Dorset SACRE has met regularly this year using Teams, as this ensures that most members will be able to attend. Ours is a broad county of some 60 miles east to west with many winding country roads. Virtual meetings save a huge amount of travelling time, expense and emissions.
Representation has stayed largely the same. We are still seeking Catholic, Buddhist and Hindu representatives, but their scarcity reflects that of the county itself.
SACRE has been proactive in maintaining an up to date contact list of RE leads in both Primary and Secondary schools across the county, with the Clerk to SACRE maintaining a database of names and contact details.
Our Advisor, Dave Rees, produces a termly RE Newsletter which draws together national and local news and events in RE, and continues to be well-received.
Our links with the Salisbury Diocese remain strong as we work alongside Nicola Coupe, the Diocesan School Improvement Officer. We have again been able to share expertise and signpost teachers to the Diocese’s own conference in the Spring. RE teachers’ Networks have met regularly across the county, supported by our Advisor as well as the Diocese.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dorset teachers for their dedication to the subject and thank the members of Dorset SACRE for their unwavering support of RE in Dorset schools.
Debbie Tibbey
Chair, Dorset SACRE
Our Locally Agreed Syllabus (LAS) is currently being reviewed. The previous one is well-established in most of our schools, and some academies have also adopted it although SACRE recognises that it needs to find out more about how much it is adhered to. With this in mind SACRE sent out questionnaires as part of the review process. As the syllabus is due to be launched in early 2024, teachers and other stakeholders have been involved in the reviewing process. Survey answers from schools found that there was a need for some renewal considering the many changes in RE since the previous syllabus was written but many of the features of the existing syllabus are still fit for purpose. SACRE is interested in joining with other geographically close authorities as they review their syllabus but is clear that it wants the distinctive local flavour kept so will not be considering purchasing a ready-made syllabus that it would not own.
In 2022 to 23 SACRE continued to monitor and support the teaching of RE regularly. Teacher representative Stephanie Rann has been instrumental in preparing consultation questionnaires for teachers and has guided SACRE along with the SACRE RE adviser David Rees in devising the appropriate questions needed. Feedback from the questionnaires helped SACRE in planning events for teachers as well as feeding into the agreed syllabus review.
We did not receive any information about withdrawals from RE this year.
SACRE is not aware of any Religious Education Quality Mark (REQM) awards this year but is keen to promote the REQM. The professional adviser is an assessor and often includes information about the REQM to teachers at network meetings and in the termly newsletter.
SACRE supports RE teachers and leaders in schools by producing a newsletter every term. These newsletters are produced by the RE Adviser and are a combination of local and national events, cpd opportunities, new resources (particularly free ones) and feedback from events (for example Regional RE conferences, National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (NASACRE) AGM and Strictly RE).
SACRE is aware that schools are still recovering from the Covid aftermath and were not able to monitor their ability to provide collective worship apart from some anecdotal evidence. SACRE is mindful of the need to monitor collective worship and has been actively trying to engage with local religion and worldview communities to provide appropriate speakers to help schools hear the lived experience and lead reflections. SACRE is in communication with other SACREs who have produced materials and advice to help schools with collective worship including suggested themes, a code of conduct for visitors and tie ins with the curriculum. SACRE hopes that this work can be stepped up.
It has not been necessary to renew any determinations during this year. A determination is permission for a school to provide daily collective worship which is not ‘wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character’. We have not considered our determination process in recent years.
Dorset SACRE has links with other SACREs as some members sit on other SACREs like Wiltshire and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole. The SACRE adviser also works with other SACREs and is able to build connections which can benefit SACRE and teachers through the arranging of network meetings, virtual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and conferences. Even though the pandemic situation appears to have eased for now these virtual connections will continue allowing us to make the best of opportunities provided to collaborate and share CPD.
