Agenda and minutes
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No. | Item |
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PRAYER Additional documents: Minutes: The
meeting commenced with a prayer from
Councillor Selwyn Griffiths. |
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ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIRMAN To elect a
Vice-chairman for this Committee for 2016/17. Additional documents: Minutes: Resolved: To re-elect Councillor Gweno Glyn as vice-chair of this Committee for the year 2016/17. |
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APOLOGIES To receive
apologies for absence. Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Cllrs Jean Forsyth, Eirian Bradley Roberts (The Catholic Church), Cathryn Davey (Teachers
Union) and Mai Bere (Assistant
Education Quality Improvement Officer. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive
any declaration of personal interest. Additional documents: Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received from
any members present. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any
items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for
consideration. Additional documents: Minutes: There were
no urgent items. |
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The
Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of SACRE held on 15 June
2016 be signed as a true copy. (Copy
enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 15 June 2016, as a true record. |
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GWYNEDD SACRE'S DRAFT ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16 PDF 742 KB To consider
a draft annual report for 2015/16 prior to publishing a final copy. (Copy
enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: The Gwynedd SACRE Draft
Annual Report for the 2015/16 academic year was submitted for the members’ approval, prior to the publication
of the final report. (A) Miss Bethan James explained
that the purpose of the Annual Report was to summarise the work undertaken by SACRE over the previous year, and the importance
of bringing the recommendations
in the report to the Cabinet’s attention. Members were guided through
the report and the following main points were highlighted: (i)
Self-evaluations - Gwynedd SACRE
was commended for its arrangement of receiving self evaluations by schools, and improvement
was seen in the quality of self-evaluations. It was also noted
that schools were appreciated for completing them. The number of self-evaluations received over five
years was noted, and between eight
and 14 were able to be scrutinised annually in Gwynedd. The Committee was reminded that agreement had been reached to name the schools. Reference was made to the issues that received
attention. (ii)
Teachers' assessments - the Committee's attention was drawn to the recommendations
and it was noted that GCSE and A Level specifications
were available on the WJEC website. It must be ensured
that schools gain access to the subject guidelines of the WJEC examination board. (iii)
In response to a member's enquiry with regard to raising the standard of results among boys,
it was noted that the data did not reflect the
nature of the cohort in every school. It was agreed that the recommendations for Gwynedd
Council needed to include a
reference to closing the
gap between boys and girls. It was further noted that
the AS material appealed
more to boys. (iv)
The ESTYN review reports were referred
to, noting that unerringly in Gwynedd there was some reference to Religious Education and collective
worship. In terms of Collective
Worship this was acknowledged to be generally good and very
good at some schools. It was noted that
some schools collaborated well with local Chapels and
Churches as pupils learnt about
religion in the local area. During the ensuing discussion, Members were of the opinion that the table at point 2.3.3 should be removed and a letter sent to ESTYN to ensure correct use of terms with
regard to collective worship, noting that they welcomed
the references to the partnership
work undertaken between schools and religious groups.
It was further recommended that it would be beneficial
to add a question to the self-evaluation form so that schools
could note the partnership work undertaken with religious groups. (v)
From a collective worship standpoint, it was hoped that
SACRE members would be invited to schools to participate in collective worshipping sessions. It was noted that
approximately three quarters of Môn SACRE members had
attended sessions and had conducted useful discussion sessions at the SACRE meeting. Resolved: (a) To accept, note and give thanks for ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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To consider
a questionnaire for SACRE members when they visit a school’s collective worship
session. (Copy
enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: A questionnaire that was trialled by Môn SACRE members whilst attending collective worship sessions at schools was submitted. Members were asked whether
they would be prepared to attend sessions at schools in Gwynedd and whether they would
be happy to trial this. It was emphasised that schools would
not need to prepare specifically for visits by SACRE Members. In response, individual Members made the following observations: · That the preferred option would be for schools
to invite SACRE Members to
a session, be it a period of time during class or
a collective session. ·
That there was a very good relationship
between schools and the chapel in some villages and
Ysgol Bro Hedd Wyn, Trawsfynydd and Ysgol Cefn Coch,
Penrhyndeudraeth were referred
to specifically.
Resolved: The Assistant Education Officer was asked, in conjunction with the GwE Challenge Consultant, to ask schools to invite SACRE Members to |
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WALES ASSOCIATION OF SACRE PDF 380 KB (a) To receive minutes of the Wales
SACRE Association’s meeting held on the 23 June 2016 in Rhyl. (Copy enclosed) (b) To note that the next meetings of
the above Association will be held as follows: ·
18
November 2016 in Carmarthenshire ·
3 March 2017 in Usk,
Monmouthshire Additional documents: Minutes: (a) Minutes of the previous meeting The draft minutes of the previous Association meeting, held on 23 June
2016 in Rhyl, were submitted. The GwE Challenge Advisor drew attention to the lack of SACREs members'
attendance and members were urged to attend if able. A member noted that the minutes were not bilingual and that word should
be sent to the Association noting that the translation process needed to be
speeded up so that they could be submitted bilingually as part of the Gwynedd
SACRE Agenda. The GwE Challenge Advisor referred to the main issues discussed at the
above meeting: ·
Religious Education and its
place in the new curriculum ·
Guidelines on Managing the
Religious Education Exemption Rule provided by Gill Vaisey Resolved: To
accept and note the above. (b) To note that the next Association meetings would he held on: ·
18 November 2016 in
Carmarthen ·
3 March 2017 at Usk, Monmouthshire Resolved: To
accept and note the above. |
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UP-DATE REPORT BY GwE CHALLENGE ADVISER To receive
a verbal up-date report by the GwE Challenge Adviser on the following matters: (a) Curriculum for Wales (b) Support to the new GCSE Additional documents: Minutes: Reported: (a) That the Region had identified lead Religious
Education teachers who would work with teachers in Gwynedd and Anglesey to
prepare a new GCSE specification. (b) With regard to the new Curriculum, no guidance had been given to date but
officers had begun the preparatory work so that the principles
and local leadership of "What constitutes good religious education" can be submitted. Resolved: To accept, note and
thank the GwE Challenge Advisor for her work noting that her guidance was very
valuable to SACRE members. |