Minutes:
Members discussed the on-going work on the RE resources catalogue project. The resources were currently stored at St Mary’s CE Primary School.
Waqar Bhatti, Sue Elbrow with the help of other colleagues had reviewed and photographed a number of items on Hinduism and Sikhism. Items in the Christianity box appeared to be missing. The photographed items had been saved on a USB memory stick. Mr Bhatti would be arranging further visits to complete the photographing process.
It was noted that many of the items in the boxes were out dated and very few were still useful. St Mary’s School had collected their own range of artefacts which were in a better state than those contained in the boxes.
During discussion, it was agreed that it would be helpful to ask a religious leader from each faith group to review respective religious artefacts in order to ascertain whether they were fit for purpose. On completion of the listing of the artefacts, members would need to decide whether SACRE should continue to be the host for maintaining the materials for schools to borrow, particularly as many schools now provided their own materials. In addition, many artefacts could now be viewed online.
After discussion, it was agreed that Lynda Bussley would review the photographs and refer non-relevant items to an appropriate SACRE religious representative member to ascertain whether they should be discarded o not. It was noted that the Community Development Officer at the Slough Central Library could be asked to provide support with cataloguing the artefacts.
Rev Andrew Allen and Ashpreet Singh Nainu would provide additional assistance with reviewing the boxes containing the Christian and Sikhism artefacts and advise whether the items should be retained. Gulzari Lal Babber would arrange for a priest to review the Hinduism resources.
Waqar Bhatti advised that religious artefacts were displayed on the Bracknell Forest Council website but it was not clear whether the resources were replenished or updated by Bracknell Forest SACRE. Christine Isles would raise the subject of SACREs sharing RE resources with schools at a Hub meeting to find out whether other local authorities did so.
Members acknowledged that St Mary’s School had been helpful in storing the resources but noted that finding permanent storage was currently an issue. On completion of the cataloguing project, Ms Bussley would send details about available resources to Cllr Basra to circulate to all schools to establish whether any of the items would be useful in supporting the teaching of RE at their schools.
Resolved – That the RE Resources Catalogue Project be progressed.