Agenda and minutes
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No. | Item |
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PRAYER Additional documents: Minutes: The meeting commenced with a prayer from Councillor Selwyn
Griffiths. |
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APOLOGIES Additional documents: Minutes: Apologies were received from Cllr Jean
Forsyth, Cathryn Davey (Teachers Union), Mr Cynrig Hughes (Congregationalists),
Mrs Elizabeth Roberts (Union of Welsh Baptists). |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Selwyn
Griffiths declared a personal interest in relation to Item 6 (b) (ii), Ysgol
Borth-y-Gest Self-evaluation, as he was a governor and also had a connection
with the school. He
was of the view that it was not a prejudicial interest and did not withdraw
from the Chamber during the discussion on this item. |
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URGENT ITEMS Additional documents: Minutes: There were
no urgent matters. |
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The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of SACRE held on 2 November 2016 be signed as a true
copy. Copy enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: The Chairman signed
the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 2 November 2016 as a true
record. |
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SCHOOLS' SELF-EVALUATION PDF 280 KB (a) To receive, for information, the monitoring form in respect of schools’ self-evaluation for the Summer to
Autumn 2016 period. (Copy enclosed) (b) To present a summary of the following schools’ self-evaluation: (i) Bodfeurig School (ii) Borthygest School (iii) Bro Cynfal School (iv) Cae Top School (v) Llanbedr School (vi) Maenofferen School (vii) Penybryn School (Tywyn) (viii) Rhiwlas School (ix) Waunfawr School (Copies enclosed) Additional documents:
Minutes: (a) The Assistant Education Quality Improvement Officer
guided Members through the handout circulated in which a summary of school
findings was set out, drawing attention to the fact that three primary schools
had been inspected by ESTYN during the 2016 Summer term, along with 6 primary
schools during the 2016 Autumn term 2016.
(b)
In response to a comment
made by a Member in relation to ESTYN terminology and the selection of
"adequate" in the Ysgol Maenofferen
self-evaluation, the GwE Challenge Adviser stated that the sentence "care,
assistance and leadership" was part of a broader field. Attention was
drawn to the fact that the words "effective, successful, robust,
beneficial" referred to "good" which was relevant to Religious
Education. (c)
Reference was made to the
self-evaluations of the following schools (i)
Ysgol
Bodfeurig (ii)
Ysgol Borth-y-gest (iii)
Ysgol
Bro Cynfal (iv)
Ysgol
Cae Top (v)
Ysgol
Llanbedr (vi)
Ysgol
Maenofferen (vii)
Ysgol
Penybryn, Tywyn (viii)
Ysgol
Rhiwlas (ix)
Ysgol
Waunfawr The GwE Challenge Adviser noted that the quality
of the self-evaluations had improved but that some weaknesses persisted because
schools had not scrutinised the guidances
in sufficient detail and that clearer guidances were
required. In relation to Ysgol Maenofferen,
attention was drawn to pupils' levels at the end of Years 3, 4 and 5. It was noted that the
Ysgol Cae Top self-evaluation was based on a
different methodology and it had recently received an excellent inspection. Reference was made to the Ysgol Penybryn, Tywyn self-evaluation
in which a taster of the lessons was provided.
