ISC Daily News Summary

Letter in the Independent from Principal of The Cheltenham Ladies' College, Vicky Tuck, in response to a comment piece on Oxbridge in the Independent earlier this week. There are also letters in today's newspapers on home schooling, the attainment gap at A-level and investing in universities.

State school pupils reach Oxbridge - if they apply (Independent letters)
Home schooling enriching (Daily Telegraph letters)
Inconvenient truths about our education system (Guardian letters)
Reward in investing in universities (Times letters)

A report by the University of Buckingham indicates that the success of England's specialist schools is an illusion, and that they are failing to raise standards in the classroom. The report claims that specialist schools only improve results because the schools get extra money.

'No evidence' specialist schools perform better (Daily Telegraph)
Specialist schools' value queried (BBC News Online)

The multi-billion-pound Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme to revamp every state secondary school in England is facing further delays caused by the credit crunch, the Construction Industry Council has warned. The Times reports that teaching standards and morale among pupils and teachers are deteriorating in schools undergoing major rebuilding under the BSF scheme, according to an evaluation of the programme by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Crunch hits funds for schools revamp (Financial Times)
School building programme hit by economic crisis (Times)
Teaching standards suffer in school building programme (Times)
School building project could grind to a halt (Guardian)
Banking 'threat' to new schools (BBC News Online)

A study by the Runnymede Trust, published today, suggests that white working class people are losing out on several fronts, including education. The report argues that the current school system is skewed in favour of giving more opportunities to middle class children.

The white working class; Britain's forgotten race victims? (Runnymede Trust)
Class blamed for bias against poor whites (Guardian)
White working class are victims of discrimination, but not because of their race, says report (Daily Mail)
White working class 'losing out' (BBC News Online)

Official guidance in a paper by Play England and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) states that children should be allowed to break their legs, knock themselves out and eat poisonous plants as a normal part of growing up.

Official guidance: 'Let children eat poisonous plants' (Daily Telegraph)

Feature in the Daily Telegraph on how parents can keep their children safe online.

Online safety? It's up to the parents (Daily Telegraph not online)

Feature on the Steiner teaching system in the Scotsman.

Steiner schools battle to banish 'alternative' tag (Scotsman)

Today's Independent Education supplement includes articles on healthy school dinners, competition and research and starting university courses early.

The Scholarships for Excellence is a scheme administered by the British Council and funded by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, and provides UK students with the opportunity to spend a semester or full year of study experience at a higher education institution in Hong Kong. In 2009-2010 there will be around ten scholarships for undergraduate studies in any subject at any university in Hong Kong. There are also two scholarships for exchange study in the Faculty of Business Administration at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). The deadline for applications is 27 February 2009 and further information is available here.

Two Dutch college students reportedly hitched a last-minute ride to Washington on the private jet of entrepreneur Richard Branson in the hope of joining the crowds hailing Barack Obama at his inauguration ceremony on Tuesday.

Students hitch ride on Branson's jet to see Obama (Reuters)