Agenda and draft minutes

To receive declarations of interest from any members with respect to an item of business.

There were no declarations of interest declared.

To determine whether any items on the agenda require the exclusion of members of the public or press.

There were no members of the public or representatives of media organisations present at the meeting and no questions had been received in respect of matters on the agenda.

To review and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 4 Septmeber 2025, as a true and accurate record of the proceedings and to be signed by the Chair.

There were no issues raised on the minutes of the previous meeting held on 4^th September 2025 and it was resolved that the minutes be approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

To receive an update from the sub-group on the progress of the review of the Local Agreed RE Syllabus.

The purpose of the ASC meetings was to plan and prepare for the new Local RE Agreed Syllabus (Syllabus) which was due to be released to schools in September 2026. This was the second meeting of the ASC for the 2025/2026 academic year.

The Chair explained that since the last meeting, she had met with the RE Advisor and they had gone through the current syllabus in detail and had identified areas where changes needed to be made. The Chair reminded members that it had been agreed that there would be no major changes to the syllabus in this review, and that smaller amendments and updates would be made. The Chair had completed a comparison exercise against the Religious Education Council’s suggestions and recommendations, particularly in respect of including more of a “world view” approach.

The Chair shared the current Local RE Agreed Syllabus on screen and the group talked through the Chair and RE Advisor’s comments and suggested changes and amendments. In the ensuing discussion, the following points were raised –

·       It was suggested that the Syllabus could be sub-titled “Together for Tomorrow” as that programme had been well received and could continue. This would reflect the themes of diversity, respect, tolerance and sense of belonging in Rotherham. It was proposed that the Introduction section also be updated to include “Together for Tomorrow”.

·       In the Executive Summary at page 4 of the Syllabus, the Chair suggested amending wording slightly to reflect that the syllabus provides “guidance” for outcomes and that schools must implement “an appropriate scheme of work for RE which enhances their school context”, to reflect that the demographic at each school may be different.

·       There was discussion around the prescription of religions studied at each Key Stage – KS1 was currently set out as “Christianity & Judaism (some Islam can also be used)”. One member of the group commented that given the demographic in some parts of Rotherham, it would be more appropriate to incorporate teaching on Islam from an earlier age to ensure that religions were better represented within schools. This was considered important for community cohesion. However, other members of the group expressed caution around grouping Christianity and Judaism together as whilst there was some overlap, they are separate faiths.

·       It was also suggested that the paragraph referring to non-religious views be expanded upon to fully recognise and include other world views within the Syllabus, including but not limited to, Atheism, Agnosticism and Humanism. Census and ONS data for Rotherham suggested that these were growing areas of belief. The group agreed with this suggested change and to increased reference to non-religious world views throughout the Syllabus.

·       The diagrams illustrating the “Aims & Intentions of RE” at pages 7 and 8 of the Syllabus were considered and the Chair suggested swapping Aim B (Express ideas and insights about the nature, significance and impact of religions and world views) and Aim C (Gain and deploy the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and world views) around in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To discuss and agree the next steps in the process of the review and revision of the Local Agreed RE Syllabus.

The next steps to progress the review of the Syllabus were agreed as follows:–

·       The Chair and the RE Advisor would meet again to further progress the re-drafting of the Syllabus, based on the feedback and agreement on issues raised at this meeting.

·       Tricia Williams would obtain  up to date ONS data and create tables and pie-charts as agreed, to be provided to the Chair and RE Advisor to incorporate into their re-working of the Syllabus.

·       The Governance Advisor confirmed that the next meeting of the ASC group was scheduled for 2^nd March 2026 and that the Chair and RE Advisor would need to bring the amended Syllabus back to the group at that meeting for agreement. The Syllabus would then go before the main Rotherham SACRE meeting in June for formal approval, to enable it to be implemented in schools for September 2026. The group confirmed their agreement to this proposed schedule.

·       Feedback from this meeting would be provided to the next SACRE meeting on 4^th December 2025.

The Chair thanked all members of the group for their time and useful feedback.

To determine any items which the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no additional items of business requiring consideration at the meeting. The date and time of the next meeting of the ASC was confirmed to be Monday 2^nd March 2026 at 4.00pm, via Teams.