New research suggests independent school pupils are more likely to achieve better A-level results and be offered places from elite universities than their state school peers. By Colin Fernandez, Daily Mail. The article quotes Neil Roskilly, chief executive of the Independent Schools Association.

Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, writes in The Times arguing Labour's plans for schools would be "a disaster for Britain and especially our most vulnerable children". In reference to proposals to integrate independent schools into the state sector, he argues the move "would place the equivalent of more than all the children currently in Welsh schools in English ones, swelling class sizes without the slightest clue of how to pay for it".

A new report from the Department for Education (DfE) has found pupils studying international GCSEs are more likely to achieve top grades than those studying regular GCSEs. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

The Independent Schools Council's (ISC) full statement can be found here.

iNews reports independent schools are on "high alert" for children being trafficked into Britain through legitimate student visas. Tamara Barnett, head of office at the Human Trafficking Foundation, adds independent schools are not the only schools affected, citing some cases where children entered the state school system and subsequently disappeared. The article quotes Julie Robinson, chief executive of the ISC, and references the Boarding Schools' Association.

Following an investigation into concerns surrounding the low take-up of modern foreign languages GCSEs, Ofqual is to make it easier for students to achieve top grades in GCSE French and German. By Pippa Allen-Kinross, Schools Week.

Writing in The Times, Peter Green, head of Rugby School, argues Ofsted could use the behaviour of members of the world's top rugby teams as a basis for the character education aspect of their new inspection framework. The letter can be found three quarters of the way down the page.

According to a survey carried out by the Local Government Association, more than 80 per cent of councillors listed domestic violence and substance misuse as reasons why more children in their local authorities had been taken into care. By Sean Coughlan, BBC News.

The Telegraph explores the potential reasons behind the gender gap in education. By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

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.