ISC Daily News Summary

Times
A letter to the Times signed by 10 ISC head teachers, on the subject of academies. "We feel strongly that the academies initiative is an area where the independent sector can make a real contribution to raising educational standards nationwide, and we encourage all our fellow heads in the sector and their governing bodies to consider supporting an academy if they are not already so involved." The letter is signed by Graham Able, Master, Dulwich College; Charles Bush, Headmaster, Oundle School; Priscilla Chadwick, Principal, Berkhamsted Collegiate School; Richard Harman Headmaster, Uppingham School; Tim Hastie-Smith, Headmaster, Dean Close School; Tim Haynes, Headmaster, Tonbridge School; Barnaby Lenon, Head Master, Harrow School; Nicholas Sampson, Master, Marlborough College; Anthony Seldon, Master, Wellington College; Stephen Wright, Head Master, Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood.
Letters: Academy programme (Times)

Observer, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Daily Express
An 'entire generation' of school children has been let down by the Labour government, a new study has claimed. The report, by the Bow Group, reveals that almost a million teenagers failed to achieve even the lowest grade, a G, in five GCSEs since the party came to power. Over the past decade the number of teenagers walking away from school without five basic G grades, including in English and maths, has risen - despite billions of pounds of investment in education. Almost 90,000 pupils fell into the category last year, the highest figure since 1998.
One million pupils 'failed by Labour exam policy' (Observer)
One in six 'leaving without basic GCSEs' (Daily Telegraph)
GCSEs expose increasing gap between rich and poor (Independent)
40,000 pupils not up to taking key GCSEs (Daily Express not online)

Observer
Exams that do not require pupils to write anything other than their own names should be introduced in all school subjects, according to a leading expert. Professor Dylan Wiliam, deputy director of the Institute of Education in London, said the government should 'reconsider' using multiple-choice tests, which ask pupils to choose from a selection of answers, more widely.
Expert calls for multiple choice tests at A-level (Observer)

Daily Telegraph
Labour MPs are preparing to call for academic selection to be scrapped in a move which will reignite the debate over the future of grammar schools. Up to 50 MPs are believed to be backing an amendment to Government legislation which would pave the way for existing grammars to be axed. They want the 11-plus entrance examination to be abolished and claim it condemns poor children to an inferior education.
Grammar schools face new threat of closure (Daily Telegraph)

Sunday Telegraph
Ministers and education experts in Whitehall would not recommend the new schools diploma for their own children, confidential minutes reveal. The minutes of a high-level meeting last month show that senior figures in the education world, who are designing the controversial qualification, are reluctant to back it personally.
New diploma has no backing from its own designers (Sunday Telegraph)

Times, Daily Express
Plans to include the Iraq war in a new GCSE history syllabus have been criticised as "crazy" by a leading historian. The new course from the Oxford Cambridge and Royal Society of Arts examinations board (OCR) will give pupils the chance to assess the rights and wrongs of the Iraq war, to study the terror attack of 9/11 and to consider why people become terrorists.
Iraq war and IRA terror included on syllabus in major GCSE review (Times)
GCSEs in James Bond (Daily Express not online)
Start Writing Now (Times)

Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent
Thousands of parents are preparing to miss work to look after their children next week as teachers stage their first national strike in 21 years. The action may cost the economy millions in lost productivity, as workers are forced to take Thursday off because schools will be closed.
Teachers' strike will force parents to stay at home with children (Daily Telegraph)
Teachers' strike could shut 1,000 schools (Guardian)
Blair's son to join teachers on strike (Independent)

Sunday Telegraph, Times
Healthy eating schemes to tackle obesity are "propelling" schoolgirls towards anorexia, according to new research. Attempts by schools to drum home a healthy eating message are making pupils acutely aware of their weight and inadvertently driving some to potentially dangerous behaviour, it is claimed. Researchers say teachers are being influenced by health experts who are on an "obesity crusade" which is making it acceptable to mock and laugh at the overweight
'Obesity crusade' drives children to anorexia (Sunday Telegraph)
Schools struggling to keep healthy meals on menu as ingredient costs soar (Times)

Financial Times
A feature on Holland Park School in west London.
Middle age of a cool school (Financial Times)

Times
Pursuits such as snowboarding and sandwich-making are credited with helping Scout membership rise at the fastest rate for more than 20 years.  Numbers have risen by 15,000 in the last 12 months. The recruitment represented a 3.7 per cent increase in youth membership and a 1.7 per cent increase in adult membership. The total of children and young people, girls and boys, who are Scouts in Britain is more than 465,000.
Scout numbers soar (Times)

Independent on Sunday, Daily Telegraph
Parents are to be charged up to £75 a year by councils to drop their children off on the school run. Families with people carriers and four-wheel-drive cars will be hit hardest by new council parking permits, which have been condemned by motoring organisations and parents groups. But despite their unpopularity, the charges - which will be piloted by Richmond council, in London, in September - are expected to be rolled out by local authorities across the country.
Dropping your child off at school? That'll be £75... just to park (Independent on Sunday)
New school run charges for high-C02 cars (Daily Telegraph)

Daily Telegraph, Independent
Mothers should be paid to stay at home and raise their children, according to a report released today. The review found that most women wanted to work either part-time or not at all while their children were under five, but were prevented from doing so because state help for families had been channelled into tax credits.
Pay mothers to stay at home, says study (Daily Telegraph)
Government should pay mothers to stay at home, says study (Independent not online)

Sunday Times
A teeneager from a state grammar school who was rejected by Oxford University despite predictions that he would obtain five A-grades has won a £100,000 scholarship to study at Harvard.  Mark Parker, 18, was turned down by Oxford after being interviewed in December for a place to study maths. So far he has scored 100% in five out of 10 maths modules and in one of his Harvard assessment tests.
Oxford reject wins £100,000 place at Harvard (Sunday Times)

Letters: Homage to the best offered by British education (Financial Times)
Letters: Diplomas (Daily Telegraph)
We have confidence in diplomas (Guardian)

Daily Telegraph, Sun, Daily Mirror
The Sun reports today on the news that a teenager is to become the first pupil in Britain to do ballroom dancing for a GCSE.
Teen first to take GCSE in ballroom dancing (Daily Telegraph)
GCSE in ballroom (Sun not online)
Pupil's quick step to fame (Daily Mirror not online)