The Hillingdon Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) will conduct an audit of its membership, according to the agenda for their meeting on 25 June 2025.
The meeting, held at William Byrd Primary School, also includes discussions on national and local updates on Religious Education (RE), the Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC), and the HSACRE action plan. A key topic is defining 'Meaningful RE'.
The ASC discussion will focus on the requirements for the conference and its relationship with SACRE. The council will aim to agree on recommendations regarding the Agreed Syllabus. A previous meeting on 26 March 2025, as detailed in the minutes, highlighted the need to review the RE curriculum, which is required every five years. Options under consideration include adopting a syllabus from another borough, creating a bespoke syllabus for Hillingdon, or revising the current one.
Local updates will cover the school art competition and RE calendar, RE in schools (including primary and secondary e-surveys), and an update from the working group on the Interfaith Dialogue Event (HMD+) planned for January 2026. National updates will address assessment and curriculum review, and the NASACRE National Conference held on 19 May 2025.
The HSACRE action plan for 2024-2025 will also be reviewed, along with the budget, overseen by Michael Hawkins, Head of Education and Lifelong Learning, and self-evaluation arrangements. The public reports pack contains further details.
Attendees include Sumen Starr (Chair), Keith Lunn (Vice-Chair), Ria Searle (Group C - Secondary RE Teacher), Tim Wright (Group B - Church of England), Alice Vahdat (Group A - Bahai), Balmukund Prasad Joshi (Group A - Hindu), Alavari Jeevathol (Group A - Humanists UK), Dorothy Sadlik (Group A - Jewish), Angela Lount (Group A - Methodist), Naseem Bint Amir (Group A - Muslim), Ninette Fernandes-Viana (Group A - Roman Catholic), Pauline Byles (Group B - Church of England), Melanie Dring MA BA PGCE (Group B - Church of England), Hedson De Castro (Group C - SEND Secondary School Teacher), Jenna Naulls (Group C - Primary Teacher), Waheeda Rehmanji (Group C - Primary Teacher), David Beeston (Group C - Primary Teacher), Councillor Kishan Bhatt, Councillor June Nelson ( Chief Whip (Labour)), Councillor Jagjit Singh (Group D - Local Authority), Councillor Shehryar Ahmad-Wallana (Group D - Local Authority), Stacey Burman, Michael Hawkins, and Liz Penny.