ISC Daily News Summary

The Sunday Telegraph this week ran a front page article on the ISC manifesto ahead of its launch tomorrow. The report details a number of the key planks of the manifesto, including a call for the party which wins the election to remove the layers of regulation imposed on the sector and for inspections to be streamlined. ISC chief executive David Lyscom tells the newspaper that the independence of schools has been eroded in recent years, with layers of regulation making the running of schools “very, very difficult”. His comments come ahead of tomorrow’s ISC annual conference, at which the manifesto will be launched.
Private schools attack Government interference (Sunday Telegraph)

The heads of Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, Bancroft’s School, Wisbech Grammar School, King Edward VI School, Southampton, and the secretary of the Forum of Independent Day Schools (FIDS) all write to the Times to highlight FIDS research showing the number of their pupils who qualify for educational maintenance allowances, and to lament the fact that no political party seems interested in widening this access for children. Meanwhile, a Daily Mail reader writes to the newspaper to defend Eton against attacks which are based on “class bigotry and profound ignorance”.
Letters: Free meals success (Times)
Letters: Nothing wrong with Eton (Daily Mail - not online)

The Telegraph’s Saturday edition included a supplement on independent schools. The items included a piece on Olympic hopefuls, with Durham among the schools mentioned. Another piece looked at studying at US universities, with a case study from a student from the Lady Eleanor Holles School studying at Princeton. Vicky Tuck, head of Cheltenham Ladies’ College, is also quoted on the issue.
Telegraph supplement on independent schools (Telegraph – not online)

In the latest edition of the TES Magazine, Hilary French, head at Central Newcastle High School and chairman of the North East region of the GSA, gives her advice on dealing with unruly pupils.
GSA representative offers advice in the TES Magazine (TES Magazine)

A number of reports appear today relating to new research from the Sutton Trust, with the Independent focusing on the suggestion that American-style summer camps for disadvantaged young people could be opened to prevent them forgetting what they learned during term time. The plan is one of a number being considered by the trust to cut down on the cost of the UK's low level of social mobility. A study published today by the education charity says the failure to improve on the UK's dismal record in this area costs the country £14bn a year. The study looks at how much more money disadvantaged young people would earn if their income were brought up to the national average. One of the most effective methods to raise their performance and qualifications would be to introduce the summer camps which combine learning with fun, the report says.
US-style summer camps for poorer children (Independent)

The heads of top universities are being paid more than £300,000 a year, according to the Telegraph. The vice-chancellors of all but three leading institutions received raises averaging 8.5 percent last year, new figures compiled by the newspaper show. Combined with annual pension contributions of up to £63,000, the heads of the Russell Group of 20 top research universities had average total pay deals of £308,000 – significantly higher than the Prime Minister’s. The university chiefs, who are among the best paid public sector workers, enjoyed better raises than the average FTSE 100 chief executive and more than three times the 2.6 per cent average around Britain. The figures have emerged as the higher education sector prepares for hundreds of millions of pounds of funding cuts. Meanwhile, the Independent reveals that former cabinet minister Alan Milburn has supported calls for the tuition fee cap to be lifted. Last week a major body of graduate recruiters called for the cap to be lifted, although Labour and the Conservatives have so far stayed silent on the issue. Mr Milburn said the extra money should be used to attract a “broader base of students”. And the Financial Times reports on research from Incomes Data Services, the pay monitoring group, which suggests that hiring of graduates by finance companies is set to jump by 15 percent.
£300,000 deals for university heads as £950m cuts loom (Telegraph)
Milburn breaks ranks over lifting cap on university fees (Independent)
Recruiters signal hope for graduates (FT – not online)

In an interview with the Independent, the chief executive of the Student Loans Company has said his organisation gave students "a much bumpier ride than they should have had" last year. Ralph Seymour-Jackson accepted that the body had "failed to provide the service it should have done". But in his first full interview since last summer's fiasco – when more than 100,000 students were left short of funds – he told The Independent that the SLC was well placed to deal with the current crop of applicants.
I’m sorry for funding fiasco, says student loans chief (Independent)

