In the Autumn Statement announced yesterday, the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, dismissed the Labour Party's call to add VAT to independent school fees, condemning what he called the "ideological" approach and instead promising to focus on investment. The article references a quote from Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC). By Ciaran McGrath, The Express.

Referencing the independent school tax proposal, Mr Hunt told ministers that “according to certain estimates this would result in up to 90,000 children from the independent sector switching to state schools”​​, referencing a 2018 report commissioned by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) and figures from the 2022 ISC Census. By Richard Adams, The Guardian.

State schools in England will receive a funding increase of £2.3 billion each year for the next two years. The extra money promised to schools will enable them to “continue to invest in high-quality teaching and to target additional support to the children who need it most”, according to documents issued by the Government. By Callum Mason, Tes.

Schools Week reports that the additional funds come as an 'unexpected move that will help ease some of the cost pressures faced by school leaders' and offers readers a guide to the Autumn Statement. By John Dickens.

BBC News analyses the chancellor's plans and asks whether the additional funding for public services goes far enough. "The question teachers will still be asking is: will it be enough to take on all the challenges they face?". By Hazel Shearing, Nick Triggle and Alison Holt.

The Times includes a breakdown of the key points included in the chancellor's Autumn Statement. By Martin Strydom.

The Feed the Future coalition of charities has said Mr Hunt's Autumn Statement has failed to support more children with free school meals, despite pleas from campaigners and MPs to expand the scheme. By Zoe Tidman, The Independent.

In the latest 'Spotlight On' blog, Ben Jones, director of partnerships at Alleyn's School, reflects on why his school’s partnerships are symbiotic, sustainable, and specific.

Paul Jennings, head of educational developments and partnerships at Wellington College, also contributes to the blog series, writing about how a day in the great outdoors helped students who had been struggling after the pandemic and improved attendance.

The blogs mark the last day of Partnerships Week, which began with the launch of the Independent Schools Council's (ISC) 2022 Celebrating Partnerships booklet, shining a light on the partnership projects taking place between independent and state schools.

Staff at trusts running sixth form colleges across England are putting together contingency plans to keep establishments open after the National Education Union (NEU) announced that a formal ballot earlier this week had yielded a ‘yes’ vote of 88.5 per cent. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) has announced two further days of strike action in a dispute regarding pay. The EIS said its members in primary schools will strike on 10 January, followed by strikes at secondary schools on 11 January, with all EIS members already due to strike on Thursday 24 November. BBC News.

Writing in Schools Week, children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza outlines part of the research for her new report, Beyond the Labels, presenting the recommendations she would like to see introduced to reform the SEND system.

Research by Schools Week has found at least two councils that kept as much as £4.3 million of additional high-needs funding earmarked for SEND schools. By Samantha Booth.

Ian Bauckham, the chair of Ofqual, has warned that moving exams on-screen must not result in an “experiment with young peoples’ futures”. Ofqual is undertaking research around online testing, including looking into adaptive testing – a computerised test that adjusts the difficulty of questions as students go through it – which could replace tiering. By Samantha Booth, Schools Week.

Home Office figures have suggested that more than 3,000 children were strip-searched by police last year. 19 per cent of adults subject to strip-searches were black, with the figure rising to 35 per cent among those under the age of 18. By Martin Evans, The Telegraph.

In light of an evidence review by the US Health Effects Institute, which has shown strong links between traffic pollution and asthma in children, The Guardian considers whether air pollution should be a factor in choosing a child's school. By Gary Fuller.

Writing in Schools Week, Eleanor Staines Shaw, a Year 13 student and member of the UK Schools Sustainability Network (UKSSN), says that although COP27 is helping to make climate change a priority, more action is needed.

Yale and Harvard have announced that they are to stop taking part in the US News & World Report’s colleges and universities rankings, citing 'frustrations with the list’s methodology'. By Lauren Aratani, The Guardian.

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.