Agenda, decisions and minutes

Quiet Reflection or Prayer

The meeting was opened with a prayer from Councillor Paul Rowlinson and time was taken for

quiet meditation.

To Elect a Chair for this Committee for 2022/2023

To elect Councillor Menna Baines as Chair of this Committee for the 2022/23 period.

RESOLVED To elect Councillor Menna Baines as Chair of this Committee for the 2022/23 period.

Councillor Paul Rowlinson was thanked for his work as Chair of CYSAG over the past 

five years.

To Elect a Vice Chair for this Committee for 2022/2023

To elect Councillor Meryl Roberts as Vice-chair of this Committee for the 2022/23 period.

RESOLVED To elect Councillor Meryl Roberts as Vice-chair of this Committee for the 2022/23 period.

To Receive any Apologies for Absence

Apologies were received from Cathryn Davey, Councillor Elin Walker Jones and Gwawr M Williams.

To Receive any Declaration of Personal Interest

No declarations of personal interest were received.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration

Following the conference to discuss the above, and in order to avoid further slippage, that the Education Department prepares a report for the attention of the Cabinet as soon as possible, recommending acceptance of the two new agreed syllabus recommended by the Agreed Syllabus Conference held on the 15 February 2022.

It was apologised that it would not be possible to formally release the syllabus to Schools until the Cabinet's approval was received.

The Chair agreed to the request to discuss the above as an urgent matter.  Disappointment was noted, although the Agreed Conference had been held since 15 February, 2022, in good time for the new term, the Authority had not been able to move matters forward. Additionally, concern was noted on the lack of guidance with the next steps.  It was confirmed that advice had come to hand by now, and it appeared that it would not be possible to formally release the syllabus to Schools until the Cabinet's approval was received. The need for the report to go before the Cabinet in their meeting in September was noted, proposing to recommend accepting both agreed syllabuses.  Concern was noted that a number of schools start the new term without guidance, especially the schools that present to Year 7 in September, as the recommendation was to continue with the present one for Year 8 onwards.  It was confirmed that Estyn inspections were also re-starting and the effect of the above on the Estyn inspections was noted.

RESOLVED, following the conference to discuss the above, and in order to avoid further slippage, that the Education Department prepares a report for the attention of the Cabinet at their next meeting, recommending to accept the two agreed syllabuses recommended by the Agreed Syllabus Conference held on 15 February 2022.

Apologies were given that it would not be possible to formally release the syllabus to Schools until the Cabinet's approval was received.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meetings of this committee held on the 8th June 2021, 23rd November 2021 and 1st February 2022 be signed as a true record

RESOLVED to accept the minutes of the three meetings of this Committee held on 8 June 2021, 23 November 2021 and 1 February 2022, 10 February 2021, as a true record and they were signed by the Chair. Concern was noted that it was not possible for much of SACRE's usual activities to take place, not only due to the Covid situation, but because of the situation in terms of lack of quorum in the three previous meetings.

To Consider Increasing the Current SACRE Membership

1.    Following the work to review the SACRE Constitution in 2019, where it was added to the religions, in response to the concern that there was a number of vacant seats on SACRE, it was resolved that there was a need to ask the Cabinet to review Membership once again.

2.    To prepare a report to the Cabinet, recommending to adapt the Constitution to include five education seats, to include the Main Unions and representatives from GYDGA and GCSU.

3.    To ask again for Members to represent The Methodist Church and The Independents, and the other religions that have yet to nominate representatives. 

It was confirmed that there were a number of vacant seats on SACRE although invitations had been extended to the denominations, following revisiting the Constitution in 2019. The need to revisit the Constitution further was highlighted in terms of the teacher representative vacant seats.  It was confirmed, as a result of uniting unions and the increasing number of members in the three main Unions by now, that five teachers’ seats needed to be filled in accordance with the Constitution.  It was suggested that it may be beneficial to offer a seat to each of the three main union representatives, as well as seeking a PSCACG and GCSU representative.  It was agreed that this was a good way of filling the seats, and a way of encouraging good collaboration between Unions, the secondary sector representative and the primary sector representative. 

In terms of the religious names, it was noted that the Cabinet had decided to extend the representatives to include Jews and Muslims, and although it appeared that officers had tried to get representatives, they had not succeeded, but the need to continue to seek representatives was noted.

RESOLVED: 

1.     Following the work to review the SACRE Constitution in 2019, where it was added to the religions, in response to the concern that there were a number of vacant seats on SACRE, it was resolved that there was a need to ask the Cabinet to review Membership once again.

2.     To prepare a report to the Cabinet, recommending to adapt the Constitution to include five education seats, to include the Main Unions and representatives from PSCACG and GCSU.

3.     To ask again for Members to represent The Methodist Church and The Independents, and the other religions that have not yet nominated a representative.

To Accept the SACRE Annual Report for 2020 - 2021

To accept the report, and agree to revisit the Religious Education Questionnaire that

is distributed to schools, and update it for the current period.

RESOLVED To accept the report, and agree to revisit the Religious Education Questionnaire

that is distributed to schools, considering its suitability in its present form.

To note the communications received from WASACRE :

Update : Agreed Syllabus Conferences 2022

FAQs : Agreed Syllabus Conferences 2022

The correspondence was accepted

RESOLVED to accept the correspondence.

                        The meeting commenced at 3.30pm and concluded at 4.20pm.

CHAIR.