who had requested it.

SACRE Members were also informed of a debate that took place in Westminster Hall this morning on Religious Education in Modern Britain, a link to view this can be found here:  Parliamentlive.tv - Westminster Hall

The date of the next formal meeting was confirmed as Tuesday 28 February 2023 at 2.00pm in the Ashburton Hall, Hampshire County Council, Winchester.  This may be preceded by an informal presentation to SACRE Members only commencing at 1:30pm.