ISC Daily News Summary

The Financial Times reports on the appointment of Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas as the new ISC Chairman.

Schools lobby chief faces charities quest (Financial Times)

The incoming President of the Girls' Schools Association (GSA) and Principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College, Vicky Tuck, is quoted in the Sunday Telegraph. In the article she states that parents who sent their children to independent schools should not 'sheepishly' hide the fact that they are buying a good education.

Private schools should not be a 'guilty secret' (Sunday Telegraph)

Property company Delancey Estates has bought Alpha Plus, which owns 17 independent schools including Wetherby Pre-Preparatory School, for £120million.

Delancey buys independent schools group for £120m (Daily Telegraph)
Delancey seeks to grow schools group (Financial Times)

Principal of St Gabriel's School, Alun Jones, is quoted in the Daily Telegraph's Weekend supplement in a feature on the government's £40million Sing Up! initiative.

Pupils sign to sing up (Daily Telegraph not online)

The Independent on Sunday magazine profiles St Trinian's actress Talulah Riley - former pupil of Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls and the Sylvia Young Theatre School. A feature in the Sunday Express magazine refers to the fact that the daughter of St Trinian's creator Ronald Searle attended James Allen's Girls' School (JAGS). You magazine included a feature on schools in the run up to the film's release, with references to Wakefield Girls' High School, Westholme School Blackburn and Woldingham School.

Close-up: Talulah Riley (Independent on Sunday magazine not online)
Girls behaving badly (Sunday Express magazine not online)
School for scandal: the hottest TV stars tell us how they were during their own school days (YOU magazine)

Extensive analysis of the Children's Plan - launched last week by Children's Secretary Ed Balls - in many of the weekend newspapers.

If you want a plan, sack the bad teachers (Sunday Times)
Back to the drawing board, Mr Balls (Sunday Times)
If too much is bad for children, too little is worse (Observer)
'Parents may want to think of emigration' (Independent on Sunday not online)
We've got the culture we deserve, yet we continue to celebrate it in all its philistinism (Independent)
How Brown lost his friends on the left - news review (Sunday Telegraph)
Playing with children's future (Daily Express not online)
Children's ideas for their plan (BBC News Online)

The Daily Telegraph and Independent report on research published by the shadow housing minister Grant Shapps, which indicates that 130,000 children in England will be homeless this Christmas as a result of a shortage of affordable housing. The Sunday Telegraph reports on research by the NSPCC, which suggests that one in nine children will run away from home by the time they reach 16, and the Observer reports that more than 4,000 children under 14 have attempted suicide in the past year, according to NHS figures.

130,000 children 'homeless' (Daily Telegraph)
Ministers come under pressure from Tories over plight of England's 130,000 homeless children (Independent)
One child in nine 'will try to run away' (Sunday Telegraph)
Child suicide bids rise to more than 4,000 (Observer)

The Daily Telegraph leads with the news that children with English as their first language are now in the minority in more than 1,300 schools, according to figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). There is also further analysis of last week's social mobility report by the Sutton Trust. The Independent reports on a study by the Bow Group, which reveals that the performance of Irish traveller and Roma pupils in GCSEs has dropped in the past five years.

English is minority language in 1,300 schools (Daily Telegraph)
English, the new minority (Daily Express not online)
Only grammars help the working classes (Daily Telegraph not online)
Let's airlift the talented poor away from failure (Times)
To avoid class barriers, start in the classroom (Daily Express not online)
Romas and travellers fare worst in school exams (Independent)
Listen to Clegg on schools and immigrants (Independent)

More than 500 leading authors have signed a letter to Gordon Brown, which urges the Prime Minister to confront childhood illiteracy.

Writers' plea on childhood illiteracy (Independent)
Authors call on Brown to tackle illiteracy (Daily Telegraph)
Hundreds of authors urge PM to tackle child illiteracy (Guardian)
Sophie joins 500 writers declaring war on illiteracy (Daily Mail)
Authors aim to slash illiteracy (BBC News Online)

The Times reports that a flagship trust school in Birmingham is giving well-behaved pupils a range of executive perks, including access to a computer-games room and the right to wear a special uniform. The Guardian reports that the DCSF's decision to award cash prizes to schools for new tests 'could tempt teachers to cheat'.

Well-behaved pupils given video games and executive perks (Times)
School abandons cash reward idea as success matters more (Times)
Cash prizes for new tests 'could tempt teachers to cheat' (Guardian)
Kids' tests in chaos (Sun not online)

More than 1,000 schools have seen a slump of more than 30% in the number of pupils taking a modern foreign language at GCSE, according to government figures given to the Independent.

GCSE pupils abandon study of languages (Independent)

Tony Howell, the head of the UK's biggest education authority in Birmingham, says some children should have the option to leave the classroom at 14 to learn a trade.

Lower school leaving age proposed (BBC News Online)

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has been accused of 'dumbing down' geography lessons by encouraging teachers to link the subject to celebrity trivia. The Sunday Express reports that darts champion Phil Taylor is helping primary school children in Stockport with maths by teaching them to play darts.

‘Dumb' geography guide tells pupils to study TV soaps (Daily Mail)
Darts give pupils a powerful lesson (Sunday Express not online)

President of Universities UK, Professor Rick Trainor, says universities will lose tens of millions of pounds in funding when tough new immigration laws are introduced next year.

Universities fear massive cash loss (Observer)

An eight-year-old schoolgirl in Norfolk was made to work alone in a corridor because her teacher was allergic to the fabric softener on her clothes.

‘Smelly' girl made to sit in corridor (Daily Telegraph)
Banished, pupil who sparked her teacher's allergy (Daily Mail)
Pupil's clothes make teacher ill (Daily Express not online)

'Merge universities and cut degrees to 1 1/2 years' (Scotsman not online)
PPPs under fire again as parents claim new school will be too small (Scotsman)
School 'blood tests' inquiry (Scotsman)
£43,000 to teach just three pupils (Daily Express not online)
Teachers get above inflation rise (BBC News Online)

How to weed out weak teachers (Independent letters)

Times, Daily Telegraph, BBC News Online, G2, Daily Mail, Daily Express

Research by The Children's Society suggests that children would prefer to spend time baking and playing with their parents at Christmas, rather than receive expensive gifts.

Why time with mum and dad is best Christmas gift for children (Times)
Time with parents is better than presents (Daily Telegraph not online)
Family Christmas 'the best gift' (BBC News Online)
A cold, cold Christmas (G2)
We'd rather be happy than rich and famous, say the under-10s (Daily Mail)
A nasty Nativity (Daily Express not online)

A lottery-funded project is to monitor the way in which playground songs have altered over the years.

Subversive rhymes are child's play (Observer)