If available, to receive a final report on the joint Agreed Syllabus recently launched at CEME on 25 September. 

Miss Munday informed members that she had attended the launch and had stayed for the whole day.  She stated that it had been a success but was sceptical about whether teachers would be in a position to have the whole teaching plan in place for the start in September 2016.  To illustrate this she cited – by way of example – a friend of hers (Infant RE lead) had been tasked with overseeing the implementation of the syllabus across the whole primary Phase (up to year 6) and had no experience of teaching to that age group.

Members joined a more general discussion which widened into the application of the new syllabus, why some schools used different syllabi (Mrs Ellner explained that St. Edwards Primary used the Chelmsford Diocese Syllabus and felt that other faith groups would probably tend to use the resources made available by their own faiths).

Members then considered whether it would be possible for schools across the borough to avail themselves of these faith schools as “resources for understanding” by arranging visits and Ms Sutton and those who were experienced in the teaching profession averred that this was already being undertaken, but that it was not really feasible to move large numbers of children between schools as a matter of course and Ms Sutton observed that Hsis was already using every option it had available to it to encourage that sort of thing, though Ms Sutton added that further suggestions could be aired through the Cluster meetings.

Members suggested that there were many resources available on the internet and “You Tube” was referenced as being a site where some excellent teaching hints could be obtained.

An observation that it was a pity that there was no School Inspector to cover the fostering of better understanding between the faiths and the answer from Ms Sutton was that there were no school inspectors in Havering for even the basics of maths and English, let alone other areas.  The fact was: there were no resources to do this.  Everything was being done on a “need” basis.  Members expressed their concerns about this and Ms Munday reiterated that it all returned to the problem of teachers no longer having the support they needed, being over-worked and placed in impossible work/life situations.  She stated that she was not surprised some 50,000 left the profession in the last year.

Dr Lester stated that a lot of effort had gone into the production of the Syllabus, and the Chairman said that, unlike previous editions of the Syllabus, the collective knowledge and wisdom of SACRE’s members had not been called on, something she felt had been lacking.  She then wondered whether these resources could be made available to Hsis.  Ms Sutton was confident that this could be of help and so the clerk was asked to circulate her contact details to members so that those who wished could contact Hsis to offer their services.  Dr Lester added that both he and the Chair of the Redbridge SACRE had been present at the outset and had jointly formally “launched” the event.