ISC Daily News Summary

Robert Halfon, chair of the Education Select Committee, has called for clarity over the wearing of face masks in classrooms, warning confusion over the rules risks creating "anarchy" in England's schools. By Sally Weale, The Guardian.

Health secretary Matt Hancock has said there is 'no need' to change the approach to reopening schools in England despite the discovery of six cases of the Brazilian P1 variant of COVID-19. By John Roberts, Tes.

New research findings suggest teachers are no more likely to test positive for coronavirus antibodies than other working-age adults. By Paul Gallagher, iNews.

The Department for Education has sent an update to schools saying they "should not give test kits to parents, carers or household members and should not order more test kits for this purpose". By James Carr, Schools Week.

The Boarding Schools Association has written to the Government calling for international students to be allowed to self-isolate at their schools, amid concerns that quarantine hotels are not safe for pupils. By Steve Mather, BBC News.

Professor Jason Leitch, the national clinical director for Scotland, has said the return of all pupils to Scottish schools in two weeks is "feasible" if the number of COVID-19 cases continues to go down. By Mark McLaughlin, The Times.

Nick Gibb, the minister of state for school standards, has said the National Tutoring Programme will reach 750,000 pupils once it is "fully rolled out". By Amy Gibbons, Tes.

Ofqual has confirmed the National Reference Test will go ahead this year. While the test will not be used to inform GCSE grading, it will "provide important evidence about the impact of lost learning during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic". By Catherine Lough, Tes.

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, writes in The Guardian expressing concern that disadvantaged children will not be graded fairly following the cancellation of this year's exams.

In the latest ISC blog, Nathalie Whittington, an English teacher and head of wellbeing at Dulwich College, looks back on the school’s Identity Awareness Month, which focused on community and interdependence this year.

Pearson, one of the UK's largest education publishers, has drawn up its first ever in-depth guidelines on race and ethnicity, created to help "fight systematic racism in education". By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

New figures suggest just 22 per cent of parents succeed in changing their child's secondary school place at appeal. By Emma Yeomans, The Times.