Agenda and minutes

DMc    Members are reminded that they must declare the existence and nature of their declared personal interests.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign as a correct record minutes of the previous meeting.

PL       Agenda Item 5, Resolution (b) – Estyn have not been contacted in regards to the SMSC comment for Ysgol Pen Coch.

DMc    Agenda Item 6 - Clarification sought on request from Kirsty Williams AM.

PL       Data will be available in the spring term although because schools no longer offering courses this will not be shown in the data until next year.  As schools do not have to provide the Religious Education G.C.S.E. it will be interesting to discover what they are replacing it with.           

RW     If it is discovered that a school is not providing the required provision this should be formally reported to the Education and Youth Chief Officer at Flintshire County Council.

PL       Agenda Item 7 - A response to the second collective worship letter has been received from Kirsty Williams AM.  The reply informs that this is not a matter for the Minister and that Philip Blaker, Chief Executive of Qualifications Wales should be contacted.

            Response from Mr Blaker clarified the reasons for the changes to the specification and stated that to ensure academic rigor across England and Wales the specification could not be changed at this point in the lifecycle of the current specification. 

            There may be cause to respond to Mr Blaker outlining dissatisfaction.

RESOLUTIONS

(a)  PL to contact Estyn in regards to the SMSC comment for Ysgol Pen Coch;

To receive a presentation on the New Inspection Framework.

PL       Estyn have created a three minute YouTube video outlining the new framework and members are recommended to view it at their convenience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNZBKB_OK_4

            There are now five areas of inspection:

·         Standards;

·         Wellbeing and attitudes to learning;

·         Teaching and learning experiences;

·         Care, support and guidance;

·         Leadership and management.

To receive the analysis of Estyn Inspection Reports.

PL       Not all Estyn Inspection Reports contain commentary on spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development.  The Advisory Group and Mark Campion (Estyn) have been written to in order to clarify why there is an absence in some reports.

Under the new framework Castell Alun High School, Hope, was awarded an ‘Excellent’ rating for the ‘Care, Support and Guidance’ category.  This however is despite a comment stating that “a few staff do not have a sufficiently clear understanding of the requirements of this programme (referring to the ‘thought of the day’ programme). As a result, the school does not meet this statutory requirement”.

Questioned whether Estyn should be contacted to clarify their position on the appropriateness of awarding an excellent judgement for Care Support and Guidance whist the school is not fulfilling the statutory requirements for providing a daily act of Collective Worship.

DMc    Standards have been awarded a ‘Good’ rating yet when referring to the comment “a minority of pupils are able to express their ideas extremely maturely and articulately”, it appears that the abilities of a minority carry more weight than those of the majority.

PL       This comment is more around the standards of literacy rather than Religious Education.

DMc    Overall it is a good, positive report.

PL       There is no recommendation in the report for collective worship.

CL       The Ysgol Rhos Helyg report is very positive and praiseworthy.

RESOLUTIONS

(a)  PL to contact Estyn regarding the discrepancy in the Castell Alun report between the rating and the comment.

To consider a report analysing the examination results for 2017.

PL       Reference is made to the G.C.S.E. data tables (page 13 of Agenda Pack) and all results are discussed.

            Full course A*-C results are above the short course results.

            The discussion identified some errors in the tables.

HPD leaves the meeting.

PL       Responding to a question from JD, it is unknown whether any consideration is given to the delivery of Religious Education in the medium of Welsh.

PL       Responding to a question from IR, the poor performance of the short course is similar to the national results.  Historically, the full course has been made up of two ‘short course’ specifications.  Pupils that are targeted a C grade and above would be entered for the full course and the pupils targeted below a C grade would be entered for the short course, this would ensure that as many pupils as possible would receive a GCSE qualification in Religious Studies.  The percentage of pupils achieving an A*-C grade in the full course is therefore much higher than the short course results.

PL       It is encouraging that three quarters of pupils across Wales are taking Religious Education courses.

LO       Religious Education can form part of other subjects such as the Welsh Baccalaureate Global Citizen Challenge.

IR        It is important to avoid specific references as they can be “dangerous”.  Some references are uncomfortable and any concerns should be raised through the proper channels.

RW     FCC needs resilient information from Heads.

IR        This meeting is the first to raise concerns of Castell Alun Estyn Report and if there are concerns at other schools they should be resolved internally.

            The discussion of specific issues at individual schools at meetings will be raised with Claire Homard, Interim Chief Officer Education and Youth.

DMc    Questions the validity of results shown for Holywell High School in the data tables on page 15 of Agenda Pack.

RESOLUTIONS

(a)  PL to revise the G.C.S.E. data tables to remove errors;

(b)  PL to re-check Holywell figures.

Monitoring and planning materials available for primary schools.

PL       Reference is made to presentation of new assessment form in development.

Schools should use the level descriptors for planning their Religious Education curriculum.  The new form is designed to be used by teachers who then complete a monitoring form.

The form needs to be refined before making it available to schools.

RW     Before allowing the form to be used in CiW schools the content would need to be approved by the Diocese.

JD       It would be positive if children could have access to their own feedback.  Also, self-evaluation by staff who can then discuss it collectively as a team can help set priorities.

IR leaves the meeting.

PL       The final draft of the form will be translated before publication.

            Responding to a question from DMc, the form will be made available to all schools not just church schools.

JD       Questions whether schools will also be asked for feedback before form is finalised.

PC      Also enquires whether catholic schools will be included.

PL       There may be a possibility to test the form informally, with the permission of the Diocese of Wrexham Catholic Church.

RESOLUTIONS

(a)  PL liaise with RW regarding form content.

i.                 To receive the minutes of the last meeting of the Association

ii.                To receive an update from Welsh Government concerning the new curriculum.

iii.              To agree attendance to the next WASACRE meeting, 9th March 2018– Swansea.

PL       No minutes of the last WASACRE meeting have been received.

In reference the update from Welsh Government concerning the new curriculum, pioneer networks have received a document from WASACRE about syllabus content.  Whenever a new review into Religious Education begins it always starts with a breakdown of what the aims of Religious Education are.

When Religious Education is included under the broader Humanities curriculum pupil understanding often depends upon the area of expertise of the teacher.

Welsh Government have asked WASACRE for help as they do not have a Key Stage 2 specialist.

Once information is received critical comments can be made to aid development and Welsh Government are keen to maintain relationships with WASACRE and individual SACRE groups.

RW     The CiW have provided comments to Welsh Government on whether the AOLE for humanities will diminish Religious Education as a whole.

            Reassurances needed that Religious Education will be retained and embedded at primary level.

RW leaves the meeting.

PL       The next WASACRE meeting is to be held Friday 9 March 2018 in Swansea

RESOLUTIONS

(a)  WASACRE minutes to be discussed at next meeting.

(b)  PL to attend next WASACRE meeting and report back to the group.

The next meeting will be held at 2pm on Wednesday, 13 June 2018 at Hawarden Village Primary School.

• 2:00pm, Wednesday 13 June 2018 at Hawarden Village Church School.

DMc    Everyone is thanked for their attendance.