Agenda item

The Chair informed members of the following events which were taking place for the Interfaith Week, details of which had been circulated to members at the meeting (for copy see file on minutes).

• Face to Face and Side by Side ‘Be the Change you Want to Be’ which was to be held on Monday 26 November 2012, 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm at Alington House, 4 North Bailey, Durham City.

• National Interfaith Week Event for 2012 – NERFN Members and Partners which was to be held on Tuesday 27 November 2012, 6.00 pm – 8.00 pm at Lamesley Room, Gateshead Civic Centre.

SACRE asked for the details of these events to be e-mailed to all members.

The Chair advised members that there would be no interfaith conference this year. The student conference supplied by SACRE in July 2012 was run by RE Today Services. Members discussed how successful the conference had been. The Specialist Inspector for Religious Educations advised members that this type of conference would not be run free of charge again by RE Today. She did suggest that SACRE could hold another in house interfaith conference in 2013.

Councillor Dixon asked if details could be obtained of what events took place in schools for Interfaith Week. The Specialist Inspector for Religious Education advised members that she would try and obtain this information.

The Specialist Inspector for Religious Education provided members with details of a letter which was on the Religious Education Council website which thanked Michael Gove for his comments on the Interfaith Week.

The Chair advised SACRE that Anne Carter who was a member of SACRE had retired from her position at Durham Johnston School so would no longer be eligible to sit on SACRE.  The Specialist Inspector for Religious Education advised members that Claire Dyer who is head of RE at Staindrop and has been a Lead Teacher in RE in the authority and was happy to take up this position and her Head Teacher was very supportive. A retirement card for Anne Carter was circulated for members to sign.