Agenda item

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 when questioning teachers within schools. It was suggested that this list be distributed to committee members for governors to use and to report back on the findings. It was also suggested that committee members who were also governors could trial the suggested new approach. It was further noted that it would be possible to create a report of the responses to the questions to be presented to the SACRE meetings using AI.

It was agreed that establishing contact through governors was one of the best ways forward as school headteachers were often overwhelmed by messages. A member asked whether the SACRE's annual reports were being forwarded to schools. In response, it was noted that the SACRE annual reports were being sent to schools in the county.

It was suggested that all councillors who were also governors be invited to receive the questions to ask in their own schools, and to report back on the results at a future meeting. It was noted that an official form with questions for schools already existed within the Education Department which could be adapted for this purpose.

In terms of collective worship, it was noted that several questions had been drawn up to ask schools about the provision, and that these could be shared with the members and governors. The importance of asking the right questions to the right people within the schools was emphasised. A suggestion was made to report on the committee's conclusions regarding this at a meeting in the summer. It was asked whether it was possible to be invited to attend collective worship in schools.

Several further ideas were put forward for raising awareness amongst schools and teachers of the SACRE's work and the resources available to them:

-        creating a catalogue of the available resources and including a link on the front page of the SACRE's annual report;

-        including a short section on the front page of the SACRE's annual report explaining the SACRE's work;

-        asking Gwern ap Rhisiart, Head of Education Department, to include links to RVE resources in his weekly e-mail to teachers;

-        creating a SACRE section on the intranet for school staff and teachers with links to the available resources.

It was agreed that further discussions would be necessary regarding several of the suggestions so as to decide on their practicality.