The Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) met on Thursday 4 June 2026 to discuss the future of Religious Education (RE) provision in County Durham. Key decisions included pausing the Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC) and extending the current Locally Agreed Syllabus, and adopting a new Code of Conduct for SACRE members. The council also noted the Annual Report for 2024-2025 and received an update on RE provision from Education Durham.

Agreed Syllabus Conference Paused

Members agreed to pause the Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC) until there is legal clarity regarding the future of RE within the National Curriculum. The current Locally Agreed Syllabus will be extended as the statutory document during this interim period. This decision was made to allow SACRE to focus on how best to support schools with their RE provision while awaiting national developments.

Adoption of SACRE Code of Conduct

It was agreed that a new Durham SACRE Code of Conduct was adopted by the committee. This document outlines SACRE's statutory duty to improve the quality of RE and collective worship for all pupils in County Durham. It also emphasizes that SACRE, as a public body, aims to embody the Seven Principles of Public Life, also known as the Nolan Principles, which include selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership. Discussions around the draft document included streamlining notification procedures for school visits and adding a commitment to attend relevant National Association of Standing Advisory Councils for RE (NASACRE) training.

Annual Report 2024-2025 Noted

Members considered the Annual Report 2024-2025, which details SACRE's work during the academic year and is submitted to NASACRE and the Department for Education (DfE). The report highlighted that Durham SACRE had not submitted an annual report to the DfE since 2013, but future reports would be shared with members for review before submission. The Chair thanked the Senior Professional Development Advisor for her diligence in ensuring the report was completed on time. The contents of the report were noted by the members.

Education Durham Report to SACRE

A report from Education Durham was presented, providing an overview of statistics for RE networks and courses, references to RE in Ofsted reports under the new framework, and an explanation of a 2025 Key Stage 4 (KS4) 'actual' and 'value-added' outcomes anomaly. The report also outlined an opportunity for SACRE to lead a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) day for schools and detailed progress from the Local Authority representative group.

The Specialist Adviser shared that attendance at networks and courses had been good, with numbers ranging from 22 to 50 teachers. Regarding Ofsted inspections, RE was mentioned in the 'personal development and wellbeing' section of published reports, with a spiky pattern observed across schools, generally reflecting an expected standard of understanding different faiths and cultures.

An explanation was provided for the KS4 outcomes anomaly, which was due to a cohort of young people not undertaking SATs in Year 6 during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in no Key Stage 2 data. This meant that 353 pupils had no value-added data.

An opportunity was highlighted for SACRE members to lead a CPD event entitled 'Nobody Stands Nowhere', aimed at supporting teachers and subject leads in moving towards a religion and worldviews approach. The event is designed for a teacher and two pupils from Years 5/6 or 7/8, providing a valuable opportunity for pupils to engage with individuals from diverse religious and non-religious worldviews.

NASACRE Updates and Future Meetings

It was suggested that National Association of SACRE (NASACRE) updates would become a standing agenda item to share insights and training information. A brief overview of NASACRE's role in representing SACREs nationally and supporting RE was provided. The Chair, who had attended the NASACRE conference, would circulate a summary and slides. Councillor E Pears highlighted the training available for new members, such as 'So you've joined your local SACRE'.

The next meeting of SACRE was scheduled for Thursday 5 November 2026, with the venue to be confirmed, though the new 'The Light' building at Akley Heads had been suggested.

Other Business

Members discussed how SACRE could support schools in fulfilling the National Content Standard for RE. The planned CPD event, 'Nobody Stands Nowhere', was seen as an opportunity for SACRE to lead a CPD day for schools. Members expressed interest in supporting the planning of future school engagement events, with several teaching members and religious and non-religious worldview representatives offering their support. The local authority has committed a budget to support the event, and members were encouraged to seek additional financial input from networks and organisations. Training for teachers on disciplinary knowledge such as theology, philosophy, and social sciences was suggested as a useful component for future CPD.