ISC Daily News Summary

Secretary of HMC, Geoff Lucas, writes in today's TES on the subject of selection at 14. His comments have also resulted in an article in the TES.

Why is 'selection' still such a dirty word? (TES)
‘Selection at 14 would help both sectors' (TES)

The Charity Commission is to remove figures for bursary levels from its example trustees annual report for independent schools amid fears that schools would regard them as a minimum standard for passing the public benefit test. ISC had noted with concern that the level of bursary provision indicated by the example report amounted to more than 16% of the pupil roll and more than 5% of the school's gross annual fee income.

Charity Commission to remove figures from example report (Third Sector)

The Deputy Head and geography teacher of the High School of Dundee, Val Vannet, discusses how to improve pupils' map-reading skills in the TES magazine.

A country close-up (TES magazine)

Front page article in today's Daily Telegraph on a study by ACL Consulting, commissioned by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), into the government's Gifted and Talented scheme. The study suggests that bright children in state schools are being failed by teachers who are reluctant to give them extra help for fear of promoting 'elitism'.

Brightest children failed by state schools (Daily Telegraph)
Young and gifted 'failures' prompt reform (TES)

The Daily Mail reports on separate studies into the government's new diploma qualifications, carried out by Oxford, Warwick and Exeter universities.

Diploma courses 'are mired in confusion' (Daily Mail)

Statistics published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that the total number of UK students at universities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has fallen by 1%. The figures also show that record numbers of students graduated from university with top degrees last summer.

Higher education student enrolments and qualifications obtained at higher education institutions in the UK for the academic year 2007/08 (HESA)
Students graduating with top degrees hits record level (Daily Telegraph)
Our universities are in a first-class mess (Daily Telegraph)
Fall in university numbers as part-time students quit (Times)
New dumbing down row as universities award record numbers of top degrees (Daily Mail)
Fall in UK university students (BBC News Online)

The Guardian and TES report on a school in North Tyneside where the head teacher has developed a technique by which pupils have passed an entire GCSE module in the space of 90 minutes - and a third of that time was spent playing basketball.

The answer to GCSE success: three lessons - plus basketball (Guardian)
GCSEs taught in 60 minutes (TES)
One hour: time it took Year 9 to crack GCSE science (TES)
High-speed learning has one upside (TES)
'It was like seeing a movie that I'd watched before' (TES)
Pioneering school that looked to the spaced age (TES)

A lecturer in child development at the Open University, Helene Guldberg, has said that bullying can be good for children, and teachers should not protect pupils from playground spats as they can help them handle difficult events in the future.

‘Bullying' can be good for you - leave pupils to sort out spats, says expert (Daily Mail)

Articles on home education and the welfare of children in the Times and the TES.

Does home education need regulating? (Times)
Home education a cover for abuse? Supporters denounce 'slur' (TES)

Primary schools hit by hackers (TES)
Safety probe as power shock puts teacher in hospital (TES)
Academy pay-offs total millions (TES)
Flagship projects: £35m sign-off blunder (TES)
Academies could create two-tier system (TES)
Strike closes five schools in Croydon (TES)
Non-teacher head quits after just five months (TES)
Constraints on time risk repeat of Sats tests disaster (TES)
Dame Kelly to judge TES awards (TES)
Legal action looms in faith school row (TES)
Refusal to listen on acoustics (TES)
War on child poverty (TES)

Apostrophe's in street sign's have been banned by Birmingham City Council because it's staff spend too much time dealing with complaint's about grammar. From now on, no sign produced by the council will contain the punctuation mark.

Apostrophe catastrophe for city's street signs (Independent)
Apostrophes abolished by council (Daily Telegraph)
Theyve gone nut's (Daily Telegraph)
Scene is set for a pedants' revolt as city dares to banish the apostrophe from its street signs (Times)
A useful mark we should all get possessive about (Times)
The city where apostrophes arent welcome (Daily Mail)
Outcry as city bans apostrophe in signs (Daily Express not online)
A brum deal for grammar (Daily Mirror)
City drops apostrophes from signs (BBC News Online)