The meeting was mostly concerned with applications made by two local primary schools, Heston Primary School and Grove Road Primary School, to determine their own religious education and collective worship policies. The committee agreed to both applications.

Heston Primary School

Heston Primary School's draft policy was discussed first. The school had opted to use the locally agreed syllabus for religious education, and wished to determine its own policy for collective worship. They were seeking a determination because

The school wishes to be inclusive of pupils from all faiths and those with no faith, as well as reflecting the diversity of the school community in terms of ethnicity, culture and heritage.

This reflects the commitment in the council's manifesto to promoting tolerance and respect between different faith and cultural groups. ¹

The committee discussed the policy and the consultation process undertaken by the school. Noting that the school had consulted appropriately, and had produced a policy that met the requirements of the relevant legislation, the committee agreed the determination.

Grove Road Primary School

Next, the committee discussed the application by Grove Road Primary School. The school was seeking a determination to allow it to determine both its religious education syllabus and its collective worship policy. This is allowed under the Education Act 1996, which sets out the legal framework for education in England and Wales. The school wished to determine its own policies because

our school community is diverse and although many families identify with a faith, there are also a significant number of families who do not identify with a faith. We believe that a bespoke curriculum can be designed which is sensitive and inclusive of the needs of our school community.

The school's application was accompanied by a copy of its proposed syllabus, its proposed collective worship policy, and details of the consultation that had been undertaken with parents, staff and pupils. This consultation showed that there was broad support for the proposal to determine.

After a short discussion the committee agreed to the school's request.