ISC Daily News Summary

The ISC annual conference, and the launch of the manifesto, receives widespread press coverage today. A number of newspapers focus on HMC chairman Andrew Grant’s comments regarding the “moral pressure” placed on parents not to spend money on the education of their children. Mr Grant was quoted as saying: “It irritates me that there are people living in my own city in £3m houses, driving BMW 7-series, taking three or four holidays a year and sending their children to the local comprehensive, which is really, really good because it draws on that particular catchment [area], and feeling that they have the moral high ground. Why aren’t they living in a council flat and driving a Trabant or whatever is the latest equivalent? Why do they feel guilty? Why is there is a moral pressure not to use your disposable income for the education of their children but to use it quite happily in other ways? Why is independent education singled out for this kind of treatment?”  Others quoted from the conference include ISC chairman Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas and IAPS chairman John Tranmer, who highlight some of the positive aspects of independent education. There is also extensive reporting of Lord Patten’s call, made during the conference, for the cap on student tuition fees to be abolished. Lord Patten, who is chancellor of Oxford University, said he would accept a limit on state funding in exchange for the freedom for universities to charge whatever fees they wanted.
Private school parents ‘made to feel guilty’ (Telegraph)
‘Moral pressure’ upsets private school head (Guardian)
Private school parents ‘made to feel guilty by liberal hypocrites’ (Daily Mail)
Class war making parents feel guilty about private schooling, say heads (Evening Standard)
Student fees cap must go, says Patten (Telegraph)
Universities should set own fees, says Oxford chancellor Patten (Independent)  

The Times leads today with a story revealing that at least 50,000 more sixth-formers with good grades will fail to get on a course this autumn, according to analysis. The newspaper reports that Ucas applications are already up by 23 percent – or 106,389 – this year, but the number of places has been cut by 6,000. According to Professor Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, more than 200,000 would be left disappointed, and while some would do poorly in exams, “tens of thousands” would be turned away despite achieving appropriate grades. The new head of Ucas, Mary Curnock Cook, is quoted as saying that school leavers should consider delaying university until later in life. Tim Hands, head of Magdalen College School in Oxford, is also quoted. The Times’ leading article, meanwhile, suggests there should be a serious debate on whether funds should be diverted from early years initiatives such as Sure Start towards higher education. And in the Daily Mail, a columnist asks why the taxpayer is funding EU students at British universities while UK students are struggling for places. 
No university places for 50,000 with good grades (Times)
Comment and opinion: Politics ABC (Times)
Tories: 275,000 could miss out on university (Telegraph)
Comment and opinion: Why are British taxpayers funding EU students at our universities when our own children are being turned away? (Daily Mail)

The Telegraph reports claims that state schools are being prevented from teaching Latin because of a lack of space in the timetable. As many as six-in-10 independent schools provide lessons in the classics, but numbers drop to just 15 percent in the state sector, it has been suggested. A survey of teachers suggested that more schools would turn to the subject if they had additional resources, trained staff and more time in the school day. The research – by the charity the Friends of Latin – found that pupils taught Latin and ancient Greek gained improved analytical skills and increased awareness of linguistic differences. It came as Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, prepared to launch a campaign today to convince more schools to start teaching the classics. Elsewhere in the Telegraph, letter writers give their views on the subject.
More state schools 'should teach Latin' (Telegraph)
Letters: Parents like Latin lessons (Telegraph)
Boris Johnson lobbies Tories to add Latin to state-school curriculum (Guardian)

The death of two teenagers who had taken the legal drug mephedrone, has sparked a debate over whether there should be an immediate ban on the substance, the Guardian reports. Police said they believed the drug, also known as "meow meow" or m-cat, contributed to the deaths of the 18 and 19-year-old on Monday after a night out in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, said there was a "strong case" for banning mephedrone and committed the Conservative party to an urgent review of the drug and other "legal highs". Headteachers also called for a ban.
Mephedrone deaths prompt debate over drug ban  (Guardian)

A comment piece in the Telegraph asks, in the wake of annual fitness tests for pupils announced this week, there is not more PE in schools.
Comment and opinion: ‘Parents could do without the attentions of the heavy mob’ (Telegraph)

Labour and Conservatives clashed last week in an exchange between Ed Balls, Michael Gove and David Laws on Newsnight. The focus was the pupil premium (and education funding more generally), the need for which Liberal Democrats & Conservatives have been in broad agreement. Mr Balls questioned how the Conservatives could afford such a premium in addition to their plans for new free schools, given that they refuse to guarantee protecting the schools budget. It is widely expected that this money would come from the Building Schools for the Future budget, should the Conservatives win the election. 

Over the weekend Balls then announced that Labour would introduce its own Local Pupil Premium, which LAs will be required to operate from 2012-13. While both the Tories and Lib Dems favour using a national forumla for indicating educational disadvantage, Labour are going to leave it up to Local Authorities to work it out. It is also unclear whether or not Labour's premium would represent additional funding, or a redistribution of existing money.

To read this week's political summary, please click here.

Admittedly, it's more a frustration than a matter of life and death, but it is true all the same: British plugs are awkwardly big. Last night a graduate who became fed up with carrying round the world's thinnest laptop with what felt like the world's biggest plug won a leading design contest with his simple solution. Min-Kyu Choi has invented the folding plug, which could replace the clunky three-pin British plug that has changed little since its inception in 1946.
Pin-up boy: graduate’s folding plug wins design prize (Guardian)