Venue: Virtual Meeting - Zoom
Contact: Einir Rh Davies 01286 679868
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QUIET REFLECTION OR PRAYER Quiet Reflection or Prayer Minutes: The meeting was opened with some words from Councillor
Menna Baines and an opportunity for reflection.
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ELECT CHAIR To Elect a Chair for this Committee for 2023/2024 Decision: To re-elect Councillor Menna Baines
as Chair of this Committee for the 2023/24 period. Minutes: Councillor Menna Baines was re-elected as Chair of the
Committee for the 2023/2024 period |
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ELECT VICE-CHAIR To Elect a Vice-Chair for this Committee for 2023/2024 Decision: To re-elect Councillor Meryl Roberts
as Vice-chair of this Committee for the 2023/24 period Minutes: Councillor Meryl Roberts was re-elected as Vice-chair of
the Committee for the 2023/2024 period |
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APOLOGIES To Receive any Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies were
received from Councillors Elin Walker
Jones, John P Roberts, Angela Russell,
Beca Brown and Eirian Bradley-Roberts (The Catholic
Church) |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To Receive any Declaration of Personal Interest Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received. |
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URGENT MATTERS To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration Minutes: No urgent items were received. |
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MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING PDF 36 KB The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous
meeting of this committee held on the 14th March, 2023 be signed as a true
record Minutes: RESOLVED to accept the minutes of a meeting of this Committee held on 14 March 2023 as a true
record, and they were signed by the Chair. |
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DRAFT SACRE ANNUAL REPORT 2021-2022 PDF 479 KB To consider the Draft SACRE Annual Report for 2021 - 2022 Decision: Accept the Draft SACRE Annual Report 2021-2022 subject to revising 3.1 to include a reference to the Cabinet's decision in 2019 to adapt the constitution to expand the representation of religions on SACRE and to reflect the changes in the names of Teachers' Unions. Minutes: Thanks was expressed for the draft report, and the following was noted: 3.1 – Membership - addition of the details of the Cabinet decision (2019
meeting) to amend the constitution to extend representation of other religions
as this was an important constitutional addition, and check the names of the
Teaching Unions Attention was drawn to a typing error in the English version, and the use
of the term "Determination" in the Report. It was confirmed that
"Determination" was used in relation to collective worship, which was
broadly a Christian service, although it could vary from school to school, but
no schools had requested to vary this during the period of the Report It was confirmed that Cyngor Gwynedd's Cabinet had accepted Welsh
Government Guidelines as an agreed Syllabus in a previous meeting, but that
Gwynedd needed to create its own Plan, based on the Guidelines. Once the Plan
was approved by SACRE it became the Final Plan.
It was noted that it was hoped that schools had the essential resources,
especially in Welsh, in order for the Plan to succeed. The Group approved the Annual Report, subject to the above additions. RESOLVED: To accept the Draft
SACRE Annual Report
2021-2022 subject to Revising 3.1 to include a reference
to the Cabinet's decision in 2019 to amend the constitution to expand the representation of religions on SACRE and to reflect the changes in the names of Teaching Unions. |
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UPDATE : PRESENT COLLECTIVE WORSHIP GUIDELINES An Update on the Present Collective Worship Guidelines
that were discussed in the previous meeting Decision: It was not possible
to receive enough nominations to establish a Working Party to update the Current Collective Worship Guidelines (in accordance with the decision in the SACRE meeting on 14 March, 2023). As a result it was decided to accept Reverend Nick Sissons offer to look
into the guidelines and report back at the next meeting. Another name was put forward
to undertake the work jointly, but said
member was not present. Minutes: The Chair referred
to a discussion held on the guidance at the previous meeting, when it was concluded that it required updating as it only referred to Christianity, and that the language was no longer inclusive.
