North Yorkshire County Council
North Yorkshire Standing Advisory Council
on Religious Education (SACRE) –
20th September 2022
Update from the Local Authority
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1.0
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Purpose of the Report
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1.1 |
To inform Members on work undertaken by the Local Authority since the last SACRE meeting.
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2.0 Communication and resourcing
2.1 Local Authority Officers have met with the Professional RE Adviser in order to co-ordinate the publication of the Annual Report.
2.2 The termly newsletter is continuing to be distributed to schools via the Red Bag system, and occasional and ad hoc information is also posted via Red Bag.
2.3 School leaders have been communicated to both via Red Bag and SEAs to encourage participation in the annual survey on RE and Collective Worship in schools. This data forms a baseline for inclusion in the Annual Report. A total of 75 schools (60 primary, 15 secondary) responded, which is an increase of slightly more than 50% responses to last year.
3.0 Support for Senior Leaders and Governors
3.1 The Professional RE Adviser briefed school improvement SEAs in the late part of the summer term in order to maximise feedback from schools in collating data for the Annual Report.
3.2 The commissioned Professional RE Adviser reports separately on training, and advice given to schools. This report is a separate agenda item at this meeting
3.3 The Local Authority facilitated the administrative and bookings of subject leader networks and are continuing to update the resources pages on http://nyes.info Networks and training courses are now available to be booked for the current school year.
4.0 Ofsted inspections
4.1 Since the last SACRE meeting Ofsted have published 22 Section 5, 8 and monitoring reports:
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Type |
Primary |
Secondary |
Special |
PRS |
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Maintained |
6 |
1 |
2 |
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Academy |
9 |
3 |
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1 |
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Independent |
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4.2 Narrative in other inspection reports refers to religious education and collective worship as follows;
· The school day is carefully structured to provide dedicated time for personal development. Timetabled enrichment activities are open to all year groups. The community ethos created by these activities is tangible. ‘Life and society’ lessons help pupils prepare for life beyond school and include opportunities for debating, first aid and learning about other faiths.
· Although pupils consistently demonstrate high levels of respect towards others, some older pupils do not have sufficiently strong knowledge of different religions and non-faith world views. This is because there are not consistently planned opportunities for pupils to regularly revisit this aspect of the curriculum.
· The personal development curriculum promotes diversity and respect for others. Leaders ensure that it responds to relevant concerns, such as the importance of using social media responsibly. However, a number of pupils have a limited knowledge of different religions and faiths.
· Pupils benefit from personal, social and health education lessons, circle time, religious education and assemblies. Pupils know what fundamental British values are. They know and can talk about different religions, faiths and cultures.
· Pupils develop the knowledge and skills to help them become well-rounded individuals and future citizens. They learn about different faiths and cultures, attending a ‘peace walk’ in a nearby town.
· Overall, the curriculum is well planned. For example, in religious education (RE), geography and history, revised curriculums have been introduced. They are organised to help pupils build up their understanding and awareness in order to inspire a curiosity and fascination about the world. As a result, pupils have started to make links between the differences and similarities of the world religions in RE.
Adrian Clarke
Principal Education Adviser (Support)
County Hall, Northallerton
06/09/2022
Report Author: Adrian Clarke
Background documents: None