According to data from Ucas, last year saw the gap between the numbers of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students entering top universities grow. By Will Hazell, Tes.

Tes also reports on the number of large universities that made “strings attached” unconditional offers.

According to The Telegraph, the Ucas figures showed that eight in ten offers are unconditional at one British university. By Camilla Turner.

BBC News features an announcement by the University of Nottingham confirming it will stop unconditional offers to all prospective students who do not already hold their qualifications.

Rod Grant, a headteacher in Edinburgh, outlines why he believes primary school ability groups are no longer fit for purpose. Tes.

Ofsted's director of corporate strategy has told the women and equalities select committee that some schools are still segregating on the basis of sex following the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the Ofsted v Al-Hijrah case. By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

New research has indicated that carrying out home visits and texting parents information about their children’s academic performance can have a positive impact on pupil achievement. By Gabriel Heller-Sahlgren, Tes.

The House of Lords has approved the expansion of a two-year degree course plan at universities in England, which will see the introduction of shorter, more intensive, higher cost courses from this September. By Katherine Sellgren, BBC News.

A poll carried out by music charity Youth Music and Ipsos Mori has revealed that 67% of young people aged seven to 17 have taken part in “some form of music-making activity”. By Ben Beaumont-Thomas, The Guardian.

Former shadow education secretary, Lucy Powell MP, has predicted that hundreds of council-run nursery schools could close next year due to a lack of funding. By Eleanor Busby, The Independent.

BBC News reports that eight out of 10 councils have overspent on their high needs budget. By Branwen Jeffreys.

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) monitors the national and educational press in order to keep independent schools up-to-date with relevant education news. The DNS is a service primarily for schools in membership of ISC associations, although other interested parties can choose to sign-up. We endeavour to include relevant news and commentary and, wherever possible, notable public letters. Where capacity allows, we may include links to ISC blogs, press statements and information about school or association events. News stories are selected based on their relevance to the independent sector as a whole. Editorial control of the DNS remains solely with the ISC.

Sign-up to the email service is available on our website.

Members can contact the ISC if they know in advance of news, letters or opinions that are likely to feature in the media, or are aware of existing coverage which they would like to see featured in the DNS.

Headlines and first-line summaries are written by the ISC with the link directing to the source material. You should read and comply with the terms and conditions of the websites to which we link.