WELCOME AND FAREWELL

After many years of service, Brian Gates will step down from his role as Chair of the RE Council at the end of August.  He has dedicated himself tirelessly to the task of increasing public understanding of RE, especially amongst politicians, of improving the teaching of RE by highlighting the need for comprehensive and high quality training for all involved with the subject, and of building relations with faith and belief groups to ensure their support for our subject.  All who have worked with Brian over the years will wish him well in his academic and other enterprises in the future and will be grateful to him for his unstinting commitment to achieving wider recognition of RE's value.

The new Chair will be John Keast OBE. John's experience and vision will be particularly welcome at this testing time for RE and the REC and its member organisations look forward to working with him.

REC CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Please note that the RE Council has moved offices.  Since 1^st July its address has been
RE Council of England and Wales,
c/o VSC, 76 Shoe Lane,
London EC4A3JB. 
The telephone number is 0207 842 8514. 

CELEBRATING RE MONTH LEGACY ALBUM

A reminder for anyone who missed this in the last newsletter: the online Celebrating RE compendium is now available. It consists of 60 pages of events and activities which really give a flavour of the month and hopefully will inspire teachers, advisers, faith and belief community members, museums and galleries to develop some similar activities themselves even though the month itself has now passed.
http://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/2/53875/95669/pub/

PR CAMPAIGN

The REC's PR Committee has continued to have meetings with MPs and peers to press the case for RE to be taken more seriously by the government. The campaign for RE to be included in the English Baccalaureate, whilst it failed to change the mind of the Secretary of State, has brought together members of the RE community in an unprecedented groundswell of support for the subject, not least in the tremendous work done by NATRE including its surveys on the impact of the EBac on school provision and staffing of RE lessons. Work is continuing with the PR company 3:nine Communications and the committee is looking at the possibility of trying to establish a parliamentary all party support group on RE.

RE-SILIENCE PROJECT

The REsilience Project as delivered under its original DfE/DCSF contract has now run its course, with almost all participating schools in both England and Wales completing their programmes this term.  Much of the response from participating schools has been very positive and an REC Steering and Management Group chaired by Joyce Miller is carrying out a series of pilot projects during the autumn term to assess the scope for taking REsilience forward in a range of ways.  For further information please contact

KANWALJIT KAUR SINGH OBE

Kanwaljit Kaur Singh represented the British Sikh Education Council on the RE Council and was until recently a member of the REC board.  Board members were delighted that Kanwaljit was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in May for services to education and to inter faith understanding and send her their warmest congratulations. 

‘ARABICK ROOTS' OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

Arabick Roots is a new display at the Royal Society highlighting surprising connections between the scientific pioneers of Muslim civilisation and seventeenth century Britain's greatest scholars and scientists. It displays rare books, scientific instruments and correspondence, showing how science and culture from the Muslim civilisation influenced and inspired key figures such as Edmund Halley and Robert Boyle and reveals the rich and often surprising history of scientific communication between two very different cultures. Arabick Roots will be open for guided tours are by appointment (call  020 7451 2597). Entrance is free. The exhibition runs until November 2011, after which it will transfer to Doha. For further information see www.royalsociety.org

UNIVERSITY OF WARWICH RESEARCH PROJECT

Dr Janet Goodall writes: A University of Warwick funded research project is investigating links (if any) between parents' religious or spiritual beliefs and their engagement in children's learning. Results from the survey will be used to inform publications and further research into understanding how to best support children's learning. The following link leads to an online questionnaire; all responses will remain anonymous: http://tinyurl.com/parentalengagementsurvey .  Please forward this link to any other parents you feel would be interested in the research and also contact the project leader ( ) if you would be willing to take part in an short telephone interview.

INTER FAITH YOUTH TRUST

The Grant Programme to fund young people's projects for Inter Faith Week 2011 (21-26 November 2011) has been launched.  You can find information and an application form at the website: www.ifyouthtrust.org.uk . The deadline for applications is 16 September 2011.

HINDU ACADEMY

Hindu professionals in the City of London arranged a talk on Experiential Religion at Moorgate on 21 July.
Aiming to provide comprehensive and comprehensible information about Hinduism on the web, the Hindu Academy will during the course of the summer upload a few hundred clips projecting a broad non-sectarian version of Hinduism on Youtube. This site (available at http://www.youtube.com/hinduacademy) has already become an important resource for structured study of Hinduism.

