Agenda item

Purpose of report:

This report updates SACRE regarding its membership, training and other opportunities for the membership.

Recommended that SACRE:

a)      Offers its thanks to Rachel De La Rue, Primary Teacher representative (Group C) for her support over the last 18 months following her resignation from the SACRE.

b)     Appoints Ms Fiona Kelly, St Swithun's Catholic Primary School as Primary Teacher representative (Group C) to fill the Primary Teacher vacancy.

c)      Agrees the DRAFT SACRE allowances policy and procedure (Appendix A).

d)     Seeks volunteers to form a working group to:

i)      Review the 2021 Census (see Appendix A) in relation to ensuring that the membership of the Portsmouth SACRE appropriately reflects the principal religious traditions or beliefs in our area.

ii)    Consider outreach and other methods to attract new faith and education representatives to the SACRE, noting that the Council shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that the nominees are a representative of the religion, denomination or association in question. 

iii)  Report back to the SACRE on actions and progress to widen representation of the SACRE.

b)   Nominates a named representative to the Portsmouth Children's Safeguarding Partnership(PCSP).

Justine Ball, Professional Advisor introduced the report which had been circulated with the agenda.

Membership Update

It was noted that Rachel de la Rue, primary teacher representative (Group C) from Cottage Grove Primary School had resigned.  The SACRE agreed to appoint Fiona Kelly, St Swithun's Catholic Primary School as primary teacher representative.

It was also noted that Samuel Hilsenrath, Jewish representative (Group A) has resigned.  Michael Zeffert, present at the meeting was considering whether he can take on another commitment having previously served on the Hampshire SACRE for seven years.

The SACRE agreed to record its thanks to Rachel de la Rue and Samuel Hilsenrath for their support to the SACRE.

SACRE Allowances Policy and Procedure

Justine Ball noted that it was important for SACRE representatives to be able to volunteer their time and effort without impediment or at financial cost to themselves.  A copy of a draft Allowances Policy and Procedure had been produced by the Head of School Improvement and the Business Manager for Children, Families and Education Directorate. 

Revd Sam Duddles explained the process by which SACRE members would be able to claim expenses in the future, including the importance of seeking permission from the Chair in advance.  The Clerk clarified that it is likely this could be done at the beginning of each academic year.

Following questions from Taki Jaffer (Group D) and Geoff Wheeler (Group A), it was confirmed that claims will be made against the SACRE Budget held by the Council and that a more detailed description of the process for making claims could be added to the document.

The SACRE asked for its thanks be conveyed to Debbie Anderson, Head of School improvement and Rachel McKeever, Business Manager, for the work done to produce the Policy.

Membership Working Group

Justine Ball noted that it was proposed that a small working group be established to help boost membership of the SACRE.  The Chair added that it was important that the membership of the Portsmouth SACRE appropriately reflects the principal religious traditions or beliefs in our area and that it was intended that the group would brainstorm outreach and other methods to attract new faith and education representatives to the SACRE.  The Revd Sam Duddles volunteered herself as a member of this group.  Lacking other volunteers at the meeting it was agreed to send an email to all members seeking help with this short-term project.

Portsmouth Children's Safeguarding Partnership (PCSP)

Justine Ball noted that the commitment for a SACRE member on the PCSP as outlined in the report.  The Chair added that the representative sought was for a representative other than Anglican and that it was important for underrepresented groups to have a presence of the PCSP to act as a link between the Board and the community.

There were questions from members about the qualifications needed and it was noted that many SACRE members are already very busy and are often fully committed to other responsibilities. 

Record of training

The record of training, including the session run by Justine Ball on Living Difference IV, was noted.  It was also noted that NASACRE will be running is annual training programme from September 2023.

The SACRE RESOLVED to:

a)    Offers its thanks to Samuel Hilsenrath, Jewish representative (Group A) and Rachel De La Rue, Primary Teacher representative (Group C) for their support to the SACRE.

b)   Appoint Ms Fiona Kelly, St Swithun's Catholic Primary School as Primary Teacher representative (Group C) to fill the Primary Teacher vacancy.

c)    Agree the DRAFT SACRE allowances policy and procedure subject to further detail relating to the process.

d)   Note that it is still seeking a small number of volunteers to form a Membership working group to help the SACRE recruit new members which appropriately reflect the principal religious traditions or beliefs in our area.

e)    Seek further information before nominating a named representative to the Portsmouth Children's Safeguarding Partnership (PCSP).

ACTIONS:

i)     Clerk to email all SACRE members asking for (say two) more volunteers to join Rev Sam Duddles on a Teams meeting to brainstorm new member recruitment avenues.

ii)    Clerk to circulate further information about the PCSP to SACRE members.

iii)  Clerk/ Head of School Improvement to ask whether the SACRE could nominate someone from the community rather than a SACRE member to the PCSP.

iv)  Clerk to circulate NASACRE training programme 2023/24 when available.