Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, has said it would be "entirely inappropriate" for the Government to use emergency powers to prevent schools from making operational decisions during the pandemic. By John Roberts, Tes.

Findings from the Education Support charity suggest 52 per cent of teachers have reported having difficulty sleeping during the pandemic, prompting concerns that some school staff "have reached breaking point". By Dave Speck, Tes.

Jeane Freeman, Scotland's health secretary, has said the Government will start piloting testing programmes in Scotland's schools from January, with the aim of "establishing a sustainable programme of asymptomatic testing among school staff". By Emma Seith, Tes.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education has revealed it has generally not recommended tuition fee refunds in response to complaints from students, stating they have not been "directly academically disadvantaged" by the coronavirus disruption. By Will Hazell, iNews.

Professor Robert Coe, a member of Ofqual's standards advisory group, has said it would be "completely impossible" to grade exams regionally next year. By John Roberts, Tes.

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, writes in The Telegraph in favour of a "one-off special flagging system" alongside exam grades to identify pupils hardest hit by the pandemic.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has confirmed school funding will be increased to £2.2 billion next year, and school staff earning over £24,000 will have their pay frozen. By Will Hazell, iNews. An article in Tes reports on the reaction among union leaders, with Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, describing the pay freeze as a "body blow" to the profession.

According to Schools Week, the National Tutoring Programme has been awarded funding to continue for a second year. By Freddie Whittaker.

A separate article in Schools Week summarises five key takeaways for schools from the Spending Review. By Freddie Whittaker.

Vanessa Ward, a former Ofsted inspector, has been appointed to lead the Independent Schools Inspectorate as chief inspector and chief executive officer. By Catherine Lough, Tes.

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.