HINDU COUNCIL UK

The Government of India has decided to commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda by declaring this year to promote and celebrate the life and teachings of this modern prophet of Hinduism. A national committee has been constituted  under the  chairmanship  of  Prime  Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to oversee this work in all parts of India this year. Hindu Council UK is arranging a series of seminars and talks on the life and teachings of Vivekananda, including a talk at Brixton Hindu temple organised by the Caribbean Hindu Society on 19 June and a seminar at Balaji temple, Midlands, on 26 July.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF HINDU TEMPLES UK

Following the AGM held on 19th June 2011 a new Executive Committee for the National Council of Hindu Temples UK (www.nchtuk.org ) has been duly elected. President Mr B M Gupta and General Secretary Dr Raj Pandit Sharma have pledged to make available lectures and presentations on the Hindu Faith to all RE Council members. For further details contact Dr Sharma on Tel 078 5032 0050 or email 

NEW RESOURCE FOR RELATIONSHIP EDUCATION IN RE

Body & Soul is the new REToday Services' teaching and learning pack for 9-11 yr olds on Relationship Education. Designed to be used in RE and/or PSHE alongside Science on Human Reproduction and Puberty, the resource explores values and attitudes drawing on world faiths and world views. Teachers in Peterborough introduced to the materials said "A great mix of practical/written ideas. I would fully recommend to mainstream and special schools" and "Very useful and inspiring, should be able to fit into an already overcrowded curriculum as it has been so well planned." More details on  http://shop.retoday.org.uk/9781905893447  

WESTHILL SEMINARS NEW SERIES

 RE Today is pleased to announce a new Westhill Seminar series. Taking place in October, November and March, the seminars aim to connect research and classrooms in RE. Details are available on the RE Today website and early booking is advised.  See http://tinyurl.com/5s7yvna  for further details.

LIVING RELIGION WEBSITE

www.livingreligion.co.uk  is one of the outcomes of a project at Bath Spa University funded by the HEA Philosophical and Religious Studies Subject Centre, focused on improving and extending the use of experiential elements and especially fieldwork placements for students on TRS degrees - a sort of LOtC (Learning Outside the Classroom) for universities. There are useful resources such as profiles of communities who will host students, sample policies and paperwork, and the results of the project's research with TRS departments, communities and students.  The website will only be really useful if it continues to grow and develop, so readers are invited to find the 'get involved' button and get in touch, whether as representatives of a religious or belief community/organisation or a professional RE association - the creators would welcome links with similar projects, examples of documentation, relevant research, further community profiles or ideas for communities we can contact, and (appropriately cleared) examples of student work.

INSTITUTE OF JAINOLOGY

The Institute of Jainology (IoJ) will have a stall at the forthcoming Oshwal Association ‘Mela' on 24th July 2011 at Potters Bar, as well as the Navnat Vanik Association Mela on 13th August 2011; both events are open to public and will include a range of activities. The IoJ will showcase their various publications and activities from the past year, including the JAINpedia project and its achievements. Readers are invited to visit the IoJ stalls and see what is happening at JAINpedia including some screenshots of the upcoming authoritative and elaborate website.

JAINPEDIA

Marvellous Manuscripts at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Sunday 21 August 2011, 10.30  - 17.00

Enjoy a day of discovery, activity, and storytelling, hear the tales behind the Jain Manuscripts and join a workshop to make your own. Open to public and free. There will be gallery tours of the JAINpedia display, storytelling from renowned story teller Seema Anand and a craft workshop to make your manuscript in the Sackler Centre. An event at the V&A Museum, not to be missed!

To contact JAINpedia for further information contact us on and follow us on www.jainpedia.org, Facebook or twitter.

GOLDEN TEMPLE EXHIBITION

The Golden Temple of Amritsar: Reflections of the Past is the first major exhibition on the Golden Temple, the epicentre of the Sikh faith. Taking place at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, London, WC1H 0XG from 14 July 2011 to 25 September 2011. Organised by the UK Punjab Heritage Association.

Further information on the exhibition and associated seminar programme at: http://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/gallerygoldentemple

INTER FAITH WEEK 2011

Inter Faith Week 2011 will take place from Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 November. The Week aims to strengthen inter faith relations in the UK, increase awareness about the faith communities in the UK, and to increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs.  In 2010, many schools chose to mark the Week, making particular use of some of the special resources for schools which can be found on the Inter Faith Week website at www.interfaithweek.org . The illustrated report on the 2010 Week, giving examples of the broad range of events which took place, can also be downloaded from the website, as well as downloadable forms for registering your event.

INTER FAITH NETWORK FOR THE UK NATIONAL MEETING

The Inter Faith Network for the UK (IFN) held its National Meeting on Wednesday 13 July in Birmingham. During the day, a number of workshops were held for participants, including one on ‘Encouraging inter faith understanding through education', which had a strong focus on RE. Professor Brian Gates, Chair of the REC, facilitated this workshop, and short opening presentations were offered by Guy Hordern MBE, Chair of Birmingham SACRE; and Dr Girdari Lal Bhan, Vice-Chair of IFN and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (UK). A summary of the discussions will be made available with the report on the Meeting later this year.