ISC Daily News Summary

The Department for Education has announced the mass testing of secondary school pupils in England will significantly increase next month, with any student who has been in contact with a positive case offered seven days of daily testing. By Sean Coughlan, BBC News. An article published by Schools Week details the mass testing instructions given to schools. By Samantha Booth.

Another London council has suggested schools move to online teaching amid a rise in coronavirus cases, while schools in other parts of the capital were forced to reverse their decisions to close early following intervention from the Government. BBC News.

Writing in The Times, Alice Thomson says that by "forcing schools in some boroughs of London to stay open for the last couple of days before the end of term the education secretary has shown he has no idea what is going on in the classrooms or the city". Jules White, headteacher at Tanbridge House school in Horsham, West Sussex, writes in The Guardian, saying: "Williamson issuing threats and legal orders designed to force schools to stay open at any cost is both unnecessary and unwelcome."

The NEU is calling on the Government to move teaching online for the first week of next term to give schools enough time to train staff in how to administer the rapid coronavirus tests. By Amy Gibbons, Tes.

New statistics from the DfE have revealed school attendance plummeted after half-term in England. By Hannah Richardson, BBC News.

According to polling by Teacher Tapp for the Centre for Social Justice think tank, three in 10 teachers have reported a rise in non-Covid-related persistent absences this academic year. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green has accused the Government of failing to sufficiently support BTEC students sitting exams in January. By Kate Parker, Tes.

Ofqual chair Roger Taylor is to step down from the role at the end of the calendar year, with Ian Bauckham set to become the interim chair at the exams regulator. By Catherine Lough, Tes.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson has written to the School Teachers’ Review Body explaining the decision to pause teacher pay, saying: "If we carried on with blanket across-the-board pay rises, the existing gap between the public sector rewards and the private sector would widen significantly." By Dave Speck, Tes.

A new report from UCAS called 'What happened to the COVID cohort?' has revealed a 515 per cent rise in the number of students declaring mental health issues on their university application. By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

The DfE is reviewing guidance that warns schools against using resources from organisations that have expressed a desire to end capitalism. By Aamna Mohdin, The Guardian.

Figures released by the DfE have revealed the gender pay gap among its staff has increased by 5.7 percentage points in favour of men. By James Carr, Schools Week.

iNews details the best Christmas gifts for 2020 to help teach children about money. By Elizabeth Anderson.