ISC Daily News Summary

Addressing MPs on the Education Select Committee, Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, insisted grammar schools 'were not penalised' by inspectors who removed the “outstanding” status from hundreds of state schools in England last year, after some grammar school headteachers accused inspectors of being "unfair". The Telegraph. A full list of the outstanding schools downgraded by Ofsted is published in the paper. By Louisa Clarence-Smith.

A comment piece in The Telegraph argues that, despite potential grade changes, grammar schools "remain outstanding".

Referencing the issue of gender identity in schools, the chief inspector warned that it is a “safeguarding risk” for schools not to inform parents if their child has serious questions or doubts regarding their gender and said that new advice to help with the “minefield” is urgently needed. The Department for Education (DfE) is expected to issue new guidance at the end of the year. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times. This reference appears halfway.

Responding to a further question from the Committee, Ms Spielman said young people should study maths until they are 18, as recommended by the Times Education Commission. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

Over half of teenage girls have mental health problems, according to the findings of the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) study, led jointly by University College London and the Sutton Trust. Almost a quarter of the 13,000 pupils questioned said they have self-harmed in the last 12 months and 11 per cent had attempted to commit suicide compared to 11 and five per cent respectively for boys in the same cohort. By Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph.

The COSMO study has recommended that mental health and wellbeing support should be added to pandemic catch-up activities in schools. It also found that around half of students from comprehensive or grammar schools rated their school’s mental health provision as “not very good”, compared with almost a quarter of those attending independent schools. By Rhodri Morgan, Tes.

Research by the universities of Cambridge and Manchester has found that wellbeing 'plummets' between the ages of 11 and 14, suggesting there is 'probably a link' to the transition to secondary school. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times. The authors of the study have recommended that schools work to help pupils in the first years of secondary school. Tes.