At the meeting, SACRE agreed
to form a Working Group to examine the existing Guidance. It was reported that, despite a request, only two
names had been proposed for this
task, and consequently the Working Group had not been convened, and nobody had been appointed to lead this work. It was reported there
were relatively frequent requests for the document, although it was dated, and it was
not considered to be a live
document. It
was noted that the Legislation remained the same, that it was the language of the document that had dated, and that information about religions apart from Christianity
needed to be added. Reverend Nick Sissons offered
to examine the document and
to contact the other Member who had volunteered for the task, and report back with initial
ideas at the next meeting. An enquiry was made about whether
it would be possible to contact experts in this field,
outside SACRE, to provide input to this work? RESOLVED: To accept Reverend Sissons' offer to
examine the guidelines and report back at the next meeting. As another name had been proposed at the last meeting to sit on the Working
Group, it was agreed to contact
that Member as she was not present. |
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SPECIALIST SUPPORT TO THE SACRE A
discussion on the Specialist Support to the SACRE Decision: Following an update from
the Head of Education, the committee decided to give their seal
of approval for the Head to discuss the possibility of commissioning specialist support for the SACRE through GwE, and to
move the matter forward as soon as possible. Minutes: Everyone was reminded that the GwE Officer's specialist support had been withdrawn in 2018, which had been a source of concern and had highlighted a lack of expertise in this field. The Head of the Education
Department reported that he had been
seeking a resolution and that he was now
in discussions regarding the possibility of commissioning specialist support for SACRE through GwE, in order to make
progress, subject to GwE's approval. RESOLVED: To give approval for
the Head of Education Department to discuss the possibility of commissioning specialist support for the SACRE through GwE, and to
progress the matter as soon as possible. |
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ii. New
Professional Learning Opportunities for Religion, Values and Ethics iii. Qualifications Wales Consultation: The Full 14-16 Qualifications Offer iv. WASACRE Meetings :
19 June 2023 v. Results of the WASACRE Executive
Elections Additional documents:
Decision: The correspondence
was accepted whilst noting i. Guidelines for Visiting Schools
: a very comprehensive and useful document ii. New Professional Teaching
Opportunities for Religion, Values and Ethics : ask GwE to hold a discussion
regarding the new model and its suitability for giving Religion, Values and
Ethics the due attention, whilst considering the provision of resources through
the medium of Welsh. It was also
decided to write a letter regarding the provision of Welsh Language Resources (to
ensure that they'll be available the same time as the English resources) in the
name of SACRE, the Head of Education and
the Cabinet Member for Education to WJEC's Chief Executive, Head of WJEC
Resource Department, The Education Minister and the Welsh Subcommittee iii. WASACRE Draft Minutes 21 March, 2023 : note
from the papers that WASACRE has work to update a number of documents such as
the Joining SACRE Booklet to do in due course iv. Qualifications Wales Consultation: support
the WASACREs response Minutes: It was noted that the Guidelines for Visiting Schools was a very comprehensive and useful document. In relation
to the New Professional Teaching
Opportunities for Religion, Values and Ethics, it was noted that it was desirable for the English and Welsh language
materials to arrive at the same time. The Head of the Education Department reported that this was an
important step, and that
SACRE had an important contribution to make, and that there were
many opportunities to teach Religious Education within the humanities. He also referred to a presentation by Lea Crimes on curriculum
development, which was a good example of how to develop the curriculum. It
was noted that different presentation methods must be offered, by focusing on initial teacher
training, and that it was crucial to keep an eye on
the situation.
The need to consider
what would happen with GCSE was noted. There may be more than one platform to voice an opinion. It was felt that
it would be beneficial to ask GwE to hold a discussion regarding the new model and its suitability for giving Religion, Values and Ethics due attention, whilst considering the provision of resources through the medium of Welsh. It
was also decided to write a letter regarding the provision of Welsh Language Resources (to ensure that they
were available the same time as the English resources) in the name of SACRE, the Head of Education and the Cabinet Member for Education to the WJEC, the Education Minister and the Welsh Sub-committee. It was noted that it may
be possible in due course to use
the force of the words in the White Paper as a further opportunity to voice an opinion. In relation to WASACRE Draft Minutes 21 March, 2023 and the relevant
papers, it was reported that WASACRE had work to update a number of documents, including changing the format of reports as the guidance had dated. In relation to the Qualifications Wales Consultation: The Full Proposal of Qualifications 14-16,
it was confirmed that
WASACRE had submitted strong
arguments, and had received
the support of SACRE. RESOLVED: i. Guidelines for Visiting
Schools : a very comprehensive and useful document ii. New Professional
Teaching Opportunities for Religion, Values
and Ethics : ask GwE to hold a discussion regarding the new model and its suitability for giving Religion,
Values and Ethics due attention, whilst considering the provision of resources through the medium of Welsh. It
was also decided to write a letter regarding the provision of Welsh Language Resources (to ensure that they
would be available the same time as the English resources) in the name of SACRE, the Head of Education and the Cabinet Member for Education to WJEC's Chief Executive,
Head of WJEC Resource Department,
the Education Minister and
the Welsh Sub-committee iii. Draft Minutes: note that ... view the full minutes text for item 11. |