SACRE includes and values membership of NASACRE in our budget each year, the adviser tries to attend the AGM and conference (if virtual), making sure to rollout materials and feedback to SACRE at the next SACRE meeting. SACRE adviser David Rees helps us stay in touch with RE Online, Interfaith network, the newly formed RE Hubs programme and the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Links to other organisations are actively being sought and SACRE members are encouraged to investigate local and national contacts.
Recently SACRE has discussed further utilising the religion and worldview representatives on SACRE to engage with teachers through RE CPD. Previous teacher conferences in have included inputs from Bahai, Muslim, Jewish and Humanist representatives. This will hopefully be continued as we are planning another teachers conference in 2024 as a vehicle for the Agreed Syllabus launch. Although Dorset has limited diversity there are many opportunities which will be developed through contacts with other SACREs and virtual link ups with members of religion and worldview communities known to SACRE members and teachers.
As mentioned above, David Rees continued to serve as our Professional Adviser. David is a member of AREIAC and NATRE and was the editor of the REOnline website and newsletter until August 2021. SACRE is ably supported by Dorset Council through Richard Howes, Education challenge lead and clerk Dominika Kruczkowska. SACRE is confident that the good working relationships will remain.
All four membership groups are regularly represented at meetings, and there were no issues with quoracy this year.
(Please see Appendix 5 with Attendance / Apology for Absence tables.)
We made efforts to recruit a wider range of faith and worldviews representatives, with some success: one new CoE teacher, and a replacement for our retiring Humanist representative joined SACRE during this year.
In the financial year beginning April 2022 SACRE was granted £5000, the same figure as the previous year, a further £5000 has been provided to ensure the agreed syllabus conference has the opportunity to consult with teachers and religion and worldview leaders appropriately. SACRE is grateful for this especially as money is very tight as a result of the pandemic.
At the time of writing results were unvalidated and not made available to SACRE.
Refreshing RE conference March 2023
This included sessions and workshops on:
See next section
In attendance:
Debbie Tibbey (Chair) (DT), Bahá’i Rep
Stephanie Rann (Vice Chair) (SR), Teacher Rep
David Rees (DR), Advisor
Saima Afzal (SA), Muslim Rep
Hazel Baines (HB), CoE Rep, Primary Teacher
Cllr Mary Penfold (CMP), Councillor
Cllr Pauline Batstone (CPB), Councillor
Cllr Robin Legg (CRL), Councillor
Barry Newman (BN), Humanist Rep
Nicola Coupe (NC), Diocesan Link
Lynda Ford-Horne (LFH), Jewish Rep
Richard Howes (RH), Dorset LA Link
Dominika Kruczkowska (DK), Clerk
Apologies received:
Isla Ferguson (IF), CoE Rep, Primary Teacher
In attendance:
Debbie Tibbey (Chair) (DT), Bahá’i Rep
Stephanie Rann (Vice Chair) (SR), Teacher Rep
David Rees (DR), Advisor
Saima Afzal (SA), Muslim Rep
Hazel Baines (HB), CoE Rep, Primary Teacher
Cllr Mary Penfold (CMP), Councillor
Barry Newman (BN), Humanist Rep
Nicola Coupe (NC), Diocesan Link
Lynda Ford-Horne (LFH), Jewish Rep
Richard Howes (RH), Dorset LA Link
Apologies received:
Isla Ferguson (IF), CoE Rep, Primary Teacher
In attendance:
Debbie Tibbey (Chair) (DT), Bahá’i Rep
Stephanie Rann (Vice Chair) (SR), Teacher Rep
David Rees (DR), Advisor
Saima Afzal (SA), Muslim Rep
Isla Ferguson (IF), CoE Rep, Primary Teacher
Cllr Mary Penfold (CMP), Councillor
Cllr Robin Legg (CRL), Councillor
Barry Newman (BN), Humanist Rep
Hazel Baines (HB), CoE Rep, Primary Teacher
Nicola Coupe (NC), Diocesan Link
Apologies received:
Lynda Ford-Horne (LFH), Jewish Rep
Richard Howes (RH), Dorset LA Link
Dominika Kruczkowska (DK), Clerk
Italicised points are up for consideration.
