Agenda item

The Panel will consider a report and presentation on the Kirklees Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) Annual Report 2024 -2025.

Contact:        Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director

Emma Brayford, Head of Educational Outcomes

Mark Janes, Chair - Pennine Learning

Emma Salter, SACRE Advisor - Pennine Learning

The Panel considered the 2024/25 Annual Report from the Kirklees Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE). Emma Brayford, Head of Educational Outcomes, introduced the report and advised the Panel that the Local Authority were compliant in meeting the statutory responsibilities with regard to SACRE, and were advised by Pennine Learning who worked alongside the service and SACRE. These responsibilities were:

• To monitor Religious Education (RE) provision across the local authority and produce the annual report which is shared with the Department for Education (DfE) and the National Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education.
• To monitor and support collective worship across the local authority.
• To ensure that where there have been family concerns, complaints, or requests to be removed from collective worship that they have had the opportunity to raise those with the advisory council.
• To produce an agreed syllabus for RE for community schools; this was the first year of that syllabus being in operation.
• To provide schools with high quality training and networking opportunities.

Mark Janes, Chair of SACRE, informed the Panel that SACRE met four times each year, and that its membership included Councillors, members of religious and other communities, teachers and representatives from the Church of England. The partnership with Kirklees was essential and Kirklees funded the work of SACRE. Strong relationships with officers and the partnership with Pennine Learning enabled SACRE to help teachers deliver the RE syllabus, called Believing and Belonging, so that children and their education remained at the heart of SACRE’s activities.

Jake Womack, RE Advisor at Pennine Learning, thanked Kirklees for the funding that enabled the work of SACRE to provide high quality religious education training and support for the benefit of students and teachers. RE provided the opportunity for teaching critical thinking and remained an important subject. The Panel were advised that:

• The locally agreed syllabus that began in 2024 continued to be well embedded, with half of Kirklees schools using the planning and many used the associated resources.
• Interfaith events had taken place and were planned for this year, with over 2,000 pupils taking part, interacting with the faith and belief panel.
• Secondary and Primary networks had been opened up to teachers free of charge, and networks were being run with up to 40 primary school teachers, with Secondary networks representing about 20% of the schools in Kirklees.
• A SACRE award had been set up as an alternative to the costly RE Quality Mark bronze standard, which demonstrated where schools were meeting the standards required to deliver quality religious education. Advisors visited schools as part of this process, to evaluate learning through a learning walk, work scrutiny and a student panel.
• Work was ongoing with the school welcome project. SACRE held a directory of faith and belief groups that schools could connect with, to invite speakers in and to organise visits to places of worship. This enriched students’ education by providing religious literacy and cultural understanding, which was at the core of the syllabus. Ultimately SACRE aimed to help young people to find their place in a multifaith, diverse, multicultural society and to navigate its complexities.

Emma Salter, RE Advisor at Pennine Learning, advised the Panel that SACRE connected with and engaged in sustained relationships with community groups that were aligned with SACRE's values and objectives. The Communities Team attended the SACRE meeting in September and Kirklees North and South Interfaith groups attended regularly. Teachers were invited to attend the December SACRE meeting and feedback data was being gathered from teachers across Kirklees. At the network meeting questionnaire feedback was gained from Secondary teachers and this work would continue at the March Primary network.

Emma Salter informed the Panel that in November the DfE issued its report outcome on the curriculum and assessment review, which indicated that RE may become a national curriculum subject, rather than a statutory subject, and in response to that, a task and finish group was underway. By the end of March 2026, programs of study would be presented to government for further discussion to assess whether that RE should be part of the national curriculum. This would be the biggest legislative change on RE since 1988.

SACRE offered an open invitation to Councillors to join the Advisory Council, and any interested Councillors could contact Mark Janes, Emma Salter or Jake Womack to find out what would be involved.

In answer to questions, the Panel were advised that:

• Feedback from young people about their RE learning was positive, and they valued the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. Feedback had been collected through the RE award and the interfaith events and would continue to be a priority in the coming year.
• A series of videos featuring a number of local faith leaders talking about their faith was available on Pennine Learning YouTube.
• The high quality RE curriculum was suitable for all demographics as it focused on the skill set needed to navigate our diverse world, including understanding, compassion and relationships. Where schools had issues they wanted to address in their local community, specific advice could be provided through working with the RE advisors to implement strategies to navigate those issues.
• Parents were able to bring concerns about RE directly to SACRE, and it was part of SACRE’s statutory duty to address parental concerns, however, no complaints had been received in the last year.
• Parental feedback was considered by individual schools as part of curriculum development by teachers.
• SACRE were working closely with the Communities Team which strengthened the voice of families and the wider community in curriculum and training design moving forward.
• SACRE had produced a guide on faith sensitivities to help teachers work with parents, called “Sharing the Journey”, which was available on the Pennine Learning website.

RESOLVED –

The Panel noted the report and thanked Officers and the representatives of SACRE for their contributions.