Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:  To note that apologies for absence had been received from Mrs Abbott, Mr Aggarwal, Reverend Pothen, and Mr Singh-Kohli who subsequently joined the meeting for the last item.

In order to be quorate the meeting required a representative from the Church of England.  Pat Stevens had been given authority by the Harrow Deanery Synodto represent them if absences made this necessary.

RESOLVED: That Pat Stevens represent the Church of England at this meeting.

RESOLVED: To note (1) the following interests declared by Council Members:

(2) the following personal interests declared by non-Council members:

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 20 September 2006be taken as read and signed as a correct record subject to the following amendments:

Minute 35 – Dates and Venues for the Next Meetings

Amend the spelling of Sikh

Cllrs Asante and Champagnie, Pat Stevens

Councillor Champagnie envisaged an open day with displays at the Harrow Civic Centre to which other London SACREs would be invited.

RESOLVED:  That Councillors Ms Nana Asante and Mrs Lurline Champagnie and Pat Stevens meet at the beginning of January 2007 to discuss the open day.

Paddy O'Dwyer and Pat Stevens

Paddy O’Dwyer and Pat Stevens tabled a brief paper outlining ideas for the proposed showcase.  Suggestions included an overview of Harrow’s range of beliefs and philosophies, with photographs and statistical material; information about the role of Harrow SACRE; samples of the Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education; sample primary and secondary lessons for Councillors, taken by the SACRE teacher members; and a question and answer session.  It was also suggested that there be a presentation of children’s work.

RESOLVED:  To note that members were requested to forward any further ideas to Paddy O’Dwyer who would continue to work on this project with Pat Stevens. 

Pat Stevens

Pat Stevens reported that Elisa Santana from Nkanda and the Harrow Refugee Forum and Baldev Sharma from the Harrow Anti Racism Alliance had been appointed Chair and Vice-Chair respectively.  She advised that a free conference was taking place on 8 December at City Hall to which Ian Blair and Tony McNulty were speaking.  A priced conference on fostering and cohesion was taking place on 17/18 January 2007.

RESOLVED:  That Pat Stevens would arrange that information about future conferences be circulated to SACRE members in special mailings.

Cllr Champagnie

Pat Stevens had received comments from the Legal Services Department on the SACRE Constitution.  It was noted that in the first line of the Constitution, the relevant section of the Education Act 1996 was 390 not 230.  Following discussion, it was agreed that it was sometimes difficult to identify bodies representing different denominations and faiths.  However it was felt appropriate to ask such bodies to nominate representatives to Group A using a nomination form.

RESOLVED:  That (1) Pat Stevens and Mike Bishop draft possible amendments to the SACRE constitution and a nomination form and look at other representation issues; and

(2) Pat Stevens to send a new draft to members before the next meeting.

Pat Stevens

It was noted that some schools were piloting the syllabus, which would be published on the Harrow website once photographs had been added.   

Introductions to the following faiths were tabled: Ba’hai, Buddhism, Humanism, Islam, Jainism, Zoroastrianism and, Sikhism.  Father Pothen was collating the submission for the Christians.  Mrs Niru Desai was working on an introduction to Hinduism, which would be ready by the first week in January.  Pat Stevens had written to the Board of Deputies asking for an introduction to the Jewish faith and also for a nomination of a member of SACRE as the current members had not attended for some time.  She expected a contribution from the Rastafarian member by the beginning of January.

Working parties were working on the schemes of work, which were being piloted in schools.  Some children would be starting projects in Year 7 and continuing the work in Year 8, thereby contributing towards a smooth transition from primary to secondary school. 

Pat Stevens tabled the SACRE budget business plan and monitoring form for 2006/07.  This stated that ‘We had hoped to print the Agreed Syllabus during 2006/07 as an extra item. The Harrow Council Communications Department has estimated a cost of £1120 for 200 copies for which the folders have already been purchased.  If this were possible, the additional funding would be appreciated to complete the Agreed Syllabus publication. If not, we will finalise the design for downloading on the LGfL website and include the printing costs in the 2007-08 SACRE business plan.”  It was hoped that a grant might be available to pay for the printing costs.

