To receive a presentation by Kirsty Williams, the Church in Wales in her capacity as the Children, Youth and Families Ministry Enabler for the Church in Wales.
Minutes:
Kirsty Williams made a presentation to the SACRE in her capacity as the Children, Youth and Families Ministry Enabler for the Church in Wales and tabled a report which provided a summary of the ideas presented. In her presentation Ms Williams suggested the following as ways in which the Church in Wales might be able to offer practical support for schools in RE –
• Facilitating training sessions for teachers in relevant themes in RE within or without the school.
• Provision of education packages for teachers which are accessible and easy to use e.g. Resource Boxes containing artefacts, lesson plans and other supporting materials which teachers can sign in an out.
• Mentoring systems for children in relation to what they are learning in Religious Education which could in turn inform a mentoring project throughout the school.
• Provision of prayer spaces to be used individually by children or as part of a classroom exercise as appropriate.
• Provision of volunteering placements for young people who might be finding it difficult to access volunteering opportunities.
• Counselling to supplement existing provision within schools.
• Moving on days for children and young people to equip them with skills in moving on to the next stage of their lives.
Members of the SACRE acknowledged the suggestions made and they emphasised that the SACRE as a body can only facilitate the dissemination of information about services and resources to schools for them to act upon as they deem appropriate, and that it is a matter for individual schools whether or not they accept the offer of a service.
The Systems Leader drew attention to the fact that some of the services which the Church’s Children, Youth and Families Ministry Enabler suggests the Church can offer are already provided within schools and she highlighted the following as areas which the Children, Youth and Families Ministry Enabler might wish to consider in order to avoid duplicating provision and resources:
• The Welsh National Resource Centre for Religious Education provides a range of resources including resource boxes that address some of the themes mentioned.
• The Children’s Department of Anglesey’s Library Service loan artefact boxes as well as books to schools.
• That there is a shortage of resources available to schools that reflect the Cwricwlwm Cymreig in terms of defining faith and adherence to faith within Wales from a Welsh perspective. Resources provided by the Church in Wales should reflect that dimension.
• Some services such as counselling, mentoring and coaching services are already well-established in many of county’s secondary schools. The Church in Wales might therefore wish to consider what specific needs it is able to respond to and that its representative makes young people and their parents aware that it is the Church that is providing the support to schools where that applies.
The Chair suggested that the Church’s Children, Youth and Families Ministry Enabler review the report in light of the comments made and re-present it to the SACRE’s next meeting.
It was resolved –
• To note the information and to thank Kirsty Williams as the Children, Youth and Families Ministry Enabler for the Church in Wales for her suggestions and,
• to ask her to review the proposals in light of the comments made during the subsequent discussion.