ISC Daily News Summary

iNews reports on concerns that a high proportion of A-level grade appeals could cause chaos for the university admissions process. By Will Hazell.

According to Schools Week, exam boards will use one seventh of their usual examiner workforce this summer, while teachers calculate GCSE and A-level grades. By Samantha Booth.

Roger Taylor, the former chair of Ofqual, has said that the regulator wanted to scrap last year's A-levels, but backed down to ministers who believed GCSE and A-level grades should be issued. By Richard Adams, The Guardian.

Teachers in Scotland are reportedly calling for an independent review of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, amid concerns over this year's qualifications. By Mark McLaughlin, The Times.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scotland's education secretary, has been accused of "passing the buck", after advising teachers to speak up if councils attempt to mark pupils down against their judgement. By Mark McLaughlin, The Times.

Professor Peter Openshaw, a scientist advising the Government, has said it may be time to widen the COVID vaccine rollout to include school children, as findings suggest the Delta variant is behind 149 outbreaks in primary and secondary schools. By Joe Pinkstone, The Telegraph.

According to The Telegraph, ministers are considering plans to reserve "outstanding" Ofsted ratings for schools that can prove they are helping children catch up with lost learning. By Camilla Turner. A commentary piece written by Lee Elliot Major, a social mobility professor, and Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the Education Select Committee, can be found beneath the article.

The Guardian takes a closer look at the National Tutoring Programme, amid criticism over the scheme's effectiveness. By Fiona Millar.

New figures show up to eight times more children than normal have been withdrawn from Scottish schools as more parents opt for home schooling. By Mike Wade, The Times.

In the wake of Ofsted's review into sexual abuse in schools, Dame Rachel de Souza, the children's commissioner, is urging governments and tech companies to introduce age verification checks on pornography websites, saying they are "just too easy for children to access". By Rachel Hall and Michael Savage, The Guardian.

Dukes Education, which runs a group of 17 independent schools in England and Wales, has said it plans to anonymously survey its pupils to draw out experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. By Will Hazell, iNews.

Sandra Paul, a partner at the law firm Kingsley Napley, has said she has received dozens of calls from parents asking how they could disprove sexual assault and harassment claims made against their sons as part of the Everyone's Invited campaign. By Emily Kent Smith, The Sunday Times.

The Times explores how Blackheath High School has introduced more places for creative thinking and solitude to support introverted pupils who thrived during lockdown. By Nicola Woolcock. The article quotes Carol Chandler-Thompson, the head of the school.

According to a YouGov poll, 57 per cent of British adults think it is "fairly" or "very important" for the Government to maintain funding for university arts courses, amid plans by ministers to cut support. By Will Hazell, iNews.

The Duchess of Cambridge and the US First Lady Jill Biden have written a joint letter calling for a "fundamental shift" in how the US and UK approach early childhood. By Hugo Daniel, iNews.

Boris Johnson has pledged £430 million to improve education in some of the world's poorest countries, naming girls' education as a priority. By Sean Coughlan, BBC News.