Hounslow's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) is reviewing its guidance on collective worship in schools, aiming to provide clarity and reduce unnecessary workload. The review was scheduled for discussion at the meeting held on Wednesday, 22 October 2025, at Edward Pauling Primary School, according to the Agenda frontsheet.
The move follows concerns raised at a previous meeting on 7 July 2025, detailed in the SACRE Meeting Final Draft Minutes. At that meeting, Stacey Burman, RE Advisor, highlighted confusion among schools regarding when to apply for a Determination, which is permission to vary the requirement for collective worship to be 'wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character'.
The specific changes being considered relate to clarifying when schools need to apply for a Determination, the difference between collective and corporate worship, and the meaning of 'broadly Christian'.
During the July meeting, Ms. Burman presented slides clarifying these points to address the lack of clarity on the RE syllabus and reduce the number of unnecessary Determination requests.
Sally Yarrow, CEO & Executive Headteacher (Secondary), asked if a non-Christian school is still expected to include examples from a breadth of religions. Ms. Burman confirmed that SACRE would expect this to promote diversity and understanding.
SACRE members also discussed the workload generated by the Determination application process. It was suggested that schools with collective worship leads could work with others to upskill and simplify the process.
Following the discussion, Ms. Burman was tasked with drafting a letter to schools advising them of the revised policies. The letter is to be sent to SACRE for review before being distributed to the schools.
