ISC Daily News Summary

Kristina Wemyss, who was one of the first students to sit the new GCSEs, discusses the reforms and concludes she has benefitted from the changes. Tes.

Alex Quigley writes for Schools Week looking at how vocabulary development can become a part of school planning.

Year 5 teacher Rachel Lopiccolo writes for Tes about the different ways to support children as they move up into a new class at school.

A group of Labour MPs believe schoolchildren should be taught about organ and blood donation in a bid to help combat an ethnic minority donor 'crisis'. By Alex Therrien, BBC News.

A Year 6 teacher writes in The Guardian about how an empathy, literature and social action programme for 4-11 year olds has changed children’s attitudes and improved their emotional vocabulary and comprehension. By Jon Biddle.

A study by the Children's Commissioner, which measures the stability of life for children in care, has found that 4,300 young people moved school in the middle of the year - and warns that instability puts them at greater risk of exploitation, gang membership and exclusion from school. This news story has attracted widespread coverage in the media.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted's chief inspector, has used a speech to nursery leaders to highlight an increase in the number of pre-school children who are not taught basic speech or hygiene. By Eleanor Harding, Daily Mail.

The Guardian is challenging readers to spell the words that won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in previous years. Take the test and see how you fare...