York's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) was established in 1996 as required by the 1988 Education Reform Act.

It's composed of 4 representative groups:

  • Christian denominations, other than the Church of England, and representatives of other faiths
  • the local Church of England
  • teachers' associations
  • councillors

SACRE meets termly, including for the presentation of the Annual Report in December.

Religious education syllabus

Religious Education (RE) is not part of the National Curriculum, but must be taught in schools by law. The syllabus must be produced locally and is known as the 'Agreed Syllabus'.

York's Agreed Syllabus was revised and launched in July 2016 but cannot be made available on this website for copyright reasons. Email SACRE if you require further details.

SACRE's duties

SACREs are legally responsible to advise Local Education Authorities (LAs) on RE teaching and collective worship and ensuring compliance to these.

The Agreed Syllabus must legally be reviewed every 5 years. The LA has to arrange an Agreed Syllabus Conference to facilitate this, which involves the same groupings as a SACRE.

York SACRE's aims

York SACRE aims to:

  • promote a high quality Agreed Syllabus
  • help teachers and schools raise standards in RE teaching
  • help schools improve the quality of collective worship
  • contribute towards social cohesion, particularly in respect of improving religious and racial harmony within the community

Supporting SACRE documentation

View supporting SACRE documentation:

Collective worship

View our guidelines on collective worship:

York SACRE meetings

York's SACRE usually meets in West Offices, but sometimes, also in schools. Members of the public are welcome to attend meetings from 4.30pm to 6.00pm.

York SACRE will meet on the following dates in 2019-20:

  • 9 December
  • 31 March
  • 10 June

View the SACRE meeting minutes from 8 July 2019 and the York SACRE Annual Report 2018.

York SACRE membership

Members are currently as follows:

  • Chair: vacant (Olivia Seymour Interim Chair)
  • Councillors: Cllr Martin Rowley; Cllr Fiona Fitzpatrick, Cllr Chris Cullwick
  • Church of England: Olivia Seymour, Assistant Director, Diocese of York, Education (Distinctiveness); SIAMS Manager; Janet Dunn, Diocese of York; Katherine Harper, Archbishop of York CE Academy
  • Teachers: Claire Hennigan, Yearsley Grove Primary School; Jenny Mooney, Westfield Primary School; Sarah Griffiths, St Lawrence's CE Primary Academy
  • Bahai'i: Daryoush Mazloum
  • Humanist: Ian Hodgson
  • Jewish: Ben Rich
  • Methodist: Keith Albans
  • Muslim: appointment pending
  • Religious Society of Friends/Quakers: Tracey Copestake
  • Salvation Army: vacant
  • Sikh: vacant

In attendance: Mike Jory (LA Strategic Lead).

Also see

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