Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially Alexis Sobbel from Stag Lane Middle School, who was attending in order to make a presentation about her school’s SEF (Self Evaluation Form).

RESOLVED: To note apologies for absence from Mrs Martha Besser, Mrs Niru Desai, VenSumana Sramaner, Mrs Beverley Wilson, Cllr Asad Omar, Mrs Mary Abbott, Rev’d Matthew Stone, Ms Heena Modi, Cllr Nana Asante and Mrs Bhavita Pandya.

The following members were absent without apologies: Mr Zia Baig, Miss Fatema Rahemani, Mrs Manju Radia and Cllr Lurline Champagnie.

CllrSasi Suresh was reserving for Cllr Nana Asante;

 Cllr Camilla Barth and Cllr Nizam Ismail have joined the committee;

 Cllr Bill Philips was attending as a reserve;

 Mr Shabban Saddik has resigned from the committee;

 Anjana Patel is no longer on the committee as she is no longer a councilor.

It was agreed that the committee should seek to reinstate the student representatives, perhaps seeking students from the schools who were already working with the committee. The Chair would take this forward. Action Chair.

The committee recorded its congratulations to Cllr Asad Omar who is now Mayor of Harrow.

Some concerns were expressed that this meeting was not on the council calendar. The Clerk will liaise with Mark Doherty at the Civic Centre to ensure that future meetings are recorded.

Action: Clerk

MrsPhiroza Gan-Kotwal expressed concern at the high number of absences at the last meeting. There was some discussion as to whether members who frequently missed meetings should continue as members of the committee. It was agreed that the Chairs Committee should look into this and report back to the full committee. Action: Chairs Committee.

No nominations had been received prior to the meeting:

Doreen Samuels, seconded by Camilla Barth proposed Alison Stowe as Chair.

Elected unanimously

CllrNizam Ismail seconded by Nancy Parsons proposed Camilla Barth as Vice-Chair.

Elected unanimously

It was agreed to take item 7 first so that Alexis Sobell could then leave the meeting.  However, for clarity, the minutes follow the original order of the agenda.

5.     Matters arising from the minutes

       Website: very little progress has been made on the website

6.      SACRE Monitoring Standards and Quality of provision for RE in Harrow Schools

         a) Philosophy and Ethics review report

     Nancy Parsons, who had not been present at the last meeting, expressed concern that RE at A Level was being rebranded and “philosophy and ethics”. Rachel Bowerman welcomed this comment and drew the committee’s attention to p4 of the minutes (vi. Curriculum) where she has made exactly this point.  It is important that RE is promoted and shown to relevant to those who do not hold religious beliefs and taught in a way that makes it popular with students, interactive and exciting.

 8.     Determinations: Rachel Bowerman has written to Vaughan First and Middle School confirming its determination. She has also written to those schools that had been advised by Pat Stevens that they needed to renew their determinations, to inform them that no action was required, they should continue as they are and await new guidance from SACRE.

10.   Any Other business:

a) Park High Visitors: the Chair had written a letter of thanks to the Park High visitors for   their presentation.

Business Items: Improving standards in religious education and collective worship

8. SACRE Monitoring Standards and Quality of Provision for RE in Harrow Schools 

Rachel Bowerman introduced this item explaining that this is the sort of presentation that enables SACRE to fulfil its duties to monitor the quality of RE. The report from Park High School in the Spring Term had been very informative and successful. The Committee had agreed to develop this process through consultation with schools and to invite school representatives to SACRE meetings wherever possible. This evening, Alexis Sobbel from Stag Lane Middle School was going to report using the school RE SEF. Rachel Bowerman explained that this document was, in effect, a confidential document. The Committee was privileged to share this report. She asked the committee to respect this confidentiality. Normally such a document would come to the Chairs group who would summarise it for the committee. As this was the first time the RE SEF had been used, Alison Sobell was attending the meeting to report to the full committee.

At this point (7.50pm) Phiroza Gan-Kotwal arrived.

a)     Stag Lane Middle School RE Self Evaluations Form (RE SEF) (tabled at the meeting)

The SEF is arranged under the headings used for the general school SEF. Alexis Sobbel explained the process by which the teaching of RE was evaluated. Books of pupils in years 4,5,6 and 7 were scrutinized, and lessons were observed in these year groups. The children’s work was evaluated in relation to RE level descriptors to see if they are reaching appropriate targets. There was also a meeting with children from different year groups. This element of discussion makes an important contribution to the evaluation process.

She took the committee through the RE SEF, drawing attention to the following.

Pupils’ achievement in RE and the extent to which they enjoy learning in RE

Pupils’ achievement in RE was judged to be good.

An area for development was pupils’ written work where their attainment was not as high as in core subjects.

Pupils’ behaviour in RE

Pupils’ behaviour in RE was outstanding. They demonstrated enthusiasm and thoroughly enjoyed the subject.

Every Child Matters and RE

Children were comfortable to talk about their beliefs and showed themselves to be confident learners.

The extent to which, through RE, pupils contribute to the school and wider community

Parent ambassadors and the Rev’d Matthew take part in assemblies. The children also visit different places of worship.

The extent of pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development in RE

 The children demonstrated tolerance and understanding of different religious viewpoints.

The quality of teaching in RE

Teachers enjoy teaching RE.

The extent to which the RE Curriculum delivers the requirements of the Agreed Syllabus and meets pupils’ needs

The school uses a combination of the old and new schemes of work and this delivers the requirements of the Agreed Syllabus.

The effectiveness of leadership and management in driving improvement

Various initiatives have been set up and these have contributed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Rachel Bowerman introduced this item, explaining that the report describes the findings of a survey carried out in a small sample of schools. The context is thematic rather than evaluative. The focus is on the creative curriculum, so this emerges as a theme. This report is based on inspections carried out between 2006-09 in 183 schools across 70 authorities.

