Surrey SACRE | Open House: welcome to 'my place'! - Christianity as a worldview.
Members of Surrey faith and belief communities warmly invite you to come and experience their places of worship and gain valuable curriculum insight for Primary and Secondary RE leaders and class teachers.
Each experience will include a meet and greet by the community, a tour, a short presentation and plenty of time for questions and answers, as well as the opportunity to take photographs for use in school.
Booking your place - each person must make an individual online booking so that we can advise the venues of numbers, carefully noting the times and venues of sessions on offer, as they are not all the same.
For this session, we will be treated to a tour of Guildford Cathedral – potentially with some free musical accompaniment, as the choir will be rehearsing during this time! As the visit is during Epiphany, there is also opportunity to view artwork produced by pupils across the Diocese, marking this important time in the Christian calendar. Realistically, we are aware that for many schools, their local parish church will be the first port of call for a visit to a Christian place of worship, so with this in mind, this visit will also include some input by Jane Whittington, Diocesan RE Officer (and CofE member of Surrey SACRE) on making the most of your parish church, as well as insight into the school workshops that the Cathedral Education Team offer, many of which support the Christianity units in the syllabus.
Guildford Cathedral is one of the most iconic buildings in Surrey and is the last Church of England Cathedral built on a new site, physically constructed around the dates of WWII, and consecrated in 1963.
Ofsted say in their recent report: ‘Although a few teachers had received subject-based professional development in RE, the overwhelming majority had not. Given the complexity of the subject and the kind of misconceptions that pupils were left with, this is a significant concern.’
It's an ideal way to boost subject knowledge in RE and invest in teachers' CPD and it's all for free.
Visiting Guildford Cathedral
Primary and Secondary RE leaders and class teachers.
Early Spring Term 2025 - Date to be announced.
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Without SLA Price
Universal
Free
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GDBE elevate CORE
Free
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Venue
Tutors
BC (before children!) Rachel taught in the primary phase, as RE subject leader in community school settings for much of that time, with additional responsibilities for Collective Worship and SMSC. She has been involved as a writer in the past 4 reviews of the Surrey RE Agreed Syllabus, leading the Primary teams for the revisions in 2007 and 2012; and most recently, co-ordinating the complete review of the new Surrey Agreed Syllabus 2023-2028. She has also reviewed the Diocesan Guidelines for VA Schools and the Diocesan Collective Worship Guidelines (both twice!). In addition to her Diocesan role alongside Jane Whittington, Rachel is currently the RE adviser to Surrey SACRE, and leads RE subject leader training sessions for both the Diocese and Surrey RE networks.
When not reviewing syllabi, Rachel also writes assembly materials and is a regular contributor to the BBC Schools’ Radio Collective Worship programme ‘Something to Think About’.
Areas of specialism:
Statutory RE provision; RE in primary classrooms; supporting RE subject leaders; practical ideas for collective worship
Role within the Diocese:
Associate Consultant for RE (Primary)
Adviser to Surrey SACRE
Jane recently took on the role of Diocesan School Church Partnership Advisor after being school’s officer with the Diocese of Guildford since 2013. Before that she taught in primary schools in Surrey and Hampshire, this included headships in both church and community schools.
Jane set up one of the first prayer spaces in her school in 2008 and currently is a networker for the Prayer Spaces in Schools team, in this role she assists with training and writing materials. Jane is an assessor for the Christian Aid Global Neighbours awards.
In her current role Jane provides training and support for school leaders, teachers, and governors in the areas of Christian distinctiveness, vision and values in church schools, spiritual development, Religious Education, collective worship, PHSE and developing links with their parish church. She works with diocesan colleagues to train clergy and church volunteers.
Areas of specialism: Christian distinctiveness, vision and values in church schools, spiritual development, Religious Education, collective worship, PHSE in church schools, school and church links.
Role within the Diocese: Diocesan School Church Partnership Advisor.