There were no declarations of interest made by SACRE members.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2012.

Agreed that the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2012 are confirmed as a correct record subject to Reverend Chave being noted as having been in attendance.

The Chair reported that Reverend Chave and Mr Seel had resigned from SACRE. 

The Chair welcomed Penny Burnside, representing Group A, to her first SACRE meeting and noted that Katie Freeman, representing Group C, had just been appointed.

The Religious Education Advisor will submit the SACRE Annual Report 2011 to 2012 for information.

The RE Adviser stated that a number of minor amendments had been made to the draft SACRE annual report.

Agreed that the SACRE annual report is noted. 

To receive an update from the Religious Education Advisor on examination results from summer 2012.

The RE Adviser commented that there were concerns that –

(a)    while senior leadership teams would rightly challenge departments  to raise standards, focussing on the promotion of higher grades might lead to a reduction or even the cessation of RE if GCSE results did not show improvement;

(b)   ongoing curriculum pressures for improvement with less time and resources available would eventually impact on schools achieving good examination results in RE.

Dr Saha expressed the view that policy makers had differing views of RE, and that RE’s importance as a self-development aid as well as a results based curriculum course should be acknowledged.

Ms Griffiths expressed the view that SACREs should be targeting and advising schools about RE, emphasising that it added value and encouraging them to invest in it, with measurable outcomes.   

The Religious Education Advisor will provide feedback on the Holocaust Memorial Day 2013.

The RE Adviser informed members that both the public exhibition and schools event in the Roland Levinsky Building on 25 January 2013, and the annual civic ceremony of remembrance at Mount Edgcumbe on 27 January 2013, had been very successful and well supported.

The RE Adviser proceeded to read out some positive examples of first hand feedback from these events.

Liz Hill will update SACRE on preparing for Ofsted.

Mrs Hill advised SACRE members that while not a statutory requirement that a Self-Evaluation Form (SEF) be completed prior to an Ofsted school inspection, it was deemed good practice to do so, and would provide evidence to support claims made by the school under the following four categories –

·         the achievement of pupils at the school;

·         quality of teaching;

·         behaviour and safety of pupils;

·         quality of leadership and management of the school.

Mrs Hill added that each category could contain evidence of spiritual, moral, social and cultural processes in the school, which the Ofsted inspection could comment on in the final report when considering also the effectiveness of the school.

The Chair advised that the Self-Evaluation Form from Hyde Park Infant School that had been circulated to members just prior to the meeting would be considered under Part II.

The Religious Education Advisor will provide an update on national and local items.

Dr Wintersgill advised that –

(a)    the report of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Education was due to be published on 28 March 2013, with an earlier press launch;

(b)  this was the first time that a report on RE had been produced for Members of Parliament, and as such it presented an excellent opportunity to address the various issues and possibly effect change.   

Agreed that the report form an agenda item at the next SACRE meeting. 

The Religious Education Advisor will update SACRE on the Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity.

The RE Adviser reminded SACRE members that a new project was being funded that would explore the diversity of faith among young people in Plymouth via the production of a dvd.

Fiona Evans proceeded to show excerpts from the dvd, although it was noted that this was only a rough cut.

The RE Adviser commented that the likely audience for the dvd was secondary school pupils and teachers, but that consideration could be given at a later date to produce a similar dvd aimed at younger pupils.

Agreed that Fiona Evans be thanked for her presentation. 

The date of the next meeting will be confirmed following confirmation of the programme of Council meetings at the Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2013. 

The Chair advised that the date of the next meeting would be circulated to SACRE members following confirmation of the programme of Council meetings at the Annual General Meeting on 17 May 2013.

Agreed that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act, as amended by the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

A Part II document was circulated to members shortly before the meeting.

Agreed that Mrs Hill be thanked for her presentation.