Sre
Scripture in schoolsWe teach Scripture in our local schools
At MEC, we have the privilege of teaching SRE (Special Religious Education) in our local public primary and high schools. SRE provides the opportunity to impact the lives of young people in our community with the good news of Jesus!
Each SRE lesson is age-appropriate – encouraging kids to interact, think, ask questions, and make up their own minds about matters of faith.
Our Training
Our SRE teachers come from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. Most of the team either have teaching or theological qualifications (and work experience), as well as those specific to delivering SRE.
Our team meet together to discuss teaching issues/behaviour management skills and undergo the required training of ICCOREIS delivered by Hunter SRE or Christian SRE.
In addition, all our SRE teachers are required to attend ongoing professional development training each year that they are teaching SRE at an event/conference approved by MEC.
Our Materials
Our SRE teachers work together with SRE teachers from other churches in the area, as part of a team, under a combined SRE agreement.
We have negotiated materials that work best with these other churches.
Child Protection
It is of utmost importance to us that children are respected, valued, and safe within our lessons. To ensure this, all SRE teachers have verified WWCC numbers before entering SRE classrooms.
Everyone at MEC who works with children is required to complete ongoing safe ministry training which gives guidance on child protection issues. The same applies to MEC’s Special Religious Education teachers. Our training provider is Safe Ministry Training.
According to the NSW Department of Education and Communities guidelines, MEC is responsible for ensuring that these requirements are met, and for keeping records up to date.
All MEC SRE teachers wear a nametag indicating that they have met both SRE training and child protection requirements and are authorized to teach SRE. MEC also provides a letter to the school which identifies the approved provider and includes the name of authorised teacher(s), date of birth and contact details.
Concerns & Complaints
If your concern is about something that has happened in a specific class, the best avenue is to approach the Scripture coordinator at the school your child attends. Every SRE class has a teacher from the school who sits in and observes/ supervises to make sure that children are cared for and that SRE teachers are meeting their obligations. The school will be able to ascertain whether anything happened that need to be addressed and bring those concerns to the SRE teacher involved. If serious, the issue will be dealt with through both the school and the MEC Senior Pastor.
We work hard to make SRE a positive experience for all children who participate and are committed to working together to make that happen.
If your concern is about the choice of material, feel free to contact us through this website. We would love feedback or how SRE is perceived in our classes. As we work under a combined arrangement, concerns can be discussed through the Maitland Minister’s Association who support and guide SRE in the Maitland area: Contact – Roger Burgess 4934 7203
SRE teachers are under a strict agreement to conform to the curriculum they choose. While there is limited flexibility in how a lesson is delivered (e.g. whether you introduce with a game, or different activity, whether you tell the Bible story via animated story or laminated pictures, whether you get through lesson content in one session or two), each SRE teacher commits to sticking tightly to the goals of a published curriculum.
If your concern is about details in the material, please feel free to contact the producers directly at the following links and the Maitland Minister’s Association (contact: Roger Burgess 4934 7203).