Press releases

Three New Staff at Independent Schools Council

5 October 2005
Dr Steven King joins ISC as Senior Press Officer in day-to-day charge of media relations. He works alongside Development Director, Sarah Tunstall.

HMC Chairman's speech

4 October 2005
"This is a [sic] historic moment, something that some of us never expected to see happen in our lifetime", announced Brian Stimpson (alias John Cleese) in his speech to the Headmasters' Conference in the film Clockwise. He was the first albeit fictional state school head to be Chairman of HMC and I wonder if the scriptwriter had ever seriously envisaged the reality. Today I am greatly honoured to have been elected to this position by the HMC membership, but also to be the first non-fictional woman Chairman to have served as head in both state and independent sectors.

IAPS Chairman's speech

3 October 2005
Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to Edinburgh. A particularly warm welcome to everyone attending their first conference, and of course to David Trower and our friends from ESHA, and all of you who have travelled from Australia, NZ, Africa, or indeed anywhere from the four corners of the UK and so far beyond.

HMC Chairman's press release

3 October 2005
Delivering her Chairman's Address to the Annual HMC Conference, Dr Priscilla Chadwick, Head of Berkhamsted Collegiate School, challenged preconceptions of the independent education sector: "The media picture editors' apparent fixation with tail-coated youths in the suburbs of Slough is hopelessly unrepresentative."

Independent school admissions rise at top universities

23 September 2005
Figures released today by HESA, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, substantiate ISC research published last month which found that persistent claims of discrimination by universities against independent sector applicants are founded on myth.

Window on the World: Education in the 21st Century

12 September 2005
Window on the World Education in the 21st Century The Annual Conference of The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools and The Elementary School Heads Association 2nd - 4th October 2005, Edinburgh.

IAPS reveals prep schools' KS2 results for 2005

12 September 2005
The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS), one of the member associations of ISC, has today released the results in the 2005 Key Stage 2 tests taken by those of its member schools that entered pupils. QCA data has confirmed that over 250 schools, just less than half the schools in membership, used the tests.

ISC welcomes consultation on post-qualification application

9 September 2005
Responding to the Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell's announcement of a further consultation on the possibility of the introduction of post-qualification application for university entrance, ISC General Secretary Jonathan Shephard said today:

57% of ISC pupils awarded the top A* and A grades at GCSE

2 September 2005
Commenting, ISC General Secretary Jonathan Shephard said, "These are outstanding results, the best ever. Many congratulations are due to pupils and teachers alike on a fantastic performance.

Proportion of A grades at A-level rises to 46% in independent schools

26 August 2005
Responding to the results, ISC General Secretary, Jonathan Shephard, said: "The level of achievement is astonishingly high, and schools, teachers and above all the candidates themselves can be very proud."