ISC Daily News Summary

The National Education Union (NEU) has urged the prime minister to reintroduce masks in secondary school classrooms and prevent children from attending school if there is a COVID case in their household unless they have had a negative PCR test. By John Roberts, Tes.

Yesterday, Susan Acland-Hood, permanent secretary of the Department for Education, told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee that the Christmas gathering held for “two dozen” staff in the department during lockdown last December is to be investigated by the cabinet secretary. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

Ofsted has told headteachers that school inspections will be cancelled next week so schools can use the final days of term to put in place new Omicron COVID measures. By John Dickens, Schools Week.

A new report from the Parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee has called for “urgent action” from the Government to prevent progress on mental health slipping backwards as a result of the pandemic. The report also states that education mental health practitioners must be trained in “self-harm and suicide prevention specifically”. By Samantha Booth, Schools Week.

Independent Education Today explores the future of e-learning in education post-pandemic. The article quotes Keith Metcalfe, headmaster at Malvern College. By Luke Dormehl.

According to data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), grade inflation over the last two years has led to a quadrupling in the number of new university students with three A*s at A-level. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

Writing in The Times, Vicky Bingham, headteacher at South Hampstead High School in north London, has warned that older generations should not view young people as one homogenous group that all share one set of views. Mrs Bingham adds that young people "would much rather focus on meaningful action, little by little, rather than on sweeping statements or policing language".

Olivera Raraty, head at Malvern St James Girls’ School, suggests that a fusion of art subjects with science, technology, engineering and maths is the key to modern education and that when the two are combined together "that’s when exciting things can happen". By Irena Barker, Independent School Management Plus.

Matt Bull, maths teacher at Norwich High School for Girls, writes for Tes outlining seven questions he believes leaders must ask themselves when developing antiracist policies and initiatives at their schools.

Heather Fearn and Jonathan Keay, from Ofsted’s curriculum team, have warned schools against using ‘overcomplicated’ consultants and conducting their own deep dives when developing their curriculum. By James Carr, Schools Week.

A longer school day is to be trialled by 14 schools in Wales as part of plans to overhaul education to fit in with work patterns and family life. By Bethan Lewis & John Arkless, BBC News.