Agenda and draft minutes

The meeting was opened with a prayer from Councillor Menna Baines.

To receive any apologies.

Apologies were received from:

•           Councillor Dewi Jones (Cabinet Member for Education)

•           Nick Sissons (The Methodist Church)

•           Joanna Thomas (The Church in Wales)

•           Eurfryn Davies (The Baptist Union of Wales)

•           Bethan Davies Jones (The Union of Welsh Independents)

•           Gwern ap Rhisiart (Head of Education)

•           Gwawr Maelor Williams (Presbyterian Church of Wales)

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

None to note.

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

None to note.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on the 24th June, 2025 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 24 June 2025, as a true record.

None to note.

To receive Gwynedd SAC(RE)’s Annual Report for 2024-25.

It was RESOLVED to accept the Annual Report 2024-25.

To discuss how best SAC can support its schools

                                                              i.      Promotion of SAC(RE)

                                                             ii.      Developement of Religion, Values and Ethics

                                                           iii.      Developement of Collective Worship

The item was presented by Phil Lord (Independent Adviser), highlighting the following key points:

-        It was suggested that the SACRE should create a development plan with around three objectives to support its work and to be able to provide an end-of year report against those objectives.

-        It was suggested to prioritise the following three objectives: developing the effectiveness of SACRE and promoting SACRE within schools; monitoring and supporting the provision of RE and Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) in Local Authority schools; and monitoring and supporting the provision of collective worship and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development in the Authority's schools.

-        It was suggested that a newsletter be created to send to schools to promote elements such as the RVE playlist by the Welsh Government, EFTRE and WASACRE.

-        The importance of having a dialogue with schools was emphasised to ensure that the SACRE was aware of what was happening within the county's schools, and that schools were aware of what was being discussed at SACRE meetings.

-        It was emphasised that there was concern about the capacity to achieve everything suggested, but that there was a need to continue to be ambitious.

He was thanked for the presentation.

It was noted that the suggestion of creating a newsletter to be shared amongst schools was useful. It was suggested that a newsletter be provided following each SACRE meeting to raise schools' awareness of what was presented and discussed within the meeting. It was noted that links could be included within the newsletter to teaching materials that had been highlighted within the discussions. The committee emphasised the importance of ensuring that the newsletter was in a format suitable for a school audience.

Views were expressed that the link between the SACRE and schools had weakened, and therefore any future approach to strengthening this link was welcomed. It was noted that the committee was not aware of what was happening within schools as school self-assessment reports had not been received. It was asked whether these self-assessment reports could be obtained, and a further question was asked as to whether contact could be established by visiting schools. The committee emphasised the importance of understanding what schools would find useful in order to prioritise the committee's work moving forward.

It was noted that one governor in Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen took responsibility for looking at one subject, and if this was common practice in all secondary schools, then it was suggested that we made contact to send resources to them and to receive an annual report from them. There was agreement with this suggestion, noting the importance of not forgetting primary schools within the process. It was emphasised that it was not realistic to receive a report from every school, but that it would be possible to receive reports from enough schools to give a realistic picture of what was happening in the county's schools.

The Independent Adviser noted that there was a list of questions available for governors to use  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To introduce Joanna Thomas.

It was resolved to defer the item until the next meeting.

To receive a presentation on the support provided to schools and governors regarding Religion, Values and Ethics.

• Repository - Hwb

The item was presented by Phil Lord (Independent Adviser), highlighting the following key points:

-        That the Welsh Government had been commissioned through WASACRE to support schools with transferring to the new curriculum.

-        The resources highlighted the differences between RVE and Religious Education.

-        There were six modules within the resources, namely: Early Years, Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Additional Learning Needs (ALN), Headteachers and Governors.

-        The sixth module was new and available specifically for governors.

-        There were strong examples available on how to use the content of the resources in the classroom.

-        The module for headteachers included a list highlighting the implications of the changes in the curriculum for them, especially in regard to the fact that parents no longer had the right to withdraw their children from learning about RVE.

-        The implications of the curriculum changes on staffing were also highlighted, as teachers no longer had the right to withdraw themselves from teaching RVE.

-        There were practical elements within every module.

-        It was suggested that a short presentation of about 10 minutes be given on the playlist in governors' meetings to make them aware of the resource available.

He was thanked for the presentation, noting that the resource was valuable for the county's schools.

To consider supporting schools with an exemplar RVE and Collective Worship Policies.

The item was presented by Phil Lord (Independent Adviser), highlighting the following key points:

-        That schools were expressing concern about parents wanting to withdraw their children from RVE lessons because they didn't want their children to be learning about different religions.

-        That having a policy was useful in those instances where parents insisted on withdrawing their children from RVE lessons, as the policy explained the intentions and objectives of RVE lessons, such as fostering understanding, tolerance and highlighting the wide range of religions that exist in Wales.

-        That such a policy offered protection to schools.

-        That the collective worship policy provided a foundation for schools and parents to hold discussions about the objectives of collective worship.

-        That the collective worship policy was specifically for the county's schools.

-        That a definition of collective worship was included in the draft policy, namely: “Time for the school body (as a whole or in smaller groups) to meet and reflect on the values that the school considers important. Many of these values will be based (but not solely) on the Christian tradition.”

-        That the collective worship policy was quite comprehensive, and that the RVE policy was more basic.

-        That a list of evaluation questions was available for inclusion as an appendix to the collective worship policy, if desired.

He was thanked for the presentation.

It was noted that the schools' intranet was being used to disseminate policy templates. It was noted that the county's collective worship policy was now outdated, and that it had been identified as a policy that needed to be updated. The view was expressed that the creation of a new collective worship policy would be useful for schools. It was noted that the next step, if the committee approved the request, would be to share the policy internally within the department to secure an agreement that it could be shared with the schools as the authority's official template.

Support was expressed for both policies to be used as the authority's official templates. It was emphasised that the RVE policy explained to parents why they no longer had the right to withdraw their children from learning about RVE, and the benefits of the new curriculum for their children. The view was expressed that these policies would be an important tool for schools moving forward.

The committee agreed to revisit the item at the next meeting for approval.

To submit a verbal report from the recent EFTRE Conference held in Budapest.

·       www.EFTRE.net

The item was presented by Phil Lord (Independent Adviser), reporting on his experience at the EFTRE Conference 2025. During the discussions, the following main points were highlighted:

-        That Religious Education tended to be confessional in most European countries.

-        Even in a country like Germany, the church had a fundamental presence within Religious Education for the majority of learners, depending on the particular area.

-        That Scandinavian countries were more similar to Wales in terms of their Religious Education provision than the rest of Europe, but with a greater emphasis on knowledge rather than discussion.

-        That 60 delegates had attended the conference in Hungary from all over Europe.

-        That the first presentation attended focused on the topic of questioning, encouraging teachers to promote more questioning within lessons.

-        That the second presentation focused on actual questions, emphasizing that children had lost some of the vocabulary to discuss actual issues such as war and the pandemic, as such questions were being asked less often within society.

-        That the third presentation was about the relationship between Judaism and Islam.

-        That a bid had been submitted to host the EFTRE Conference 2026 in Cardiff.

To receive the minutes of the last meeting of the Association on 2nd July 2025.

FYI: Next WASACRE meeting – 19th November 2025 is being hosted virtually by Vale of Glamorgan.

The minutes of the Association's last meeting held on 2 July 2025 were accepted.