Agenda item

·        Kirsty Williams, The Church in Wales to report back with regard to the Church in Wales supporting schools on Anglesey.

·        GwE Challenge Advisor to report back on the review of the Curriculum (Speech of the Education Minister attached)

·        GwE Challenge Advisor to report back on the SACRE Action Plan (Attached)

3.1       Kirsty Williams, the Church in Wales provided the SACRE with further information regarding the Church’s intentions in respect of offering Religious Education related support for schools following a proposal made originally to the SACRE’s meeting in July, 2014.

Miss Williams referred to a letter which it was proposed would be sent to the Island’s secondary schools to ask them what support with Religious Education teaching they are receiving and what they would find helpful. She said that the Church does have an officer who visits secondary schools to provide some RE of a Christian denomination but that he combines that role with sports education as a Christian as well. There are projects ongoing in the primary sector including the Open Book project which presents Religious Education through drama. Miss Williams explained that the Church in Wales has more of a one to one relationship with primary schools and although it is intended that the letter should also go to the primary schools she would prefer because of the existing relationship, that they be contacted on a one to one basis to try to establish what further support they would like to have. She referred to two other projects in which the Church was currently engaged with Year 6 pupils – the one involving a roadshow where Year 6 pupils can come with Year 7 link tutors to help them with the transition to secondary school and the other a project in collaboration with other organisations to write a year-long curriculum on moving on as an RE theme in primary schools.

The SACRE whilst welcoming the availability to schools of the Church in Wales resource, emphasised that it is a matter for schools locally to decide whether or not to avail themselves of the Church’s offer of support. It was suggested and agreed that the correspondence to schools referred to by Miss Williams be included as an item for information purposes on the agenda of the SACRE’s next meeting.

It was agreed to note the information.

ACTION ARISING:  Committee Officer to include the Church in Wales’s correspondence to schools on the issue of support as an item of information on the agenda for the SACRE’s next meeting.

3.2       Miss Bethan James, GwE Challenge Advisor reported as follows with regard to the review of the Curriculum –

•           That the Statement made by the Welsh Government’s Minister for Education on the theme of developing a new curriculum for Wales, a copy of which was provided to the SACRE’s members, refers to overhauling professional  development to facilitate delivery of the new curriculum and higher standards within the classroom. However, the Welsh Government will not necessarily provide training for RE Teachers as it is not a national curriculum subject area, and therefore consideration might need to be given to alternative ways of providing support to teachers in RE locally. NAPFfRE has already discussed a number of models that could be adopted and that work is ongoing.

•           That the Statement mentions that it is timely for another “great debate” in Welsh education on the subject of curriculum change. The National Exemplar Framework for Religious Education post-dates the National Curriculum for other subjects by some time and is therefore more current. The professional view is that a review of the curriculum is advisable every 5 years so that it is reflective of developments and the society in which pupils live. The current National Exemplar Framework does place an emphasis on RE skills and an understanding of concepts and themes – compared to other curriculum subjects, the RE Framework is a first draft and more work is required in terms of defining RE skills. It is hoped that in Anglesey a Local Agreed Syllabus can be developed which reflects the Curriculum and is responsive to the needs of pupils.

•           The Statement says that international evidence is clear that higher standards are not necessarily achieved by spending more, meaning that greater expectations will be placed on teachers and schools to adapt the Curriculum on the basis of skills, teaching and pedagogy rather than through additional resources.

•           Professor Graham Donaldson’s Review of the National Curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales to be published on the 25th February has generated many responses some of which will be supportive of RE on the school Curriculum and some of which will not. A further round of consultation will be held on the published report.

The SACRE considered the information and considered also, depending on the length of time accorded to the latest consultation, whether it might be necessary to convene an extraordinary meeting of the SACRE to respond to the Donaldson Review report given that there is no scheduled meeting of the committee until June. It was agreed to do so if that is found to be necessary.

It was agreed to note the information and that if necessary, an extraordinary meeting of the SACRE be convened to respond to the Donaldson report.

NO FURTHER ACTION ARISING

3.3       The Primary Education Officer confirmed that in accordance with the SACRE’s wishes, he had written to the schools whose self-evaluation reports were the subject of consideration at the previous meeting to acknowledge, and to thank them for the information.

3.4       The Primary Education Officer confirmed that the Local Education Authority had renewed the SACRE’S subscription to WASACRE for 2014/15 at a fee of £422.