To receive a verbal update from the Chair on the SACRE Development Plan.
Minutes:
The Chair provided a verbal update on the ongoing SACRE Development Plan and in the ensuing discussion, the following points were discussed and noted:
· RE Hubs
SACRE would continue to promote the RE Hubs and the Chair and the Governance Advisor would continue to attend the Yorkshire Branch RE Hub/NASACRE evening meetings where possible.
· Together for Tomorrow Project
The Chair confirmed that they would contact Fiona Radford to help facilitate school visits to places of worship but commented that it had proved difficult to make confirmed arrangements with most locations, other than Rotherham Minster. The Chair would continue to send emails to try and secure some further venues for school visits.
The next “Ask Me Anything Panel” was planned for September 2026. Fiona Radford confirmed that lessons had been learnt from the format of the previous panel session and suggested that plans be formulated for the September panel over the summer break.
Niall Devlin, the Service Director for Education & Inclusion (Service Director), commented that the Together for Tomorrow song, written by the Chair, had been performed that day by Wales Secondary School choir at the Rotherham Together Partnership Event at Magna.
The Chair confirmed that when the revised syllabus was finalised, it was planned to sub-title this “Together for Tomorrow” to support the longevity of the project.
· Links to other local SACREs
It was reported by the Chair that it was an ongoing challenge to establish links to other local SACREs but that attempts would be made again in the new academic year.
· Determinations
There had been no recent requests for determinations.
The Chair sought any further suggestions from Members for additions to the SACRE Development Plan. Tricia Williams requested that strengthening links with the Rotherham Faith Leaders Group be added. Local faith leaders would be needed to deliver sessions in pairs (of two different faiths) to schools as part of Inter-Faith week in November each year. The previous Inter-Faith link officer at the Council had recently left their post and work would need to be done to maintain these connections.
It was agreed that it would be useful for SACRE Members to make contact with any local connections they had who may be added to the pool of faith speakers. Fiona Radford confirmed that the need for speakers had been advertised but commented that the take up from schools for visits had been poor in the last Inter-Faith week. The option to request school visits was well publicised via the Rotherham School Improvement Service (RoSIS) website and newsletter but Tricia Williams commented that a number of schools still claimed that they were not aware of it.
Members discussed the value of strengthening contact with the Rotherham Faith Leaders Group to promote wider knowledge of the work of SACRE, which may in turn, lead to better links to places of worship and potential speakers. It was agreed that the Chair would try to attend the next meeting of the Faith Leaders Group with Fiona Radford, to promote the work of SACRE.
The Chair also confirmed that work would be done to support the promotion of Inter-Faith week in the remainder of the summer term and into the autumn term.
The Service Director commented that when considering the Development Plan, Members should be aware that there was room in the proposed 2026-27 budget for some spending on potential resources. There was discussion around upgrading the RE Boxes but also debate on whether these were well utilised enough to justify any further spend. Fiona Radford commented that primary schools used them more than secondary schools. It was agreed that Emily Nicholls would try and pull together a list of secondary RE leads and their contact details to share with Fiona Radford to publicise the RE Boxes. It was suggested that information on resources available also be shared by the Service Director at the next Secondary Heads Meeting.
The Chair referred to David Homer’s suggestion in a previous meeting that training and development should be considered on the complexity of teaching and understanding Islam, in the current fraught climate. The Chair was aware of a new training course on “Understanding Islam” offered by RE Today that SACRE may wish to consider purchasing. The cost of the course may be prohibitive (approx. £4,000), but it was possible that the cost could be shared with the Diocese of Sheffield. There was some discussion on what level of staff it would be appropriate to offer this course to, for example Headteachers. It was agreed that this course would be discussed further under the Budget agenda item.
The Chair confirmed that they would review the Development Plan for the academic year 2026-27 over the summer break, in preparation for presenting it formally to SACRE at the next meeting in September.