ISC Daily News Summary

Update note
ISC has received the following guidance from the DCSF this morning:

On 29 April, the WHO decided that as the swine flu virus was affecting significant numbers of people in Mexico and smaller numbers in some other countries we are now in phase 5. Phase 5 indicates that the WHO considers a global pandemic to be imminent. It is still not a pandemic and there have been very few confirmed cases in the UK. However the change to phase 5 means that there is now increased urgency for local authorities, schools and others to review their existing plans or to start planning now, drawing on the Department's guidance.
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/emergencies/planning/flupandemic

 

 

Times
Besides being the birthplace of a game followed by millions of devotees, from Samoa to Scotland, Rugby School in Warwickshire was also a main source of inspiration for the modern Olympic Games. The link will be officially recognised by the school today when Lord Coe, who twice won the Olympic 1,500m, unveils a plaque to Thomas Arnold, the headmaster immortalised in the 19th-century novel Tom Brown's Schooldays. Nine Old Rugbeains have represented Britain in the Olympics, including Chris Brasher, the 1956 steeplechase gold medallist, who also paced Sir Roger Bannister to the first sub-four-minute mile. Other former pupils include Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister, the poet Rupert Brooke and the authors Lewis Carroll and Sir Salman Rushdie. The school will be an official training ground for archery for the 2012 Games. Patrick Derham, the current head master, is quoted.
Birthplace of rugby inspired modern Olympics too (Times)

Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail
In a conference speech today, Richard Cairns, head teacher at Brighton College, will say a training session for teachers which shows them how to wash their hands underlines the extent to which "the health and safety Mafia" is destroying education.
Headmaster attacks handwashing course for teachers (Daily Telegraph)
Teachers to get lessons in how to wash hands (Daily Mail not online)

Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Times
Primary schools will today be told to put computer skills on the same footing as the three Rs and strip back history and geography in favour of 'theme-based' lessons. Ministers will unveil a blueprint for a primary curriculum, which will require pupils as young as five to study blogging and Google Earth, as well as mastering search engines and writing emails. At the same time, traditional subjects such as history and geography will be cut back in favour of lessons based around themes and social causes, including healthy eating and 'well-being'.
Primary school children will learn to read on Google (Daily Telegraph)
Primary schools will make computer skills as essential as the 3Rs - but cut back on geography and history (Daily Mail)
Early learning goals to be watered down in primary review (Times)

 

Daily Mail
Ed Balls is sitting on an unspent £2.4billion cash pile earmarked for rebuilding crumbling schools, auditors reveal today. Schools and local councils have stockpiled a further £1.9billion despite growing strain on public finances as the country spirals deeper into debt. The National Audit Office found that delays to a major secondary school rebuilding programme meant the Schools Secretary has been unable to spend £2.4billion.
Ed Balls sitting on £2.4bn earmarked for schools - which could now be lost to education (Daily Mail)

Daily Telegraph
More than a quarter of teenagers are shunning GCSEs in English literature amid growing fears of a decline in reading in schools. Almost 186,000 pupils finished compulsory education without taking an exam in the subject last summer - a rise of a fifth in just five years. The Conservatives branded the disclosure "shocking" and said many pupils passed through school without displaying proper knowledge of "great works of literature".
Teenagers 'shunning English literature' at school (Daily Telegraph)

Independent
Some comments and opinions on education in the Independent today.
Roger Highfield: With a teacher's inspiration, the glory of science can shine through (Independent)
Leading article: In search of the best universities (Independent)

Independent
The Independent's University Guide has Oxford in pole position.
The complete university guide end of the great divide (Independent)

Independent Education Supplement
This week's Independent Education Supplement looks at why cookery should be on the primary school menu. There is an interview with Lucy Hawking, daughter of Professor Stephen Hawking, and also a feature on top career choices for graduates.
Independent Education Supplement

Guardian
Ed Balls will today order plans to be drawn up for Ofsted to crack down on schools that are failing children with special educational needs (SEN), placing the issue at the heart of the government's programme to improve standards. Under the proposals, inspectors will not be allowed to rate a school 'good' if its most vulnerable children - including those with learning difficulties such as autism, dyslexia, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder - are not making good progress in lessons.
Ed Balls enlists Ofsted to help children with special needs (Guardian)

BBC News Online
The school gates at Lammas School and Sports College look like those of any other secondary school - but just up the drive, around a dozen police officers come into view. They are not investigating a crime but, by screening pupils for weapons, in the hope of tackling violence and the fear it breeds.
Pupils welcoming weapons checks (BBC News Online)

Times
With the bank holiday weekend just around the corner, a timely article in the Times reveals that that Augill Castle in Cumbria is the winner of Enjoy England's annual challenge to find the best bed and breakfast in England.
The best B&B in England (Times)