ISC Daily News Summary

Due to the sheer volume of education news over the Bank Holiday weekend, today's Daily News Summary will include stories from today and yesterday. Weekend education coverage will be summarised tomorrow.

Times, Daily Telegraph

The Times front page yesterday reported on a letter sent by ISC to Children's Minister, Beverley Hughes. The letter, leaked to the paper, is signed by ISC Chief Executive Chris Parry, and criticised the government's Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which will apply to the 946 ISC schools that teach the under-fives from this September. Headmaster of Dulwich College Preparatory School, George Marsh, is quoted, along with the school's head of nursery, Helen Strange. The sentiments expressed in ISC's letter are echoed by a supportive leading article in the Times, which states that 'independent schools should certainly continue to offer an independent alternative.'

Schools in revolt over under-5s curriculum (Times)
‘So many changes are imposed. It takes away the joy of the job' (Times)
Early learning (Times)
Nappy curriculum hits families, say top schools (Daily Telegraph)

Sky News, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror

Figures obtained by Sky News under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that almost £120million of taxpayers' money was spent last year on educating the children of civil servants in independent boarding schools. Former Education Secretary, David Blunkett, has called for a review into the grants system.

Anger at civil servant school fee grants (Sky News)
School fees perk that cost us £120m (Daily Mail)
Bad form (Daily Mirror)

Independent, Daily Express

A YouGov survey commissioned by KidStart indicates that children are becoming increasingly reliant on their grandparents for financial aid, with the 'grey pound' helping to pay for everything from school fees to a foot on the property ladder. Reference is made to St Paul's School and Vinehall School.

Children forced to rely on 'grey pound' for start in life (Independent)
Grandparents help buy homes for youngsters (Daily Express)

Daily Mail

Health feature in the Daily Mail on High Master of St Paul's School, Dr Martin Stephen. Dr Stephen suffered a stroke two-and-a-half-years ago and kept a diary of his experiences. The diary extracts printed in today's Daily Mail are adapted from Dr Stephen's book, 'Diary Of A Stroke'.

The moment my world imploded: Author Martin Stephen reveals what it's like to live through a stroke (Daily Mail)

Daily Telegraph, Independent, Times

'If charitable schools were legally able to transfer their assets (the school, its premises and staff) to be preserved in some form of public trust for the benefit of the pupils, most of them would willingly forego all the other advantages of their status.' Henry Wickham, Headmaster, Lockers Park School.

 

'Most of us in the independent sector believe in the wholeness of the education we offer. I have no doubt that the amount of money we spend on our facilities - and also on scholarships and bursaries - is no more than Cognita intends to rake off as profits for its shareholders.' Stephen Jones, Headmaster, Dover College.

Independent schools and the trap of charitable status (Daily Telegraph letters)
Role of parents in education (Independent letters)
Education: look at values, not class (Times letters)

Independent on Sunday, Independent, Sunday Telegraph, Observer, Times, Daily Express, Daily Mirror, BBC News Online

A report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) recommends that long school holidays should be abolished in favour of shorter ones to stop children falling behind in class.

Long summer holidays 'harm pupils' reading skills' (Independent on Sunday)
Time to think again about the advantages of the five-term year (Independent letters)
Long school holidays 'are bad for children' (Sunday Telegraph)
Schools' summer break under threat (Observer)
Pupils 'would benefit from short holidays' (Times)
Cut summer break 'to help our pupils' (Daily Express)
Long school hols make pupils stupid (Daily Mirror)
Long school holidays 'should end' (BBC News Online)

Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Sunday Telegraph, Daily Telegraph

Britain's leading universities have overhauled their admissions procedures in an attempt to socially engineer their intake by favouring students with lower exam grades if they come from poor families. The Daily Telegraph reports on a study by the Higher Education Statistics Agency for the Recruiters' Guide to Courses and Campuses (RGCC), which shows that middle class students are more likely to get top degree results than those from poorer backgrounds.

Universities skew admissions to aid poor pupils (Sunday Times)
How elite universities are lowering the bar to admit poorer students (Daily Mail not online)
University policies that filter out middle classes (Sunday Telegraph)
Middle class and women do best at university (Daily Telegraph)

Times, Daily Telegraph

The Times reports that university entry data could be used to create rankings of schools according to the number of their pupils who reach higher education, under recommendations to be made by the National Council for Educational Excellence (NCEE).

Schools to be graded by number of pupils going on to university (Times)
Pushing all pupils to take a degree just isn't right (Times)
Ranking schools according to university entries 'nonsense' (Daily Telegraph)

Independent

A comprehensive school in Stockport is to become the first in the country where every pupil will have a vote in the way it is run. The school is going into partnership with the Co-op under government plans to set up a network of 'trust' schools.

Pupils to vote on how their school is run, in ‘trust' partnership with Co-op (Independent)

Independent, Daily Mail

Teenagers studying for their French GCSE exams will soon be tested on their oral skills during visits to shops or market places while on foreign exchange trips as part of a shake-up to the exam syllabus being introduced by the OCR exam board. The Daily Mail reports on a new A-level in communication and culture, which will be offered by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) exam board from September.

GCSE students to face oral tests in French markets (Independent)
Pupils can take an A-level in being a teenager (Daily Mail)

Guardian

The Guardian reports that some schools planning to teach the government's new diplomas from September may be breaking admission laws after admitting they interviewed 14-year-olds to select candidates for places on the courses.

Interviews for diploma courses may break rules (Guardian)

Guardian

Every school has at least one incompetent teacher who should be helped to improve or 'moved on', the schools minister, Jim Knight, has said.

Every school has at least one bad teacher (Guardian)

BBC News Online

Schools Minister Andrew Adonis has said that children with problems with vision and hearing are to be offered more support in schools in England.

School support for deaf and blind (BBC News Online)

Times, Herald

The Scottish government is scrapping the one-off graduate endowment fee of £2,289 for current students, but 3,000 postgraduates - who have already incurred the charge but not yet paid - have been told that they will have to pay up immediately.

Graduates face immediate bill for £2,000 (Times)
Graduates asked to pay £2,000 fee as tax scrapped (Herald)
Pupils plough an awkward furrow (Herald)

Daily Telegraph, Sun

Research by the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth suggests that encouraging overweight children to exercise has no impact on weight loss and they should instead be encouraged to eat more healthily.

Exercise does not make obese children slimmer, says study (Daily Telegraph)
PE 'is no slim help' (Sun not online)

Guardian

Today's Education Guardian includes articles on the first anniversary since the DfES split in two, ‘traveller children' and cervical cancer jabs.

Daily Telegraph, Independent, Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express

The Edexcel exam board is resorting to James Bond-style security methods to stop teenagers cheating in their GCSEs and A-levels. Edexcel says it saw fewer serious incidents last year after adopting a high-tech approach to deter the cheats, including electronic tagging of question papers.

Spy tactics in force to catch exam cheats (Daily Telegraph)
A testing time for exam cheats (Daily Telegraph)
Exam chiefs turn to Bond-style gadgets to defeat the cheats (Independent)
Software can catch copycat students (Times)
How high-tech software marks out the school exam cheats (Daily Mail)
007-style clamp on cheating in GCSEs (Daily Express not online)