ISC Daily News Summary

Prime minister Boris Johnson has signalled that the school day could be extended later this year to help pupils catch up on their learning. By Hugo Gye, iNews.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, has suggested parents are partly responsible for falling attendance levels in schools, pointing out that in addition to the 641,200 children currently absent for COVID-related reasons, there are "almost as many kids missing from school for inexplicable reasons". By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

Andrew Lloyd-Webber is calling for arts education to be prioritised as COVID restrictions lift, saying: "Music needs to be at the heart, not just of schools, but the approach to moving on from the events of the past 16 months." By Anita Singh, The Telegraph. A commentary piece written by Lord Lloyd-Webber can be found below the article.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scotland's education secretary, is reportedly under pressure to end self-isolation rules for children, after it emerged that only one in four pupils sent home from school in the final week of term tested positive for coronavirus. By Mark McLaughlin, The Times.

Alex Hutchinson, chair of the Girls' Schools Association education committee and head of James Allen's Girls' School, has said the double and triple-checking of GCSE and A-level grades by schools this year should mean there are "very few mistakes" leading to appeals. By Catherine Lough, Tes.

Teachers who were involved in assessing and grading GCSE and A-level pupils this year have been asked to provide feedback on the process, as part of a survey launched by Ofqual yesterday. By Catherine Lough, Tes.

According to figures from UCAS, a record number of students are set to go to university this autumn, following a rise in both the number of applications and offers made. By Will Hazell, iNews.

A new report from the British Council has found that 104,280 pupils studied Spanish GCSE last year, up from 57,731 in 2005, suggesting "it is likely that Spanish will be the most popular GCSE language by 2026". By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

Separate findings from the report indicate the majority of primary schools in England stopped teaching languages during the first lockdown. Tes.

An editorial piece in The Telegraph responds to the Department for Education's proposals to overhaul the Initial Teacher Training curriculum, arguing that while the reforms look anodyne, "critics detect something more sinister in an apparent bid to circumscribe the freedoms of universities".