Agenda item

To consider and approve the draft SACRE Annual Report 2023 – 24 (copy enclosed).

The RE Adviser presented the draft Annual Report for Denbighshire SACRE 2023 – 24 (previously circulated) for approval which identified and recorded the work of the SACRE for the year from September 2023 – July 2024.

Members were reminded that the annual report was a historic document and approval of the report was sought, subject to any accuracy points.  To make the report more useful to schools, numerous links had been included to resources and support and there was a large section on RE/RVE and the Agreed Syllabus.

The RE Adviser guided members through the report, elaborating on particular areas in some detail, and provided an overview of the contents which covered –

·       the role of SACRE had been included in the foreword which would be amended to refer to SAC/RE to reflect the two bodies running in parallel and updated to include reference to RVE

·       the contents headings had been determined some time ago by the Welsh Government (WG) and WASACRE had undertaken a review of annual reports and made some recommendations to WG with the outcome yet unknown

·       advice given to the local authority included reference to the newly Agreed Syllabus for RVE (Curriculum for Wales 2022) and previous Agreed Syllabus for RE (Curriculum for Wales 2008) applicable for secondary schools

·       examination reports were no longer released, and members were unable to discuss comparative data; links to various Estyn reports had been provided

·       Learning and Teaching – a wealth of reference material and links from a range of sources had been provided and were further elaborated on at the meeting; the RE Quality Mark had been highlighted.  With regard to the playlists on Hwb, a Governors Playlist would soon be released and the RE Adviser reported on his work with Bangor University through GwE training PCSE/PGSE students and close working with the Welsh National Centre for RE

·       Collective Worship – the difficulty in monitoring provision via Estyn reports was highlighted following updated inspection guidance with no expectation to report on whether a school met the statutory duty and general absence of SMSC comments; training and guidance links had been provided.  There had been no determinations to SACRE for schools wanting to change collective worship/RVE

·       other matters included reference to the newsletter and RVE network, new Estyn inspection framework and resources to supporting the framework for RE and work of WASCARE and conference material

·       appendices included the composition of SACRE (‘Collette’ to be amended to ‘Colette’), meeting dates and organisations receiving the report.

The Chair thanked the RE Adviser for the report and members confirmed that, subject to any minor amendments discussed at the meeting, the report be ratified as a true account of SACRE’s work.  Whilst acknowledging that the current Council policy allowed for draft reports to be in English only until approved, Councillor Emrys Wynne asked whether the draft could be made available bilingually in the future given that SACRE was a public meeting, and the draft report would only be subject to minor amendments.  The Principal Education Manager confirmed the annual report could be translated in draft form going forward.

The RE Adviser responded to a question regarding the availability of specialist RE teachers advising that various teacher training institutions across Wales had been allocated a specific number of RVE teachers at secondary to recruit and that quota had been filled for both English and Welsh Language provision.  However, there was a wider issue given that the way schools were restructuring their Key Stage 4 provision meant that not as many RE teachers were required.  In terms of professional development for primary, there had been an ever-decreasing number of hours allocated for RVE over the last few years.

RESOLVED that –

(a)      the Annual Report of Denbighshire SACRE for 2023 – 2024 be approved as an accurate account of SACRE’s work, and

(b)      the Local Education Authority be requested to arrange for the report to be translated into Welsh and made available to all schools and colleges in Denbighshire and other recipients as required by law and as identified in the report.