Leaders from the National Education Union (NEU) have said that the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, is “on notice” to “change her stance” over the pay dispute or face millions of pupils missing school again as a result of further teacher strikes. The NEU is calling for a fully-funded, inflation-related rise. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

Tes has spoken to policy experts and teaching union leaders about whether schools should be planning for more strikes next month, and what could lead to a breakthrough to avoid further industrial action. By Callum Mason.

Writing in Tes, Stephen Morgan, the Labour shadow schools minister, says responsibility for the strikes "lies squarely with the Conservative Government".

The OCR and Cambridge International exam boards have said that pupils studying GCSE computer science, IGCSEs in English and AS-level history are to be offered the chance to sit digital mock exams in a new pilot test. Examiners predict that digital exams will eventually become the norm for qualifications including GCSEs, IGCSEs and A-levels. By Danny Halpin, The Independent.

Data released by the Department for Education (DfE) has revealed that King’s College London Mathematics School (KCLMS), a state school, has topped the rankings for average A-level grades in 2022. Several schools in membership of the Independent Schools Council's (ISC) constituent associations are referenced. By Catherine Lough, The Telegraph.

Research by the FFT Education Datalab has found that STEM subjects are 'far more popular' with high-achieving GCSE students, attributed partly to schools setting tougher entry requirements. Experts have subsequently warned that schools should take particular care to “consider context” when selecting students for A-levels in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects. By Matilda Martin, Tes.

Josh MacAlister, chair of the independent review of children’s social care, has said that the Government's £200 million plan to fix the childcare sector, published today, is not ambitious enough to tackle the crisis. By James Beal, The Times.

Schools Week takes a closer look at the report. By Freddie Whittaker.

A poll conducted by the UPP Foundation and Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) suggests that a third of young people think a university degree is “a waste of time”. The survey also found that 58 per cent believe “a university degree does not prepare students for the real world”. By Blathnaid Corless and Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph.

According to The Telegraph, free speech powers to protect contentious speakers from being 'cancelled' by universities are set to become law, as proposals to 'water down' the law enabling academics and students to sue institutions for breaching their free speech rights have been dropped. By Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph.

Writing in Tes, Mark Steed explains how his school responded after it was the subject of a ransomware attack. Urging other schools to be prepared for such an eventuality, he says: "It had been a close call and we knew that we needed to do a lot of work to ensure that we would never be in such a vulnerable position again." Mark Steed is principal and CEO of Kellett School, the British International School in Hong Kong.

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.