ISC Daily News Summary

TES

Large article in today's TES - including a section on the front page - on Bootham School in Yorkshire, which is twinned with Sidwell Friends School in Washington. President Obama's two daughters both attend the Washington school, and the TES points out that there is a chance the President's girls could pay a visit to Yorkshire in the future as part of the exchange programme between the schools. The school's Head, Jonathan Taylor, is quoted, along with Bootham teacher Judith Campbell.

Ee by gum! Obama's girls for Yorkshire? (TES)

TES

The TES reports on research by the University of York, which suggests that 'private prep school pupils who go to grammars arrive at their new schools with poorer key stage 2 results than their classmates from state primaries'. The research - published in the 'Research Intelligence' journal - also claims that 'parents are buying their children advantage by using prep schools to coach pupils through state grammar schools' 11-plus entrance exams.' This week's Economist includes a report on independent schools and the credit crunch.

State pupils do better in KS2 tests but lose the 11-plus race (TES)
Private education: Rock or hard place? (Economist)

TES magazine

Principal of the Southbank International School (Westminster), Terry Hedger, is profiled in this week's TES magazine.

A day in the life: Terry Hedger (TES magazine)

Daily Telegraph, Times, Independent, BBC News Online, TES

The first state school in England to be run by a non-teacher has been plunged into chaos following protests from staff, parents and pupils. Peter Noble was named as Chief Executive of two of the government's new academy schools in Carlisle last year, despite having no teaching experience.

Protest over head who can't teach (Daily Telegraph)
School outsider Peter Noble sparks staff revolt (Times)
Flagship academy dogged by violence (Independent)
Troubled school hit by exclusions (BBC News Online)
Problems plague first non-teacher head (TES)

Times, Guardian, Daily Mail, Financial Times, Daily Mail

In his annual grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), Universities Secretary John Denham has asked universities to 'minimise and preferably eliminate over-recruitment' in 2009-10.

Universities that recruit too many students face cuts (Times)
Ministers freeze university expansion (Guardian)
Blow to economy as new university places halved (Daily Telegraph)
Call for end to student growth (Financial Times)
Universities ordered to slash places for school leavers to reduce grants bill (Daily Mail)

Times, Evening Standard

The Times and Evening Standard report that Tiffin School - a boys' grammar school in London - is being investigated by auditors after it overspent its budget.

School's vast shortfall (Times not online)
Tiffin boys' school in crisis as £800,000 reserves disappear (Evening Standard)

Daily Telegraph, Times, Guardian

A 'superhead' made a Dame for turning round one of the worst performing schools in the country was found guilty of professional misconduct yesterday. Dame Jean Else was told she had brought the reputation of teaching into 'serious disrepute' after giving her twin sister a job at the school and then promoting her to the £58,000-a-year assistant head's role without interviewing anyone else.

Superhead guilty of professional misconduct (Daily Telegraph)
‘Superhead' is banned after giving twin sister £80,000 school post (Times)
Superhead will never run a school again (Guardian)

Independent

Feature in the Independent on specialist schools, following yesterday's news that the success of England's specialist schools is an 'illusion'.

The Big Question: Is the success of specialist schools an illusion resulting from extra funding? (Independent)

Guardian, TES

Science students at a state school in Bath are being taught by 14 trainee teachers, as well as their regular teacher. The idea of saturation teaching at the school is to give pupils one-to-one attention and give trainee teachers more hands-on experience.

The science class with 15 teachers (Guardian)
One class + 17 teachers = improved grades (TES)

Here is a selection of articles from this week's TES:

Lift-off for new grade as first 50 A*s are awarded (TES)
Updated SEN rules may cut red tape (TES)
Trusts offer stay of execution for 440 struggling secondaries (TES)
Low-quality food for the chop, vows dinner judge (TES)
TES Schools Awards - Wanted: winners worthy of top marks for effort, innovation and achievement (TES)
Baby P: can training prevent another? (TES)
Extra pay needed to coax more men into early years (TES)
Lack of support holds back ethnic teachers (TES)
Department ignored bureaucracy-busters (TES)
Welsh pupils' raw deal (TES)
Poor primary pupils 5 x more likely to be excluded  (TES)
Bust causes boom in suit recruits (TES)

ISC has recently been made aware of a company attempting to sell advertising space to our member schools. For a reported fee of £1,000 (or more), schools are being offered the chance to advertise in either 'Blake's Parliamentary Yearbook' or 'Blake's Diplomatic and Consular Yearbook'. Schools have been telephoned and aggressively sold advertising space, being told that their advert would appear next to an article by ISC Chief Executive, David Lyscom. They are also often told that there are only a limited number of advertising spaces available, and that they are being contacted from a shortlist of schools provided by ISC.

 

Blake's has no ties to ISC or any HM Government organisation or Parliamentary body, nor is the article they reference being written by David Lyscom. An older response to Blake's from the DCSF can be found here: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/12234/Document.pdf.

BBC News Online, Daily Telegraph, Independent, Daily Mail, Sun

More British passengers died on the Titanic because they queued politely for lifeboats, according to American researchers. The researchers say that Britons in that era were more inclined to be 'gentlemanly' while Americans were more 'individualist'.

'Polite' Britons died on Titanic (BBC News Online)
When courtesy kills (Daily Telegraph)
More Britons than Americans died on Titanic 'because they queued' (Independent)
How good manners cost Britons their lives on doomed Titanic (Daily Mail)
Man-ners overboard (Sun)