Purpose

To act as the project board, as a sub-committee of the Board of the RE Council  with its full authority,  to ensure that  the project is properly planned , that all products meet the highest professional  standards and that it is  delivered on schedule and within budget.

Membership

Joyce Miller, chair; Sughra Ahmed ; Phil Leivers ; Francis Loftus ; ANO;  ANO (Welsh)
With, in attendance:
DCSF representative(s); Geoffrey Penzer; Sarah Smalley;  (Trevor Cooling)

Membership of the group may change, subject to need.

Meetings

Will take place monthly and will be chaired by Joyce Miller.  The group will agree, at its first meeting, the location and dates for its meetings.  A draft list of dates is appended to this document.

Activities

Appointments:

To appoint the project team on behalf of the REC Board

Reports:

To report progress of REsilience to the REC Board at its bi-monthly meetings and to the RE Council at its bi-annual meetings
To receive fortnightly reports from Geoffrey Penzer, the project manager, on the progress of the project
To receive advice, when offered, from the Advisory Group (AG), through its Chair.
To ensure that the project’s communications with stakeholders is timely, suitable and effective.

Plans:

To agree the Project Initiation Document (PID)
To approve all major project plans and to determine the format and timescales of all work packages
To authorise any significant deviations from such plans once approved
To sign off the completion of each project phase and to authorise the start of the next phase
To direct the project team to the individuals and organisations with any specific expertise that is needed in order to design and deliver this programme,
To ensure that the necessary resources are available to the Project Team (PT) for them to do their work

Monitoring and evaluation:

To assure, along with the AG, the quality review processes of the specifications for the work packages determined by the PT
To ensure that the project team is implementing the agreed plans appropriately and efficiently.
To monitor the progress of the project
To check that the project remains on time and within budget
To ensure that the objectives defined in the PID are achieved
To determine the format and structure of the final evaluation report, in collaboration with the AG
If necessary, decline to authorise plans or products until it is satisfied that any issues identified have been fully addressed and resolved.

Problem solving:

To address and resolve difficulties that arise in the delivery of the contact, in association with the project manager
To arbitrate when there is contention for resources between different strands of the project;
 

Executive Delivery Group

Proposed dates for meetings:
23  June  2009
21 July  2009      10.00- 12.00             
19 August  2009                
30 September  2009
5 November  2009                
8 December  2009
6 January  2010
9 February  2010
31 March  2010

Ghulam Abbas is the Deputy Head of the Community Cohesion Unit at the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). He was instrumental in setting up the Unit back in September 2007 and in developing its strategy and work programme for supporting schools in both implementing the new duty to promote community cohesion and in building the resilience of children and young people to violent extremism. Ghulam has worked for DCSF and its various incarnations for the last nine years. He is an experienced team leader and manager with a good knowledge of the school sector and school improvement, having worked on range of policies from Education Action Zones, Excellence in Cities, the National Strategies and on the Green Paper to improve the outcomes for children in care.

Sughra Ahmed is a Research Fellow in the Policy Research Centre of the Islamic Foundation where her area of research is currently young Muslims in Britain. She is a trustee of  Interfaith Network UK and previously co-ordinated the ‘Women in Faith’ project training British Muslim women to get involved in interfaith activity at  regional and national levels. She is also a trainer in Diversity and Cultural Awareness. She is co-founder of the Young Muslims Forum, a member of the Leicester Council of Faiths and the Faith Leaders Forum. 

Phil Leivers is currently a Children’s Service Improvement Adviser with Solihull Local Authority. In this role he has the strategic lead for Religious Education, Community Cohesion and PVE, delivers officer support to Solihull SACRE and works as a School Improvement Adviser. Since July 2008, Phil has been the Chair of the Association of RE Inspectors, Advisers and Consultants (AREIAC). He is chairing a steering group which is overseeing the production of an e-resource to support CPD in RE. He is a member of the Board of the REC.

Francis Loftus has been an RE teacher for 33 years.  He has been working with NATRE and its predecessor organisations for 25 years.   He is currently the Head of an 11-16 secondary school in North Yorkshire and is a principal examiner with the AQA.   His interests span the whole range of RE but also staff development and training.  He is Chair of the Yorkshire and Humberside Employers Panel for Investors in People.

Joyce Miller is the former Head of Diversity and Cohesion at Education Bradford with responsibility for religious education, community cohesion and race equality.  She now chairs Bradford’s SACRE and is vice chair of the Schools Linking Network and deputy chair of the REC.  Until July 2008, she was the Chair of AREIAC and is a former editor of REsource, (NATRE’s journal). She is currently engaged in doctoral research on community cohesion and religious education at the University of Warwick where she is an Associate Fellow. 

Geoffrey Penzer’s career has been split into three phases.  After training as a scientist and a period of post-doctoral work in California, he was a lecturer in biological chemistry at the University of York.  He then moved on to work for the British Council, mostly helping to administer the British aid programme during postings to Egypt and Mexico, and then for a period back in London where he ran the department responsible for organising government-funded training for students from overseas.  At the beginning of 1992, he left the Council and (with a colleague) set up Penzer Allen as a management consultancy working mainly in the public and not-for-profit sectors, assisting clients to manage change and development. 

Sarah Smalley  taught RE, Humanities, PSHE and Music in two comprehensive schools.  She was General Adviser for RE and SACRE in Cambridgeshire from 1990 to 2006, and worked extensively in CPD, policy development and engagement with faith and belief groups.  Since then she has worked as an independent consultant including most recently the role of executive support officer for the REC.  She was Chair of AREIAC from 2004 -6.  Sarah has a special interest in Muslim diversity and her PhD research was based on fieldwork amongst two contrasting Muslim communities in Peterborough.