Agenda item

The Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education received a report card provided by the Chair which aimed to help SACRE reflect on the performance of religious education in schools. The report card provided some performance highlights alongside some more negative facts and figures.

Councillor Walton added that she agreed that the report card started off very promising however she was alarmed to note that nothing had been spent on RE projects between 2016-2021 given the importance of this subject.

W Gray noted that she too agreed, in referencing page 43 that there was a real opportunity to embed RE in the next Agreed Syllabus and influence how schools in County Durham develop this subject.

S Lupton commented that it was good to see RE back on the Ofsted agenda again and looking at how the subject was delivered in schools as this was real motivation for schools to drive forward improvements in this area.

The Chair commented that he agreed with he points made and noted he had also seen positive improvements in this area.

W Gray further noted that whilst not all secondary schools were local authority schools, SACRE did have a responsibility to all schools including academies.

L Burton commented that she was delighted to hear about the quality of RE in S Lupton’s school and this translated through to the quality of results. She did however note that one major barrier to delivering this subject successfully was a lack of subject specialists.

It was further discussed how schools could offer diametrically different ways of teaching this subject but yet deliver high results providing the environment was a diverse and stimulating one.

Resolved:

That the content of the RE Report Card be noted.