SACRE / RE

Information and resources relating to the teaching of the Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education

Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education

Every Local Authority (LA) is required by law to have a SACRE. Its origins go back to the Education Act of 1944, but the Education Reform Act 1988 and the Education Act 1996 strengthened its place in LAs. The responsibilities of SACRE are:

to provide advice to the LA on all aspects of its provision for Religious Education (RE) in its schools (this does not include Voluntary Aided Schools)
to decide whether the LA's Agreed Syllabus for RE needs to be reviewed and to require that the LA does so
to provide advice to the LA on Collective Worship in its schools (this does not include Voluntary Aided or Voluntary Controlled Schools)
to consider any requests from Head teachers to hold Collective Worship that is not of a broadly Christian character
to advise on matters relating to training for teachers in RE and Collective Worship to publish an annual report of its work

A SACRE is made up of four committees each containing representatives from:

Christian denominations and other religions and their denominations which reflect the principal religious traditions of the borough
The Church of England
The teaching profession
The LA, including Councillors and RE advisors

The LA provides a clerk to the SACRE and a small budget for general running expenses. It is the duty of the SACRE to ensure that a revision of the locally agreed syllabus takes place every five years. Southwark's SACRE meets at least three times a year.

New Agreed Southwark RE Syllabus 2018

New Agreed Southwark RE Syllabus 2018 ^{(pdf, 2.5mb)}