Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE)
About SACRE
SACRE stands for Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education. Following the 1988 Education Act, when religious education was confirmed as a compulsory part of the curriculum, it became a statutory requirement for every Local Education Authority (LEA) to appoint a SACRE.
Visit the SACRE resources page for teaching resources and syllabus information. Guidance from SACRE on Collective Worship in schools is also available.
1. About SACRE
The SACRE has a statutory duty to:
- Advise Warwickshire County Council upon matters connected with religious worship in community schools and in foundation schools which do not have a religious character. Religious education in these schools is to be given in accordance with the Agreed Syllabus
- Advise Warwickshire County Council on teaching methods, choice of materials and teacher training in religious education and collective worship
- Produce an annual report
- Require Warwickshire County Council to review the locally agreed syllabus for religious education at least every five years.
In addition, the SACRE can consider applications made by a headteacher to release some or all of the pupils in a particular school from the requirement for collective worship to be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character. This is called a determination. The Constitution of Warwickshire SACRE (PDF, 137 KB) provides further information on the way SACRE is organised in order to carry out its statutory duties. The co-chairs of Warwickshire SACRE are:
- Manjit Kaur (Sikh representative)
- Rocky Grove (Baha'i representative)
The Clerk to Warwickshire SACRE is Jane Bennett. If you would like to contact the co-chairs or the Clerk to SACRE please email: sacre@warwickshire.gov.uk
2. SACRE Membership
SACRE is made up of four groups of members representing:
- Christian denominations other than the Church of England, and other faith groups that appropriately reflect the principal religious traditions of the area. Currently, SACRE has representatives from the religious backgrounds of Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity (Roman Catholic, Non-Conformist, Quaker), Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhi
- The Church of England (Christianity)
- Teachers' Associations
- Warwickshire County Council.
In addition, members are co-opted to the group to include people with particular expertise in the areas of religious education or to represent other groups (Humanism, Paganism and Universities). Current SACRE Membership 2021 (PDF, 48 KB) - The current membership meet on a termly basis.
3. Meeting dates and minutes
We hold one meeting in every term of the school year. To reflect our various partnerships, we meet in either a school, a local place of worship or in County Council offices.
Meeting dates for 2024/25:
- Joint Coventry and Warwickshire SACRE meeting – 3 February 2025 (6.00pm) (Venue TBC)
- Warwickshire SACRE meeting – 4 July 2025 (6.00pm) (Venue TBC)
4. Annual report
We produce a report each year in line with statutory requirements. The report includes details about our work and actions taken by its representative groups in the previous academic year, clarification of our role and function and statistics relevant to RE in Warwickshire.
The latest report for the academic year 2022-23 has now been published and is available below.
- Annual Report 2022-23 (PDF, 1.6 MB)
- Annual Report 2021-22 (PDF, 2.4 MB)
- Annual Report 2020-21 (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- Annual Report 2019-20 (PDF, 4.5 MB)
- Annual Report 2018-19 (PDF, 1.5 MB)
- Annual Report 2017-18 (PDF, 360 KB)
- Annual Report 2016-17 (PDF, 693 KB)
If you would like to view a previous report please email sacre@warwickshire.gov.uk A copy of the annual report is sent to the Department for Education (DfE). A copy is also provided to the National Association of SACREs (NASACRE) so this can be published on their website along with reports from other SACREs across the country.
5. Youth SACRE
The aim of the Youth SACRE initiative is to:
- Enhance the knowledge and understanding of young people of the beliefs, practices and traditions of different faith groups in Warwickshire
- Contribute to the development of social cohesion between young people of different faiths in Warwickshire
- Support the development of RE in Warwickshire schools through the production of documentary resources for schools within the county
- Support Citizenship through RE
- Develop young people's understanding of and respect for the democratic process in this country.
We hope to continue to offer these opportunities and details of any future events will be posted here.
6. Faith communities
The directory of faith communities can be found on the Community Information Database (CID).
If you wish to add or update details about your faith community on SearchOut Warwickshire then please contact the SearchOut Warwickshire Administrator by email at searchout@warwickshire.gov.uk
