Religious Education Fund brief

What is the fund for?
This fund is used to support the work of religious communities in Hertfordshire whose members either visit schools to share aspects of their faith in Religious Education lessons, assemblies or in other ways or supporting religious communities who make their place of worship available for group visits from schools. All applicants to this fund need to demonstrate how your activity supports at least one of the five Every Child Matters outcomes:

1. Being Healthy
2. Staying Safe
3. Enjoying and Achieving
4. Making a Positive Contribution
5. Achieving Economic well being

For more information about Every Child Matters: Change for Children applicants are advised to visit the ECM website via the link on the right.

Criteria for prioritising applications

1. The faith community must make available its services or place of worship for school visits during school term time.
2. The faith community should provide speakers/guides who are knowledgeable about their faith, have some understanding of the Religious Education curriculum in Hertfordshire schools and are able to enthuse pupils
3. The amount of any monies given to the faith community will be determined in the main by the usage made of the service by Hertfordshire schools
4. The faith community must provide an annual summary to the Hertfordshire SACRE outlining the schools that have used the services, the number of pupils involved and any feedback from those schools.
5. The fund is not designed to support salaries but rather to devise new initiatives and support existing ones.

Faith groups and religious communities in Hertfordshire who work with Hertfordshire children and schools.

How much funding is available?
The total award fund is £9,000 and funding will generally be awarded in proportion to the usage made of the service by schools in Hertfordshire.

**Please note that there is a minimum award of £500 to any organisation; no application below £500 will be considered**

How will decisions be made?
Applications will be assessed by CSF Officers and ranked according to how well they meet the criteria. Applications will be evaluated by an appraisal panel of CSF managers and SACRE members who will use the above criteria to prioritise the applications.

Further guidance:
Please pay particular attention to sections B2 - B4 - the detail given here helps officers to see how your application meets the fund criteria. Be as specific as possible about how the money will be used, including an itemised breakdown of how the money will be spent and a detailed description of what you are going to do. A lack of detail in these sections will make it difficult for officers to assess how well you meet the criteria for the fund.

Who to contact for more information?
If you have any queries about the Services from Religious Communities Fund or would like to discuss making an application please contact:
Naomi Rose, Humanities Adviser
Standards & School Effectiveness
Robertson House
Secondary Team SROB212
Six Hills Way
Stevenage SG1 2FQ

Tel: 01438 843996
Email: naomi.rose@hertscc.gov.uk