Thereare two new Religious Education (RE) Advisers in the Diocesan Education Team. KateCope and Tracy Lister took up their posts at the beginning of January and betweenthem will provide RE support to schools across the Diocese and as well as beinginvolved in RE training. Both Kate and Tracy will also continue to workpart-time in church schools in the Diocese.
KateCope has worked at St Matthias CE Primary School for the past nine years. Sheis the lead teacher for RE as well as teaching Maths and English in Key Stage 2.Since 1997, Kate has worked in a variety of teaching roles from Early Years toKey Stage 2, with additional experience in Behaviour and Special EducationalNeeds and Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) teams. As RE Lead, she hasformed a termly RE Hub in Malvern and hosts a Malvern Debate with a group oflocal schools. This year, she is trying to promote global links duringcollective worship, having invited various charitable organisations to leadassemblies in her school.
Katesaid: I am thrilled to be working for the Diocese with the team. Iparticularly look forward to going into schools to meet headteachers, RE leadsand teachers for training and support.
Kateis married to Paul and they have two teenagers, Ellen and Liam, and a threeyear old Springer Spaniel, Ruby. The family love walking on the Malvern Hills,running, cycling and visiting parks, mountains and lakes around the UK. In herspare time Kate loves running with her dog, having completed many halfmarathons and recently, her first marathon.
TracyLister has been teaching in Whittington CE Primary School in Worcester for thepast 14 years in the roles of part-time Year 3 teacher, Modern Foreign Languages(MFL) specialist and RE Lead. In her role as RE Lead she has organised avariety of whole school initiatives, including diversity and interfaith workshopsand has shared her creative approach to teaching RE with other schools. Beforejoining Whittington CE Primary in 2005, Tracy spent six years as PA to theManaging Director and in the Marketing Department at Worcester Bosch.
Tracysaid: I am honoured to be invited to be a member of the Education Team and verymuch look forward to sharing and developing ideas and good practice inReligious Education across Worcestershire schools. It is such an enjoyable andengaging subject and promotes understanding and respect for all.
Tracyis married to Steven and they have a teenage daughter, Holly, who is a keenlinguist and dancer. They also have two pups, a West Highland Terrier, Molly,and a Scottish Terrier, McMillan and they all love family together time especially on long countryside and seaside walks. Tracy loves a variety ofmusic, especially musicals, the Rat Pack and anything by Take That!
MargaretJames, Director of Education at the Diocese of Worcester, said: We aredelighted to welcome two new RE Advisers to our team. Kate and Tracy both workpart-time in Church of England Primary schools and we are looking forward tobenefiting from their up-to-date expertise and ongoing practice and leadershipof RE in church schools. Religious education is vital in equipping childrenwith the skills to understand and respect flourishing multi-cultural societiesin the modern world. Teaching this subject can alleviate pressures associatedwith a lack of understanding, which have often led to segregation in our world.Fear stems from ignorance; knowledge can extinguish fear and improverelationships for all in our societies.
