ISC Daily News Summary

Jenny Brown, headmistress at City of London School for Girls, has a letter published in today's Times in light of the news that at least two independent schools are moving away from GCSE qualifications. Ms Brown writes: "While schools will have very different approaches, pace and timelines, both the independent and maintained sectors largely agree that reform is required."

The letter can be found halfway down the page. 

Schools Week reports almost a quarter of secondary schools and one in 10 primaries are preparing for disruption this week as members of the NASUWT teaching union have started limiting their working time. Polling by Teacher Tapp suggests 14 per cent of secondary teachers and five per cent of primary teachers planned to participate in action short of a strike, which began on Monday. By Freddie Whittaker.

Term-time holidays are “entirely socially acceptable” after the pandemic, according to a study by policy consultancy Public First. During focus groups held this summer, parents across England (whose children had missed school in the past year) said ensuring a child's daily attendance at school is no longer felt to be fundamental to good parenting. By Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph. 

An Ofsted report on the subject of physical education (PE) has found that most schools do not provide “clearly defined and broad” PE lessons, with many “not matching the ambition of the national curriculum”. The findings form part of the inspectorate's latest subject report, which looks at how it is taught in schools. By Amy Walker, Schools Week.

Ministers should widen their teacher workforce strategy to focus on the problem of teaching assistants (TAs) taking second jobs or leaving the profession amid rising living costs, a report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has warned. The report, which surveyed senior leaders in schools, suggests some TAs have left school work entirely in favour of better-paid roles in sectors such as hospitality and retail. Tes.