SACRE advises the Local Education Authority on Religious Education, and the Act of Collective Worship
in their schools.
Peter Wood is currently a co-opted member of SACRE, representing Cornwall Humanists.
Sacre Agreed Syllabus Meeting of 29th June 2004
Cornwall Humanists offered advice to the neeting of 29th June in the form of three short papers.
The first drew attention to the lack of explicit reference in the present Agreed Syllabus to the needs of
non-religious pupils.
The second was advice for teachers from BHA on how to make non-religious pupils feel included in RE lessons.
The third was an extract from the 1999 Ealing Agreed Syllabus which explicitly includes non-religious pupils.
SACRE representatives on the Agreed Syllabus Conference of 29th June voted unanimously that the contribution
from Cornwall Humanists was not useful to them. When I reported back to our Cornwall Humanists meeting that
our offering had been rejected so comprehensively, Cornwall Humanists members were puzzled. They found it
strange that some of the teacher representatives should have been so critical of our three documents.
Members felt that teacher representatives should have supported our suggestion that the needs of the
non-religious pupil require explicit recognition in our next Agreed Syllabus.
Interestingly there was a larger than usual attendance by members of the public who were supplied with
various documents by Ann Whittaker arguing amongst other things that .."RE is to be based on Christianity
not a multiplicity of competing claims".
When the vote rejecting the contribution from Cornwall Humanists was announced, there was light applause
from the public area.
Comment;
Cornwall Humanists have not pressed for the inclusion of Humanism in the new Agreed Syllabus. We only ask
that non-religious pupils are treated fairly; that their views are respected in RE lessons, and that a
requirement to this effect should be included in the new Agreed Syllabus.
SACRE has consulted schools and has received 89 responses. We are pleased to see that pupils' views have
also been sought using a questionnaire devised by Dr Penny Jennings of the University of Wales. We hope that
a representative group of parents can contribute their ideas too.
In the National Census of 2001 about 16%, over 80,000 people in Cornwall, declared themselves to have "No
Religion".
It is to be hoped that SACRE members will try to include this large group when planning their new Agreed
Syllabus.
Report by Peter Wood