Key findings: primary schools showed a slight improvement, but not enough outstanding grades. Secondary schools were generally not as good: there were more inadequate schools. A contributive factor may have been the impact of recent changes to the curriculum, making greater links between subjects resulting in less specific RE teaching.

Secondary schools demonstrate success in the numbers of pupils entering for GCSE especially for short courses.

Final Recommendations (p13)

Strength of Community Cohesion was an outcome for RE in most schools.

SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) development was also an important consequence of RE teaching. Although moral, social and cultural elements were taught strongly, the spiritual element was usually weaker. 

The report recommended a review of statutory arrangements for the delivery of a local curriculum for RE

At this point (8.45) Cllr Bill Philips arrived

Rachel Bowerman expressed doubts that a National Curriculum for RE teaching would improve RE teaching. In her view, more resources spent on training teachers, creates greater improvement. This report was written under the previous government and may not galvanise activity as its authors may have hoped.

A representative of the Teachers Associations reflected that RE is the subject with the shortest supply of specialist teachers. Cllr Camilla Barth questioned the relevance of the document in that no inner London schools were included. In outer London, only five schools were included and they were from the secondary sector.

However, it was felt that the committee could use the report as a tool to convince the new government of the importance of RE especially in the context of personal Development and Community Cohesion. It would be possible to build on what was good in the report and push hard to get it noticed and to attract as much funding as it deserves. It was felt that the report surveyed a sufficient number of schools to give a flavour of what is happening with RE. It could be a useful document for identifying good practice and for making recommendations. Those writing the report had outcomes in mind so their examples of good practice might be reflective of those desired outcomes.

It was felt that the last three bullet points on p15 could well go on SACRE’s agenda. This would enable SACRE to consider what it is doing to establish these three recommendations. Rachel Bowerman welcomed suggestions. These recommendations also linked to item 9 on the agenda and to Cllr Camilla Barth’s earlier question about SACRE’s connection with academies. 

It was suggested that SACRE should write to the DfE to draw attention to this report and ask them to maintain the high profile of RE. Harrow SACRE  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The uncertainty of the present political climate posed question marks over the future of national strategies. The QCDA could either disappear or have a lower profile. In addition there was the high profile proposal for the setting up of academies.

These changes make a difference to what can be provided. Rachel Bowerman cited an example of a course, earlier this term, which was attended by subject leaders, but had no one to lead it. The landscape is changing. The LA may have to limit its School Improvement provision for schools needing help and may no longer be able to provide the advisory team. The LA will not be able to offer the kind of support available in the past.

With regard to academies, we do not yet know how many schools will become academies. Academies do not have to use the locally agreed syllabus. There will be statutory requirements regarding RE but it is not known what they will be. This will shrink SACRE’s role as well as the LA’s. SACRE will need to consider what it can do to enable schools to find the support they need. Teachers need subject knowledge and confidence that can only be built up over time.

It was proposed that the Chairs group prepare a bid to the Council for funding for core training for schools. This will need to be done for the Autumn Term. Although it is a time of cuts, there is a high respect for SACRE. Another suggestion was made that faith communities might be approached for funding. The Chairs group will take this proposal forward and consider the various suggestions made.

Action: Chairs group

Information items: improving SACRE’s effectiveness

12. Celebrating RE month – March 2011

March 2011 has been designated as RE month – this is a national event to publicise and raise the status of RE.

After some discussion of what SACRE might contribute to this, it was suggested that the committee should offer some training opportunities for teachers in the form of visits to places of worship such as the new central mosque in Harrow, the new Hindu temple in Alperton, the Krishna Avanti school in Stanmore and the Jewish Museum in Camden town.

It was also felt that some Christian places of worship should be included.

Any suggestions should be sent to the Clerk

SACRE could compile a leaflet detailing events taking place in Harrow.

a)     Harrow Inter Faith Council: Martha Besser was not present to report to the committee

b)     Faith Communities

·         St Mary’s Church: garden party July 8

·         Sponsored floral arrangements: Gill Ross reported that her synagogue and Harrow Council have collaborated to provide floral arrangements along Hatch End Broadway. Local traders have been given watering cans.  The synagogue also has a new part time rabbi who visits from Israel and conducts educational sessions on Skype.

·         International Humanist Day: Julie Crow informed the meeting that International Humanist Day was celebrated yesterday. The whole of this week is International Humanist Week and the local humanists will be hosting a stall at the Zoom Leisure Centre next Sunday for the “Under one sky” festival. It was thought that perhaps SACRE should consider taking a stall another year.

·         Westminster Interfaith Pilgrimage will visit various places of worship with special emphasis on the Synagogue in New George Street.

c)     Harrow Hate Crime Forum

The Chair has received no communications from the Harrow Hate Crime Forum. 

a) Chairs group meeting: Rachel Bowerman will circulate some possible dates. Items for the Chairs group agenda:

RE SEFs

Action Plan arising from the HMI report

Bid for funding from the council

Membership of the committee: recruitment and maintaining good attendance

It was felt that it would be useful if other members of the committee could contact members of the chairs’ group by email. The two members of the chairs group present at the meeting had no objection to sharing their email addresses:

Gill Ross: gfross@btinternet.com

Mike Bishop:  mikebishop@talktalk.net

Other members of the Chairs group would be asked if they would allow their emails to be available to members of SACRE.

b) A Life to the world: MrsPhiroza Gan-Kotwal circulated some books for students at different stages. She invited the committee to examine these. They are resources for PHSE which had come to her attention at a Family Values meeting.

Autumn Term 2010:            Wednesday 15 September

                                                Tuesday 23 November