A Sunday Times article documents the increasing popularity of British universities among French students. More than 13,000 full-time students from France — enough to fill an entire university — have enrolled on British courses. They now make up the largest group of overseas students after the Chinese, with 3,194 freshers accepted on undergraduate courses last September. The attraction of life across the Channel has been partly driven by dissatisfaction with standards at France’s state universities, the newspaper claims. However, it appears that England’s “study now, pay later” student loan system for tuition fees has also encouraged take-up. The UK is now the most popular foreign destination for French students, followed by Belgium and the United States.
French students invade UK universities to get better deal (Sunday Times)

A number of correspondents write to the Sunday Times this week to comment on the cuts to higher education spending. They suggest a number of proposals of their own, such as the abolition of Ofsted and the closure of colleges which offer subjects such as skateboarding. The newspaper also receives letters in response to an article on “posh” students studying in the north. In the Guardian, readers champion the teaching of Shakespeare.
Letters: Our universities are being debased (Sunday Times)
Letters: Posh plague spreading across northern Britain (Sunday Times)
Letters: A tempest of four legs and two voices (Guardian) 

The Observer reports that teenage mothers are being “thrown on the career scrap heap” because they face so many barriers in getting back into school, according to children's charity Barnardo's. Young women are often left out of school on "spurious health and safety grounds" and feel pressured by their schools not to come back after having had a baby, said the charity. In a report published yesterday, "Not the End of the Story", Barnardo's highlights truancy, bullying and difficulties at school as common experiences for teenage mothers, with few schools showing enough support or flexibility. Many abandon career ambitions and resign themselves to a low-income lifestyle; 70 percent of young mothers are not in education, employment or training, compared with about 10 percent of 16-to-18-year-olds generally.
Schools ‘push teen mothers to be dropouts’ (Observer)

Mothers who use hand gestures based on sign language can dramatically improve their baby's vocabulary, new research has revealed. Academics spent two years teaching mothers from low-income families how to use baby sign, in which gestures represent objects and actions. They then compared them to another group that had not undergone the lessons and found that babies exposed to sign language had a significantly better vocabulary. "The link between gesture and speech is very strong," said Elizabeth Kirk, lead author of the study, which was funded in part by the Economic and Social Research Council.
How sign language helps babies build word power (Observer)

London Mayor Boris Johnson hits out in a comment piece in the Telegraph at schools secretary Ed Balls’ dismissal of the notion that Latin can inspire and motivate pupils. Another of the newspaper’s columnists, Charles Moore, writes a piece attacking the Labour Government’s education record, while a number of newspapers carry commentary on the decision last week, following an official inquiry, not to ban BNP supporters from teaching.
Comment and opinion: This lunacy about Latin makes me want to weep with rage (Telegraph)
Comment and opinion: When it comes to education, the past has to be our future (Telegraph)
Comment and opinion: Should BNP members be banned from teaching? (Observer - not online)

In the Telegraph, the head of a London school attacks the Ofsted inspection regime, after reports last week revealed the rising number of schools judged “inadequate”. This week’s Independent on Sunday features an interview with children’s author Anthony Horowitz, who says the Government has “alienated” children, citing examples such as the vetting and barring scheme, which originally applied to authors visiting schools. In the Telegraph’s Weekend section, an article looks at the issues surrounding gaining a place at a faith school, and the Sunday Express explores the danger Facebook poses to children. In the Sunday Times News Review, there is an interview with Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones, who says employers should do more to teach teenagers about business.
Head teacher speaks out to expose flawed school inspection (Telegraph)
‘Labour has done all it can to demonise our children’ (Independent on Sunday)
More than a question of faith (Telegraph)
How Facebook takes over children’s lives (Sunday Express)
This way for tycoons (Sunday Times)

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The Teachers of History in Independent Schools (THIS) annual conference will take place at the Grammar School at Leeds on Saturday March 20, from 9.30am to 4pm. The THIS conference will hear from a number of speakers and is open to teachers from every level in both the independent and state sector. The cost is £40, which includes lunch and refreshments. For further details, please click here.

Buzz Lightyear has finally found the true recognition he craves throughout the animated children's film Toy Story. According to one in 10 school pupils the CGI character was the first man on the moon. In their minds it was Buzz, not Neil Armstrong who first took one small step for man. They could be forgiven. At least Buzz, with his motto To Infinity and Beyond, is an astronaut - of sorts.
To the moon and beyond: Buzz Lightyear beats Neil Armstrong in space race (Telegraph)