ISC Daily News Summary

'There is a strong case for tax relief on school fees. More private schools would survive and the State would benefit as the cost of tax relief would be less than that of educating the students in the state system.'

Private schools tax (Times letters)

Feature on Maple Hayes Hall School for Dyslexics in the Daily Mail's Education Notebook section. The school's founder, Dr Neville Brown, is quoted.

Fighting for special needs (Daily Mail not online)

Freedom of Information figures obtained by the Conservative Party indicate that police were called to violent incidents in schools in England more than 7,000 times last year.

Police called to deal with 40 violent school incidents every day (Daily Telegraph)
Teachers need power to deal with indiscipline in schools (Daily Telegraph)
Violence levels in schools 'very worrying', say Tories (Guardian)
Police dealt with 7,000 violent incidents at schools (Times)
Police called to 10,000 violent cases in schools in a year (Daily Mail)
Schools see 7,000 assaults (Daily Express not online)
Schools in 7,300 cop calls (Sun)
Schools call police 7,000 times in a year (Daily Mirror)
Violent schools seek police help (BBC News Online)

A poll by Ipsos MORI suggests that three in ten science teachers believe creationism should be taught in lessons alongside evolution and the big bang theory. However, 47% said it should not be taught in science lessons.

Would you Adam and Eve it? Quarter of science teachers would teach creationism (Guardian)
Richard Dawkins and Steve Jones give their views on creationism teaching poll (Guardian)
Teachers want creationism (Daily Telegraph not online)
Teachers back lessons on creationism (Independent)
Teach pupils creationism at school, say third of staff (Daily Mail)

The government is to announce today that it will spend £2million to recruit 750 teaching assistants for cooking classes in schools. Compulsory cooking lessons will begin in 2011.

£3m for cooking class (Times not online)
750 staff to get cooking (Daily Mirror not online)
Schools get £1.5m cooking boost (BBC News Online)

A study by Columbia University, New York, has found that poor parenting is the key factor behind the significant gaps in readiness for school between children from low and middle income families.

Bad parents 'widen ability gap' (BBC News Online)
The things parents do in the name of education (Daily Telegraph)

Cambridge University is facing accusations of 'dumbing down' after offering to lend its name to qualifications in garden history and creative writing through evening classes and part-time courses.

Cambridge award in 'wellbeing' (Daily Telegraph)

A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that playing ball games - such as tennis, volleyball, basketball and netball - as a teenager can cut the chances of going on to suffer from brittle bones.

Playing ball games in teens helps protect bones later in life (Daily Telegraph)
Teenage ball games 'can keep bones healthy for 40 years' (Daily Mail)

Researchers at Michigan State University have found that people who achieve popularity by defying authority all tend to carry a specific 'rebel' gene, which could explain how Just William inspired the devotion of his bunch of Outlaws in the famous novels.

‘Just William' gene of naughty boys who lead the pack (Daily Telegraph)