Minutes:
The Chair advised Members that he had received correspondence from a Member of SACRE in relation to how the Durham Agreed Syllabus had been received.
Concerns had been received from one primary school who had indicated that they were having some difficulties designing a curriculum from the Local Agreed Syllabus and they had found the previous version more useful.
The Chair indicated that nothing had changed substantially from the previous version of the agreed syllabus, and that they had only strengthened and added to the 2020 Local Agreed Syllabus.
He had consulted with Education Durham on the matter and provided a response to the Member that they believed that the Durham Agreed Syllabus was a rigorous document to promote age-appropriate Religious Education. They recognised that some colleagues may need support with the Durham Agreed Syllabus and had made that offer available through Education Durham, for any schools who required support.
The Chair then paid tribute to teachers and support staff in schools in particularly secondary schools for the work they had carried out for GCSE and A Level teacher assessment grades. He also paid tribute to students for all their hard work during the difficult period in education caused by the global pandemic.
He also advised Members that a planning meeting had been held prior to the SACRE meeting that had been helpful and would be the driving force behind SACRE, in terms of setting the agenda for meetings and focusing the work of SACRE. The Chair would like to continue with these meetings.