Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE)

Doncaster SACRE is the Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education in Doncaster.

It is the statutory body responsible for advising the local authority on RE and collective worship and is composed of four groups which represent:

Christian denominations and other religions (and their denominations)
the Church of England
teacher associations
the local authority

The SACRE can ask the local authority to review its agreed syllabus. It must produce an annual report of its work and consider any requests from a headteacher to be released from the requirement for collective worship to be broadly of a Christian character.

Collective worship

All maintained schools must provide religious education and daily collective worship for all registered pupils and promote their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

The best general advice on Collective Worship which is supported by the DfE continues to be Circular 1/94:

Collective worship in schools: Download (3.4MB)

Committee meetings and membership

SACRE Committee members

SACRE Committee meetings, agendas and minutes

Forthcoming dates and times of SACRE meetings

19th October 2023 at 4.30 pm
22nd February 2024 at 4:30 pm
4th July 2024 at 4:30 pm

Meetings will take place at the Civic Office.

Training for RE Teachers 2023-2024

Training for primary RE teachers will take place on the afternoon of the following dates, with bookings being taken through BuyDoncaster

- 19^th October 2023 - How can I teach Islam authentically, with integrity and to motivate all pupils in RE 4-11? Practical examples of great classroom learning https://buy.doncaster.gov.uk/Event/207264
- 22^nd February 2024 OFSTED and the improvement of Religious Education: what are the five key messages primary school RE leaders need notice from the Inspectors for better RE? https://buy.doncaster.gov.uk/Event/207268
- 4^th July 2024 Creativity and Religious Education 4-11: Examples of great RE you can use that explore poetry, arts, music, architecture, story and other creative forms https://buy.doncaster.gov.uk/Event/207271

Key religious education organisations

NASACRE website for the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on RE (NASACRE) is a tool for designed for all involved in supporting RE through a SACRE.
The National Association of Teachers of RE (NATRE) website has a large number of resources for teachers and includes information about their various projects. NATRE is the subject teacher association for RE professionals. It works to support those who teach and lead in all schools and institutions and at all stages of their career.
The Religious Education Council of England and Wales is an umbrella organisation for a large number of professional RE associations and faith and belief organisations. Their website has a wealth of resources to support professionals in their roles.
RE Online A comprehensive website which includes a wealth of materials in relation to developing subject knowledge, teaching resources, assessment and leading RE.
RE: The Truth Unmasked This report is the result of an inquiry carried out by the All Party Parliamentary Group on RE in 2013 to investigate the supply of and support for teachers of religious education. The report draws on over 400 sources of evidence and concludes that there are some serious issues which need to be addressed if schools are to provide high-quality religious education for every young person.
RE and Good Community Relations A summary report produced by the APPG. The focus of this summary report is RE's role in promoting good community relations. It shows the strengths which already exist in many schools and colleges. The All Party Parliamentary Group on RE would like to see them become universal so that both young people and society in general reap the benefit.
Materials used to Teach about World Religions in Schools in England Although this report was written in 2010 it is a seminal report on the use of resources in RE

Key religious education resources to support schools

School governors; responsibility for RE - Dr Barbara Wintersgill, author of the APPG report on ‘RE: The Truth Unmasked’ has produced two briefing papers for governors which outline schools’ responsibilities with regard to RE, give an overview of the problems identified by the report and suggest some actions governors might undertake to bring about improvement in their schools. Both the primary and secondary briefing papers care available to download.
Guidance for Headteachers of Primary Schools of Religious Education - The purpose of this paper is to make headteachers aware of the findings and recommendations of Religious Education: The Truth Unmasked, which reports the outcomes of the recent inquiry held by the All Party Parliamentary Group for RE (APPG). This guidance is available to download.

Key religious education publications

Improving Religious Literacy;a contribution to the debate. A report published by the APPG in July 2016 and was written to stimulate conversations about how greater religious literacy can be promoted especially by government.
A New Settlement; Religion and Belief in Schools. This report came out of the arises from the research and debate carried out by the Westminster Faith Debates and the Religion and Society Research programme. It was published in 2015.
Living with Difference: community, diversity and the common good This 2015 report is the outcome of an independent commission covened by the Woolf Institute to review the role of religion and belief in the UK today and to make policy recommendations.
A Review of Religious Education in England The Religious Education Council (REC) carried out a review of RE. This review resulted in the production of a non-statutory national curriculum framework for RE to complement the new national curriculum programmes of study (2013) resulting from the DfE’s review of the school curriculum, (in which RE was not included).
Religious education: realising the potential This Ofsted report was published in 2013. The report identifies barriers to better RE and suggests ways in which the subject might be improved. The report is written for all those who teach RE, for those who lead the subject, and for headteachers of primary and secondary schools.
RE for REal RE for REal explores the role of schools in equipping young people with the knowledge and skills to engage effectively with religion and belief diversity, in schools, in their communities, in future workplaces and in wider social contexts. It builds on the Religious Education Council’s A Review of Religious Education in England (2013) by providing a new evidence-base to support and facilitate continuing national discussions.