ISC Daily News Summary

The Spectator explores Labour's plans to impose VAT on independent school fees should the party come to power. On the tax policy's likely impact, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) Julie Robinson says: "We think there will be an immediate effect and then it will take four years for it to be felt. By then, the damage will be done and those schools won't be coming back." Richard Cairns, headmaster of Brighton College, adds that "it seems puzzling and counterintuitive that the Labour party is putting forward a tax on education". Several schools in membership of the ISC's constituent associations are referenced as examples of successful cross-sector partnerships. By James Heale.

A comment piece by Philip Womack, which looks at how parents are responding to Labour's tax proposals, is also published in The Spectator. Outlining his own opinion, writer and parent Mr Womack says: "It seems bizarre, not to say wrong-headed, but Starmer wants to discourage parents from using the best educational facilities in the country, if not the world."

Pupils who are suspended from school in England even for short periods see their GCSE results suffer, according to research by youth education charity Impetus that highlights the need for early interventions to address the issue. Children who had been suspended were found to be lagging a year behind their counterparts and on average were unable to achieve a standard pass in GCSE maths and English. By Richard Adams, The Guardian.

Clara Hawking writes in Tes about the focus of her work as head of artificial intelligence (AI) at Globeducate. Ms Hawking explains why she believes it is vital both teachers and pupils are taught about this emerging area while ensuring that teaching AI "does not just mean more time on screens".

Hundreds of parents from across the country responded to an online call out from The Guardian to share why they had taken their children out of school, with more than two-thirds saying they switched to home education either this year or last. By Jedidajah Otte.

It is one year since a knifeman put staff and pupils at a Slough school into lockdown for nearly two hours. In an interview with BBC News, headteacher Ciran Stapleton recalls what happened on the day. He says: "It was actually a very sad situation. And really there was something very human, very vulnerable, in what we were dealing with." By Nathan Standley.