ISC Daily News Summary

A pupil at St David's College in Wales has benefited from a digital transformation project introduced to improve students' access to learning. Through using various online apps and programs, 14-year-old Ella Warren-Roberts has improved her overall academic performance. By Sue George, The Guardian.

Does your school use any innovative technologies to help students with their learning? If you would like to write a 400-800 word blog on the subject, please email [email protected]

Margaret Saunders, an English teacher at Kilgraston School in Scotland, has launched a school project to raise awareness of the now critically endangered birds featured in Shakespeare's works. By Mark McLaughlin, The Times.

Schoolgirls at Roedean School in Brighton have started working with a charity called Off The Fence, sending out meals to approximately 50-60 homeless men once a week. By Sian Griffiths, The Sunday Times.

Writing for Tes, former independent school headteacher Bernard Trafford discusses a request by the London Academy of Excellence's (LAE) for £3,000 in donations. He claims the Government is "eroding" the success of LAE, adding "I can't see any government increasing per-pupil funding by £3,000 in a hurry".

In a letter to The Sunday Times, Francis Green and David Kynaston, authors of 'Engines of Privilege: Britain's Private School Problem', state the LAE's appeals are "a striking indictment of the funding crisis facing state education". The article can be found halfway down the page.

In a letter to The Sunday Times, Sarah McKimm, head of legal and policy at the Independent Schools Inspectorate, dispels suggestions that independent schools do not have a common policy for exclusions. She states: "While independent schools are free to design their own exclusion procedures, they are certainly required to have them and make them available to parents of pupils and prospective pupils." The article can be found halfway down the page.

Sonia Sodha writes in The Guardian that widening access to top universities is needed to generate social change. She argues a more mixed-ability university system "would certainly help level the playing field". The article references the Independent Schools Council.

In an interview with Sky News, the Conservative leadership hopeful stated there is money available for education, adding if he becomes prime minister he intends to provide more support to special educational needs schools. By Helen Ward, Tes.

A new report by the Wales Governance Centre has shown that "women are 28 times more likely to be employed as a teaching assistant in the primary sector than men," as some suggest gender stereotypes are discouraging men from pursuing the profession. By Zara Morgan, BBC News.