Talented artists from Luckley House School in Wokingham have been recognised for their outstanding achievements in this year's ISA Digital Art Competition. Drawing inspiration from fantasy and manga, students created imaginative and original interpretations of the brief, 'Home', showcasing both creativity and technical skill. Their use of digital media reflects its growing prominence across arts education. The Royal College of Art, for example, has announced new postgraduate programmes spanning artificial intelligence (AI), animation and sound, reflecting the evolving relationship between technology and creative practice.

Commenting on the students' success, Luckley House's head of art, Emma Swift, explained: "The artwork was produced using a range of digital drawing platforms, including Adobe Fresco, Clip Studio Paint and Procreate, which many students taught themselves to use, alongside industry-standard Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator learned in school. Impressively, all entries were created in the students' own time."

Students achieved excellent results in the Years 10-12 Digital Drawing and Vector Art category. One Year 12 student secured first place, another Year 12 student received the Most Imaginative Artwork Award, and a Year 10 student was Highly Commended for competing successfully against older students at A-level.

Praising all the entrants, one of the competition's judges said: "So many ideas, so much creativity and experimentation – it was extremely hard to pick winners due to so many fantastic artworks submitted!"

Entries for next year's competition open on Wednesday 6 January 2027.

If you have a good news story you would like to share with us, please email [email protected] to be considered for inclusion.

Lucy Powell, the education secretary, has defended the government's plans for new vocational GCSEs, insisting they are not "dumbing down" the system. From as early as September 2029, the qualifications will be available to 14-year-olds in some subjects and offered alongside traditional GCSEs. Rejecting the suggestion that the introduction of vocational GCSEs marked a "dumbing down" of the system, Ms Powell told Times Radio yesterday that they would be "very hard subjects". She also told BBC Breakfast that she did not expect every school to offer all vocational subjects, with provision likely to vary according to local business needs. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times. 

Writing in The Telegraph, Lord Elliott of Mickle Fell, president of the Jobs Foundation, welcomes the new vocational GCSEs but argues that they only address one half of the problem of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). "Today's announcement shows that the government understands the supply side of the NEET crisis. John Healey’s first Budget on Oct 28 is the moment it can demonstrate that it understands the demand side too", he says. 

Clarissa Farr, chair of Affinitas Education and former high mistress of St Paul's Girls' School, writes to The Times welcoming evidence suggesting male bosses with daughters are more likely to promote women. Fathers can play a powerful role in advancing women's careers, she says, citing the success of the school's Dads4Daughters campaign. "All power to those fathers whose pride in their daughters is shattering resistant parts of the glass ceiling", she adds.
The letter appears halfway down the page. 

The National Education Union (NEU) has paused plans to launch a formal ballot for industrial action over teacher pay. The education union had intended to hold a strike vote among its teacher members in state schools in England between 3 October and 15 December, but its national executive has decided against proceeding with the ballot after ministers announced it would not "claw back" pension contribution savings from schools to help meet the cost of teacher pay increases. By Eleanor Busby, The Independent. 

Dr Julian Grenier, the Education Endowment Foundation's (EEF) early years adviser, writes in Tes in light of the findings of a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which ranked England's early years system as one of the most effective internationally. Highlighting a number of challenges that still need to be addressed, he warns: "The task now is to ensure that its benefits are shared more equally. A strong start should not depend on a child's circumstances: every child should have the opportunity to thrive in the early years."

The Department for Education's funding for schools to support children at risk of knife crime and serious violence has fallen by a third over the past three years, Tes reports. It allocated £10.2 million to such schemes in 2025-26, down from £14.6 million in 2024-25 and £15.3 million the year before, according to data obtained through freedom of information (FOI) requests. Shadow education secretary Laura Trott described the situation as "appalling", while Sufian Sadiq, chief talent and transformation officer at Chiltern Learning Trust, said funds should be distributed "far more evenly". By Kyle Tormey.

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.