Agenda and minutes

Quiet reflection or prayer.

Cllr. Dewi Roberts, Cllr. Elin Walker Jones, Heledd Jones (Teachers Unions), Anest G Frazer (Church in Wales), Cathryn Davey (UCAC), Edward Pari-Jones (Humanists) 

There were no declarations of personal interest.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this

committee held on the 12 June 2019 be signed as a true record and discuss any matters arising.

The Chair signed the minutes of a meeting of this Committee held on 12 June 2019, as a true record subject to the following amendments:

Present - need to record the attendance of Councillor Mike Stevens.

Item 8 - the term ‘ymddiswyddiadau’ (resignations) was used - this needed to be amended to ‘diswyddiadau’ (redundancies)

In the minute 'Kirsty Williams Letter of Response' it suggested that a letter should be written to Kirsty Williams - it was noted that the minute was unclear and the decision was to write to Kirsty Williams and Siân Gwenllian as an Assembly Member.

Welsh Government are consulting on proposals to ensure access to the full curriculum for all learners. In this proposal Welsh Government are seeking views on

• the right to withdraw from RE (and RSE)
• a change of name for RE

The Minister is ‘minded’ to remove the parental right to withdraw from RE and RSE and to change the name of RE to Religions and Worldviews.

Mair Huws led the discussion on the Council's response to the consultation document and the following general points were noted prior to responding to the specific questions:-  

It was wrong to prevent parents from doing anything

On the other hand, parents should not be given the choice and the right should be withdrawn from them.

It was important for children to get a full and balanced education.

It was difficult to understand why parents would want to refuse for their children to study the subject.

The subject has great value as it is a subject that touches upon so many other subjects. 

The subject needs to be treated equally, like other subjects - i.e. there is no option to opt out of other subjects.

Would it perhaps be of assistance if the subject's name was changed?   Aren't children losing out if they do not attend these lessons?

It was noted that it would be interesting to get the figures showing how many parents had withdrawn their children from the subject in Gwynedd.

Reference was made to those children who are home educated and it was questioned if they receive religious education lessons?   It was suggested that perhaps it would be possible for SACRE to produce a package or reading list for them.   Mair Huws noted that she would ask the Department and would make arrangements for the matter to be discussed at a future meeting.

A vote was taken on this matter and it was agreed, that SACRE was in favour of withdrawing the right to opt out.   It was agreed that Mair Huws would include the above observations when responding to the following questions:

Question 1 - What would be the implications on learners, parents/carers and schools if all learners had to take Religious Education and/or Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) lessons in the new curriculum?

It was noted that parents had the right to withdraw their children from other matters, but also pupils had their own rights.   It was noted that it was a difficult, but interesting discussion.   It was important not to ignore parents' rights, but it was questioned why attention had been drawn to this particular subject.   It was noted that there were no implications for parents or children as it was currently statutory.   One implication may be more Home schooling?

Question 2 - What information, help and support would be needed if this approach was adopted?

It was noted that parents would require background information and headteachers would require a package.   It was noted that with all the changes happening in the area of Humanities and Health Education, a great deal of support was required generally by schools.

Question 3 - Our proposal is that parents/carers should not be able to prevent their children from receiving Religious Education and Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) lessons.  This will be introduced from September 2022 onwards for all primary aged learners and in Year 7 in secondary schoolS (with other year groups added every year).  

See above.

Question  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

a.    Verbal report by Glenda Evans, Head of Ysgol Brynaerau

b.    To receive, for information, the monitoring form in respect of schools’ self-evaluation for the Summer to Autumn 2019 period. (Copy enclosed)

c.    To present a summary of the schools’ self-evaluation

The report was accepted.

Resolved: to write to the schools to congratulate them and to send another invitation to Glenda Evans to attend the next meeting. 

To present the number of Religious Education lessons in Key Stage 3 and 4 following a discussion on mater in previous meeting.

The report was submitted and it was noted that there was a variation and differences from school to school.   It was noted that it would be interesting to compare the results against the time given to pupils.

         Resolved to contact the schools again to ask for an analysis of the figures.   It was noted that if this was a baseline then it was necessary for it to be totally correct.  

For information

The draft minutes of the previous Association meeting, held on 28 June 2019, were submitted.

Resolved:        To accept and note the contents of the minutes.

The meeting commenced at 2:00 pm and concluded at 3:20 pm.