SACRE
Legal Requirement
All state schools…must teach religious education to pupils at every key stage…’ (National Curriculum in England: Framework Document, DfE, September 2013, p.5)
Each Local Authority has its own RE syllabus, there is no programme of study for RE within the national curriculum. It is statutory that all maintained community, foundation and VA or VC schools that do not have a religious character, teach RE according to the Enfield Locally Agreed Syllabus. Faith designation schools will use their Diocesan or faith body’s syllabus.
Enfield’s Locally Agreed Syllabus for RE is freely available to all schools on the Enfield SACRE website: http://www.enfieldsacre.co.uk/, please look under the ‘Schools’ tab to see the syllabus and scheme of work. Enfield SACRE is the Local Authority’s ‘Standing Advisory Council for RE’; each Local Authority has a SACRE, and these councils are instrumental in the development of Locally Agreed Syllabuses.
There are some schemes of work which are commercially available for RE. Resources from other sources may be used to support the delivery of the Enfield Syllabus. Schools must ensure that their RE meets the requirements of the Enfield Syllabus, whether or not they have purchased a scheme of work.
Academies are contractually required through the terms of their funding agreement to make provision for the teaching of RE. Academies do not have to use the locally agreed syllabus but are able to so if they wish to. As it is written and agreed by the local community it should reflect their context. Any scheme that is used must recognise diverse religions and systems of belief in the UK both locally and nationally.