RESOLVED:  That (1) Pat Stevens give the remaining faiths a deadline and draft an introduction herself if nothing was forthcoming from the outstanding faith groups;

(2) members report any errors in the introductions to Pat Stevens;

(3) Mr Baig forward corrections on the Muslim entry to Pat Stevens;

(4) in the Buddhism entry the spelling of Myanmar be corrected; and

(5) Pat Stevens liaise with the Democratic Services Manager regarding next year’s financial allocation. 

Cllr Champagnie and Pat Stevens

Pat Stevens and Paddy O’Dwyer considered that the Baha’i materials which Dr Stephen Vickers had brought to the last SACRE meeting were of a very good quality and suitable for schools, especially for Year 7 children who studied the Baha’I faith as part of the curriculum.  There was very little existing material.

There was discussion about funding for faith packs.  Money had been provided by the Council for Muslim and Hindu packs for schools but it was not clear from which budget the money had been spent.  It was noted that schools had RE Curriculum budgets which were unlikely to cover the cost of packs.  

RESOLVED:  To note that (1) the Council members would establish where the money for the Muslim and Hindu packs had come from and pass this information through the Chair for onward transmission to the rest of the Committee;

(2)  Pat Stevens and Councillor Mrs Lurline Champagnie would also look at funding for the Baha’i packs and packs about other faiths which were yet to be produced.

Alison Stowe

Mrs Stowe gave a talk about collective worship, charting Priestmead Middle School’s response to OFSTED’s comment that the school did not comply with the statutory duty to provide appropriate collective worship as set out in the School Standards and Framework Act.  The National Teacher Research Conference had funded the work she had done by providing supply teacher cover.

RESOLVED:  That Susan Bole send Mike Bishop, who had left the meeting, a copy of Mrs Stowe’s hand out about Collective Worship.

Pat Stevens

A revised list of religious festivals between September 2006 and July 2007 was tabled. 

Schools had asked SACRE for advice on the religious needs of pupils in diverse areas such as PE, music, dress and food.  Mrs Stowe explained that she was about to apply for funding with the National Teacher Research Conference to do a project on the sorts of issues which schools were raising.  If she obtained funding she would meet with faith group leaders in order to formulate guidance for Priestmead Middle School.

RESOLVED:  To note that (1) on the festival days listed, pupils may, at the Headteacher’s discretion, be permitted authorised absence as appropriate for religious observance; and

(2) if the project was given funding, Alison Stowe would share her findings with SACRE.  The members would then evaluate them along with the groups they represented and, on making any appropriate adjustments, make the literature available to all schools in the Borough. 

Pat Stevens

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no determinations to report.

Pat Stevens

Pat Stevens reported that the Harrow Interfaith Council was organising a young people’s conference at Hatch End High School on 15 February 2007 and members were invited to take part and facilitate workshops. Eid-ul-Adha celebrations to be held on 6 January 2007 were announced.  

RESOLVED:  To note that members should contact Pat Stevens if they wanted to attend the conference.  

Thursday 8 March 2007 (time to be confirmed) – expected to be at:

Brent Sikh Centre, 241 Stag Lane, Kingsbury, London NW9 0ES

Telephone 020 8206 1231

Members had enjoyed seeing around the Zoroastrian Centre, which had been sensitively converted from a cinema.  The priest, Evad Rustam Bhedwar had conducted a short time of meditation, then members had been shown the fire room before starting the formal part of the meeting.   

There was some discussion about the practice of SACRE meetings taking place outside the Civic Centre.  It had been hoped that the next meeting could take place at the Sikh Centre in Kingsbury or the one in Southall.  However, although DfES deemed it to be good practice for SACRE members to visit different places of worship, Harrow Legal Services had concerns that there might be legal implications to holding SACRE meetings away from the Civic Centre, especially if the venue was outside the Borough.   

Councillor Mrs Lurline Champagnie agreed to investigate further in relation to acceptable venues for the meeting scheduled to be held on 8 March 2007.  If it was agreed that the Committee could meet at a venue within the Borough, Councillor Mrs Lurline Champagnie would liaise with Pam Wearing to establish if the March 2007 meeting could take place at St John Fisher church in Imperial Way, Rayners Lane.  A committee room at the Civic Centre would be used if necessary. 

RESOLVED:  That the above be noted and that members be notified of the time and location of the March meeting when it had been confirmed.