In a written question in the House of Lords, Lord Lexden, president of the Independent Schools Association (ISA), asked what assessment ministers had made of the net loss of mainstream independent schools since July 2024. Responding, education minister Baroness Smith of Malvern said: "The department monitors the private school sector and publishes data on schools opening and closing through the 'Get Information about Schools' service. Between 1 July 2024 and 31 August 2026, 146 private schools closed, of which 114 were mainstream independent schools. This remains within historic norms, as on average, around 75 private schools, including independent special schools, have closed each year over the past 20 years." Hansard. 

Lord Lexden is leading a debate on the impact of VAT and other tax changes on independent schools in the House of Lords today. We will cover this in tomorrow's Daily News Summary.

Girls today have "never had more to say" but have "rarely found it harder to be heard", Helen Jeys, the new president of the Girls' Schools Association (GSA), and headmistress of Manchester High School for Girls, has said. Commenting as she took up the presidency this month, Ms Jeys promised to "amplify the voice of the girl", stressing the importance of young women being heard and valued. Succeeding Lindsey Hughes, headmistress of Channing School in London, Ms Jeys will serve for the next year, working closely with member heads, teachers, policymakers and girls themselves to make the case for an education designed around young women. School Management Plus.

Schools in England are to be given around £500 million in additional funding towards the teachers' pay award this school year, lowering the risk of a strike ballot by members of the National Education Union (NEU). Schools had been expected to cover some of the 3.5 per cent teachers' pay increase for the current school year using funds from their existing budgets, but leaders of the NEU had strongly objected to the proposals. Speaking yesterday, NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said the offer of more funding was a "significant" step in negotiations. By Branwen Jeffreys, BBC News.

Lucy Powell, the new education secretary, set out the teachers' pay award funding changes in a letter to Mr Kebede, which has been seen by Tes. In the letter, she said there will be "a 4.9ppt reduction in employer contribution rates" and it would "deliver significant savings on schools' pay bill for support staff". Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the changes, saying the union was pleased ministers had "seen sense and found a way of providing additional funding". By Cerys Turner and Jabed Ahmed. 

Language learning for GCSE pupils in England's schools is in a "death spiral" and ministers must act to reverse the decline, the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) has warned. Access to language subjects at GCSE in schools across the country is "far from equitable", according to the think tank's analysis, which has revealed "stark disparities" between different regions in the uptake of languages at GCSE. It suggests that languages fare better in London, where the per-student GCSE entry average is 0.69, compared with the South West and the North East, where the average falls to 0.42. Shining a light on the benefits of learning languages, Megan Bowler, author of the Hepi report, said: "Studying a language helps to develop oracy, critical thinking and an empathetic awareness of other cultures and perspectives." Tes. 

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat-parent Snap Inc, has said the company would be "willing to implement" time limits for teenagers, following a call from Meta for it to take action. Speaking to the BBC in an interview at the firm's California headquarters, he said that setting a maximum amount of time that young users could spend on the app could be "an important step forward for the industry". The comments come after Facebook owner Meta urged other social media companies to to join it in making platform changes it agreed to as part of a recent multi-billion dollar legal settlement with US states. By Lily Jamali.

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