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

It is 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 and 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; please email sacre@york.gov.uk 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 and the LA has to arrange an Agreed Syllabus Conference to facilitate this; this 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 the quality of 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

Collective worship

View our guidelines on collective worship below:

York SACRE meetings

York's SACRE usually meets in West Offices, but on occasion, also in schools.

York SACRE will meet on the following dates in 2019:

  • 2 October
  • 12 December
  • 4 April
  • 8 July

Members of the public are welcome to attend meetings from 4.30pm to 6.00pm.

View the minutes from the most recent York SACRE meeting.

See the York SACRE Annual Report 2017 and the Annual Report meeting minutes from December 2017.

York SACRE membership

Members are currently as follows:

  • Chair: vacant
  • LA Strategic Lead: Mike Jory
  • Councillors: Jenny Brooks (Con), Tina Funnell (Lab), Chris Cullwick (Lib Dem), Lars Kramm (Green)
  • Church of England: Olivia Seymour, Assistant Director, Diocese of York, Education (Distinctiveness); SIAMS Manager; Janet Dunn, Heworth CE Primary School; Katherine Harper, Archbishop of York's 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: appointment pending
  • Muslim: Bilal Banda
  • Religious Society of Friends/Quakers: Tracey Copestake
  • Salvation Army: vacant
  • Sikh: Avtar Matharu

Also see

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