Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence from any members who are unable to attend.

Apologies were received from L. Melvin, E. Nicholls and S. Yasseen.

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

There were no declarations of interest declared.

To review and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 18 November 2025 as a true and accurate record of the proceedings and to be signed by the Chair.

Consideration was given to the minutes of the previous meeting held on 18^th November 2025 along with any matters arising.  As the meeting was not quorate these minutes will automatically carry forward to the next meeting for approval.  

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 third meeting of the ASC for the 2025/2026 academic year.

The Chair explained that since the last meeting, the RE Advisor had confirmed that they would have to step away from the post due to their school being unable to release them for the time required. As a result, resource to complete the Syllabus review was now very stretched. The Chair would continue to work on the amendments when they could but was likely to require assistance from other SACRE ASC members to complete the review. As a result of the lack of dedicated resource, the timescale for completion and approval by SACRE of the new Syllabus by September 2026 for the next academic year, was looking unlikely.

The group talked through the Chair’s amendments to the draft Syllabus and in the ensuing discussion, the following points were raised:-

·       The Chair confirmed that all of the changes that had been discussed in the previous meeting had been made. This should ensure that the syllabus was in line with the recently updated Religious Education Curriculum guidance.

·       There was discussion around the formatting of the document. The insertions and amendments made by the Chair were sometimes in a different style and font and this led to the document looking somewhat messy and piecemeal. The Chair acknowledged this but confirmed that the content of the Syllabus was their current priority and that once this was complete and agreed upon, the formatting could be sorted to ensure that the document looked better with a more consistent style throughout. The Governance Advisor commented that officers from RMBC may be able to provide some assistance in ensuring the formatting was standardised and would talk to Niall Devlin, the Service Director of Education & Inclusion, about this.

·       The Chair confirmed that the Introduction section had been updated to provide a summary of the aims and purposes of the Syllabus and how it had been refined from the previous version. Numerous dates had also been updated throughout the document.

·       The Chair talked through the changes discussed in the earlier meeting, where the teaching of Islam was to be made more prominent in KS1 units, to better reflect the demographic in the Rotherham area. The wording had therefore been changed in parts of the Syllabus to reflect this.

·       In the section headed “Religious Education in Rotherham – Aims and Purposes”, the Chair explained that quite a few changes had been made to reflect the National Statement of Entitlement and that the aims of RE within Rotherham were aligned with current thinking and the OFSTED Deep & Meaningful Report. Reference had also been included to the Together for Tomorrow project.

·       The Chair confirmed that the table at the bottom of page 7 would be removed, as previously agreed, and that the headings of the boxes on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

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 discussed as

follows:–

·       Feedback from this meeting would be provided to the next SACRE

meeting on 19^th March 2026.

·       The Chair would continue to work on re-drafting the Syllabus, based on previous feedback and discussions which had taken place in this meeting. Due to the RE Advisor’s recent resignation, the Chair would contact Members for assistance where required.

·       The Chair would liaise with Tricia Williams to verify the census and ONS data set out in the Syllabus.

·       The Chair would look to expand on the section headed “Which worldviews are to be studied” and add a paragraph to provide guidance for SEND settings on how to adapt units of work.

·       The Chair would look to arrange a separate meeting with Angela Duncan, SEND School Representative, to consider creating some separate SEND units of work, as part of SACRE’s wider development plan.

·       The Chair would look to arrange a separate sub-group meeting of secondary school staff members of SACRE ASC to consider amendments to the “Program of Study” sections for Key Stages 3, 4 & 5.

·       The Governance Advisor confirmed that the next meeting of the ASC group was scheduled for 1^st June 2026, subject to approval of the municipal calendar for 2026-27 by Full Council on 4^th March 2026. A further meeting of the ASC had been included in the calendar of meetings for September 2026 given that completion of the required amendments to the Syllabus was likely to take longer due to the lack of resource following the RE Advisor’s resignation.

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

To receive an update on the draft Calendar of Meetings for the municipal year 2026-27, due to be agreed by Council on 4 March 2026, including the following SACRE ASC meeting dates:

·       1 June 2026; and

·       7 September 2026.

The Governance Advisor explained that the proposed dates for the 2026-27 municipal calendar were due to be approved at the meeting of Full Council which was due to take place on 4^th March 2026. The Governance Advisor had included two more meetings of the SACRE ASC in the draft calendar of meetings on the following dates:-

·       1^st June 2026; and

·       7^th September 2026.

It was hoped that the revised Syllabus could be finalised over the summer months and brought to the ASC and SACRE in September 2026 for approval, prior to distribution to and implementation in schools from January 2027.

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 expected to be Monday 1^st June 2026 at 4.00pm, via Teams, subject to Council approval of the 2026-27 Municipal Calendar.