SACRE

Liverpool SACRE offers a comprehensive range of advice and support to schools concerning RE collective worship.

Liverpool SACRE is a powerful local voice for communities with a stake in Religious Education. It plays a very important role in supporting RE, and in contributing to the raising of standards in the subject.

Every Local Authority (LA) is required by law to have a SACRE and all SACREs are composed of four representative groups:

Christian and other religious denominations
The Church of England
Teachers' associations
Elected Councillors

You can download the latest version of the Liverpool SACRE Annual Report here.

This wide representation is designed to ensure a comprehensive local knowledge whilst recognising diversity of interest.

In addition to its advisory role, Liverpool SACRE also has the following responsibilities:

To implement the Liverpool Agreed RE Syllabus
To consider requests from schools to lift the legal requirement to hold an act of collective worship of a broadly Christian character

A Practice Code for Teachers of RE

Drawn up by an RE Council working group with representation from NATRE, AREIAC, NASACRE, this code aims to complement the GTCE’s general code for teachers.

When that code was being drawn up, there was some concern about the implications of ‘demonstrating respect for diversity and promoting equality’ and whether that principle might ever come into conflict with a teacher’s sense of integrity in relation to his or her own beliefs.

This proposed code for teachers of RE is designed to help reassure teachers of RE themselves as well as pupils, parents and colleagues that a professional approach to such issues can and will be observed.

A Review of Religious Education in England – October 2013

Full and summary reports of this review are available from the RE Council website.

School Governors: responsibilities for RE

Dr Barbara Wintersgill, has produced two briefing papers for governors (one each for primary and secondary) 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.

Primary
Secondary

Religious education: realising the potential

In the 2013 Ofsted report, there are references made to SACREs in the challenges, key findings and recommendations. There are also some exemplars of good practice which look specifically at four areas:

placing enquiry at the heart of learning – as a key to improving teaching
high-quality leadership and management in primary schools – as a key to improvement and raising the status of RE
forward-thinking leadership and management in secondary schools – as a key to securing provision for RE for the future
effective RE in special schools – adapting RE to meet the distinctive needs of pupils who have learning difficulties.