Agenda and minutes

 Miss Thomas introduced the advisory council to the children, which was followed by hymns being sung. The Reverend discussed Pentecost which was to be celebrated on the following Sunday,. The theme for collective worship was the importance of helping others and perseverance. A short video was played about a squirrel with an impossible mission with a nut. The clip showed the squirrel not completing the task the first time, but completing on the second time. The Reverend told the children that due to the squirrel’s perseverance it was able to complete the task.

The Reverend invited a number of pupils to give further examples of perseverance with short challenges against teaching staff, which included hula-hooping for 10 seconds, walking whilst balancing a book on the head and throwing a beanbag through a hoop. The last challenging was remembering nursery rhymes.

The Reverend then again told the children of the importance of helping others and helping when life gets difficult. Thought about times when times were tough, and how it felt when someone helped you. How can we be a helping hand today? The children then gave examples.

The Chair of the Committee thanked Jo Crawley for organising the assembly.

 The Chair welcomed the Committee to the meeting. Members then took part in a period of quiet reflection.

None.

 Paddy Landers, Clare James, Nikki Huggleston, Paula Webber, Catrin Roberts and Cllr J Watkins

The minutes of the meeting on 7th March were accepted as a true record with the following amendments:

Page 5 paragraph 5, HT should be HS. Paragraph 6.

Rebecca Penn confirmed as attending the meeting.

Agreed

The minutes of the meeting on 7th March were accepted.

Nominations, no one received for WASACRE.

It was advised that there had been no new membership developments. The SACRE clerk advised that Paula Webber would write to the Salvation Army to enquire about a representative joining the committee.

James Kent - Assistant Director: Professional Learning (Curriculum, Collaboration & Research) for EAS introduced himself to the committee. He advised that Paula Webber had wrote a report around how the RE framework was progressing. SACRE were informed that Welsh Government were holding a consultation on the draft Curriculum for Wales 2022. This would provide feedback from SACREs and any concerns or issues for the Curriculum working groups to consider. This needed to be done by 19th July deadline. For this phase, all information fed back from various groups would be built into next phase of development.

The Chair advised that the committee had just seen the RE aspect, which was brought to the committee by Paula. The Chair then advised that there would be a cross party meeting to be held in the Civic Centre, Newport on 9th July 2019 at 10am, which hoped to get as many teacher representatives to attend as possible to give their views and comments. The working party would discuss a response from the SACREs in the region to the draft Humanities Curriculum.

JK advised the committee that slides will be forwarded to the committee afterwards. He advised that Everything is changing and will affect qualifications in 2025. 14-16 yr olds and 3 -16 year olds should not have awkward transition phases. JK also informed SACRE that Curriculum reform was one aspect of many changes to the education system. An Important point is that the curriculum will stay the same for a year. The curriculum is not a content driven curriculum but a process curriculum with long term goals which are the Four Purposes of Successful Futures which was the report written by Professor Graham Donaldson. This is different from the current curriculum which has a focus on these Four Purposes rather than starting with assessment and working backwards.

This curriculum has been in draft since 30th April, the final curriculum will be available in January 2020. It was advised that it won’t be final – as the curriculum evolves the framework is flexible enough to change for refinement. There is no statutory requirement for schools to engage in 2020. In the past schools were wanted to engage to trial out new aspects in curriculum. Estyn will be out in schools to see how it is working. This will be a different curriculum which will be split up into components.

There are 6 Areas of Learning and Experience (AoLEs) in the curriculum which define what we think young people should learn, and should talk to the Four Purposes. There is a learning progression in the framework which sets out how the learner progresses in different AoLEs.

There are links between AoLEs and the curriculum outlines experience for knowledge and skills in those areas.. Cross Curricular Responsibilities and Wider Skills are built in where they are most appropriate in learning areas.

Humanities had grown as an area of learning as Business and Social Studies have also been added. Religious Education remains  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Chair advised the committee that there are no inspection reports to discuss.

The Chair advised that she had attended the Onyx Link Foundation (OLF) Wales Interfaith Conference that was held on 1st May 2019. Onyx explained how they and the chair want tiowork with schools. Neeta and chair had worked with Onyx f. Onyx sent regular interfaith and education information to f teachers. Would Newport SACRE be happy to support? OLF offer to come into schools and bring faith leaders together and show how interfaith organisations are working together. They advised that it could be a good idea to open up to question and answer session.

Higher Education pupils could get involved in advanced discussions with interfaith members. The Chair advised the Committee that St Woolos will also be running an Interfaith week. The Conference was also attended by a Rabbi, a Wiccan Priestess. They discussed the importance of why we should work in cohesion. If the Committee are happy to support, then SACRE could write to schools on behalf of Onyx.

NB advised that schools could be given dates as they need to fit with school timetable. SACRE would facilitate the initial visit.

It was suggested that St Woolos could be a starting point as it is a multi-faith school. The value is huge. EK could make other Headteachers aware at management meetings.

NB advised that Bassaleg schools had presented short RE days in which SACRE has contributed. It should be a collective agenda so schools could work together. The cathedral would be a good place to start as local people would be able to access it and service the community for multi-faith access. The Chair then advised it was important to bring this to primary school age so they can go into secondary school with correct information. The Chair then told the Committee if they are interested in attending the 9th July event to left OLF know.

Agreed

The Committee accepted the update and advised that they are happy to support.

a)    To receive and note draft minutes from WASACRE meeting held 26^th March 2019 (attached)

b)    To consider nominations for the WASACRE Executive Committee

c)    To note dates of future WASACRE meetings

                                          i.    Friday 28^th June 2019 – Colwyn Bay, Conwy

a) To receive and note draft minutes from WASACRE meeting held

26th March 2019 (attached)

The Committee received and noted the draft minutes.

b) To consider nominations for the WASACRE Executive Committee

The Committee briefly discussed the nominations for the WASACRE Executive Committee.

Newport SACRE agreed to support Rachel Samuel as Vice Chair. Members agreed to vote for Andrew Jones, Matthew Maidment and the job share position of Marged Williams and Lucy Grant.

c) To note dates of future WASACRE meetings

i. Friday 28th June 2019 – Colwyn Bay, Conwy

No correspondence.

The Committee discussed the contents of the SACRE news bulletin. It was suggested that it would be a good to put Onyx details in the bulletin.

Agreed

The Committee accepted the information in the briefing. It was agreed that HS will attend WASACRE Conwy meeting.

The SACRE clerk advised the Committee that the next meeting would take place on 17th October 2019 at 10am in Committee Room 4, Civic Centre.

The Spring meeting would take place on 5th March 2020 at 10am, with the venue awaiting to be confirmed.

The meeting ended at 10:15am.