ISC Daily News Summary

Daily Telegraph
In an exclusive extract from his new diaries, John Rae paints a vivid picture of life at Westminster School while he was its headmaster.
Wise words from Westminster School's former headmaster (Daily Telegraph)

Independent
The Independent reports that figures released today show that British unversities spent a record amount on bursaries to help young people from poorer homes enter higher education, although almost one in 10 students eligible for university bursaries are failing to claim the cash, according to a report by the Office for Fair Access.
An urgent university challenge (Independent)
Bursaries failing to attract poor students (Independent)

Times
Further coverage of the news that Ofsted has suggested children study Twitter.
What we wish we had learnt at school (Times)

Financial Times
Children should be taught financial skills ranging from converting different currencies to using spreadsheets to manage money by age 11, according to a leaked draft of a government-commissioned report by Sir Jim Rose.
Money lessons urged for pupils (Financial Times not online)

Times
Primary school pupils will be taught to speak properly and recognise how to use standard English in formal settings, under proposals to overhaul the curriculum for seven to 11-year-olds. The proposals will place strict emphasis on teaching children to "adjust what they say according to the formality of the context and the needs of their audience". The reforms, to be finalised in April, follow similar changes to the secondary curriculum, which aimed to banish expressions such as "I ain't" from pupils' presentations.
Primaries will teach seven-year-olds to speak properly (Times)

Daily Mail, Guardian, BBC News Online, Daily Telegraph, Independent
Teachers yesterday threatened to scupper primary school SATs and league tables by boycotting the tests next summer. England's biggest unions for heads and teaching staff launched a joint campaign aimed at derailing the tests for seven and 11-year-olds if ministers don't scrap them. The National Union of Teachers and National Association of Head Teachers will put identical motions to their members at their annual conferences this spring calling for a boycott.
Teachers threaten a mass boycott of SATs (Daily Mail)
Education unions plan 2010 Sats boycott (Guardian)
Schools may try to boycott Sats (BBC News Online)
Primary teachers' boycott aims to force scrapping of Key Stage tests (Times)
You don't need to teach the little ones to tweet (Daily Telegraph not online)
Let teachers excite a passion for the past (comment, Guardian not online)
Heads may strike over pupil testing (Independent not online)

Daily Mirror
School caterers warned yesterday that pupils will go to takeaways if healthy eating rules are introduced. Strict Government guidelines say school meals must meet 14 nutritional standards from September. But caterers want to continue serving popular items such as pizza and baguettes alongside the healthier meals.
Food rules send pupils to chippy (Mirror)

Daily Telegraph
PlayStation and Xbox games help children become the scientists and engineers of the future, a professor has claimed. Children who spend hours every day on their Playstation or Xbox video consoles are improving their brains, according to new research. A study of 12 year-olds found they boosted crucial visual-spatial skills in which a child learns by thinking in pictures and images.
PlayStation and Xbox games 'turn children into scientists and engineers' (Daily Telegraph)

Independent
This week's Independent Education Supplement looks at the issue of university bursaries, the lack of male primary teachers and Katie Derham recalls her sporting days at Cambridge.
The Independent Education Supplement

 

BBC News Online
Thousands of young people across the UK are organising their own news programmes in a BBC-led project. More than 500 schools are taking part in the third year of School Report. Obesity, music piracy, SATs tests, teenagers' behaviour and schools with dozens of different languages spoken are among the topics being tackled. Students have been out filming or interviewing for television, radio or text based reports which are live on school websites from 26 March.
School reporters ready to go live (BBC News Online)