RESOLVED: To
accept and note the contents of the inspections and self-evaluations and, in
accordance with procedure, to congratulate the above schools for their efforts
in achieving the grades. |
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UP-DATE BY THE CHALLENGE ADVISER (Miss Bethan James) To receive
an up-date by the Challenge Adviser on the following: (i)
Religious
Education Standards (ii)
Religious
Education Resources (iii)
Religious
Education and the Lifetime Curriculum (iv)
Religious
Studies and GCSE / A Level Additional documents: Minutes: (a) Religious
Education and the Lifelong Curriculum Members were reminded of the main recommendations by
Professor Graham Donaldson as part of the "Successful Future"
curriculum, or the Lifelong Curriculum, Curriculum for Wales. One of those
principles was for the curriculum to be implemented from the ground up and for
it to be relevant to the local area. To
this end, local SACREs were a good example of the ability to influence a local
curriculum. She elaborated
further on the four objectives at the core of the new proposed curriculum,
namely supporting children and young people to be: ·
Ambitious,
capable learners who are prepared to learn throughout their lives ·
Enterprising,
creative contributors, ready to play a full part in life and work ·
Ethical,
informed citizens of Wales and the world ·
Healthy,
confident individuals, ready to lead lives in which they fulfil their ambitions
as valued members of society. One of
the tasks to be addressed was to ensure that the curriculum be developed to
respond to the above objectives. The GwE Challenge
Adviser explained that she was a part of the Consultative Panel which met to
try to draw up guidance on "what religious education was". As a result of this work, statements on
"what good Religious Education was" were presented to Members and
they were asked to discuss, in pairs, whether the statements contributed to the
four aims. The general consensus among Members was that the statements were
sufficiently clear and applicable to the four aims. As
regards the next steps, teachers present were encouraged to put the above to
the test at their schools to see whether they were comfortable with the
statements etc. and to send any observations arising from feedback to the GwE
Challenge Advisor. (b) GCSE / A Level The
Challenge Adviser explained that a delegation from the National Consultative
Panel on Religious Education had met with Mr Gareth Pierce, WJEC. He had been
given a clear message that there was concern surrounding the presentation of a
GCSE specification last September which they had been put under pressure to
postpone. It was noted that the
specification had now been received. It
was noted that the lead GwE teacher (Mefys Jones) was operating effectively in
consultation with teachers in Gwynedd and Anglesey and that material would be
available by June / July. Responding to the
above, concern was expressed among teachers about the changes to the GCSE
specification and the fact that schools would shortly need to begin course work
and that no Welsh language materials were available, and that schools' results
would suffer.
It was understood that many schools in South Gwynedd offered Specification A as a selected course, and Specification B as a statutory one. It was emphasised that Religious Education was a statutory requirement for every pupil and that schools needed to interpret the requirements thoroughly in accordance with the Act. Furthermore, a study programme could be provided which referred to the requirements and which offered other relevant qualifications e.g. The Welsh Baccalaureate. ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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GWYNEDD SACRE ACTION PLAN PDF 253 KB To consider
the action plan. (Copy
enclosed) Additional documents: Minutes: An action plan for
the year 2016-17 was submitted. In his absence, reference
was made to a comment by Mr Cynrig Hughes about observing good practice at schools. He was of
the opinion that an effort should
be made quite soon to implement this as it
had been a topic of discussion for Gwynedd SACRE for a number of years, yet no
action had so far been taken on the matter. In response to the
above, the GwE Challenge Adviser suggested that a SACRE meeting be held in the
summer term in a different format and that approximately four teachers be
invited to the meeting to make a presentation on their best practice and / or
concerns. In order to facilitate
arrangements, it was suggested that a request be made to the Assistant
Education Quality Improvement Officer to:
·
Contact
schools to find out whether Heads would be willing to release teachers to
attend ·
Investigate whether schools could be compensated for releasing teachers ·
Find
our whether teachers would be willing to invite SACRE Members to observe good
practice in action in relation to collective worship The GwE Challenge
Adviser agreed to provide a relatively clear brief for schools in relation to
the above. Resolved: (a) Accept and note
the action plan for 2016-17. (b)
Ask the Assistant Education Quality Improvement Officer to act in accordance
with the bullet points above, once a brief had been received by the GwE
Challenge Advisor. |
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WALES ASSOCIATION OF SACRE PDF 702 KB (a) To receive the draft minutes of the Wales SACRE Association’s meeting held on the 18 November 2016 in Carmarthenshire. (Copy enclosed) (b) To consider nominations fro the Executive Committee of WASACRE. (Copy enclosed) Additional documents:
Minutes: (a) Minutes of the previous
meeting Submitted minutes the previous meeting of the
Association that took place on 18 November 2016 in Carmarthenshire. The GwE Challenge Adviser noted that the meeting had
been beneficial and she referred to an item within the minutes regarding good
practice implemented at Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Myrddin whereby all pupils were given the opportunity to
partake and present a daily activity of collective worship. Resolved: To
accept and note the above. |