ISC Daily News Summary

The Times reports on the growing number of independent schools exploring creative ways to diversify and increase their income amid the government’s VAT on fees policy. Woldingham School is cited as one example, having hosted wedding receptions over the summer. Catriona Guthrie, commercial director at Harrow School, is quoted, saying: "Some schools have been doing it for a long time — it’s been a nice-to-have community benefit — but now it’s very much a kind of needs-must and business critical." By Lara Wildenberg, The Times. A number of other schools in membership of the ISC's constituent associations are also mentioned. 

One in five children in the UK spend more than 100 hours a year with a tutor outside school, with middle-class families most likely to pay for "top teaching", a YouGov poll for Parentkind has revealed. The findings, based on a survey of 5,866 parents in the UK, suggest a quarter of parents have paid for tutoring for their children — rising to 45 per cent among parents with a household income above £100,000. Commenting on the findings, Jason Elsom, the charity's chief executive, said: "Tutoring has become an extra timetable many families feel they cannot refuse. Parents are not showing off — they are trying to sleep at night." The survey also found that pupils at independent schools are twice as likely to receive paid tuition as those at state schools (49 per cent as opposed to 23 per cent). Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) were found to be more likely to have had private tutoring than those without: 34 per cent compared with 24 per cent. By Louise Eccles and Yennah Smart, The Sunday Times. 

Almost a fifth of parents regret having given their children a smartphone when they did, according to a poll by the charity Parentkind. Two thirds of those surveyed said they had given their child a smartphone, most commonly at the age of 11, typically in preparation for secondary school. Fourteen per cent said they had given a phone to children aged nine or younger, while 18 per cent admitted they regretted the age at which they handed over the device. Separately, research by the campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood, which gathered views from teachers, has highlighted the negative effects of mobile phones on young people. Describing the positive impact of banning phones in school, one secondary teacher at an independent school in Wiltshire said: "Students talk to each other more and are much more focused in class... It’s how it used to be when I started teaching." Parentkind is calling for a clear and unambiguous ban on smartphones in school and for parents to model best practice with their own phone use. By Mark Sellman, The Times.

Teenage boys are spending more time playing video games than at school, a poll by gaming charity Ygam suggests. Published by Mumsnet, the survey of parents found that boys aged 15 to 17 were gaming for nearly 34 hours a week on average. Schools in England are expected to open for at least 32.5 hours a week. Nearly all parents saw some advantages to video games, especially in lowering stress levels in children and helping them to relax, the report said, but 79 per cent were concerned about their children spending too much time gaming and 67 per cent worried they were addicted. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

Writing in Tes, Jack Dempsey, an English teacher at GEMS Wellington International School in Dubai, reflects on the "staggering" rate of advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) within education over recent years. Cautioning against the use of AI for creative writing assignments, he says: "We can't just ignore AI, and there is no doubt it can play a part in students' learning journey...but we need to help them see that using AI to write for them is not just 'cheating', but denying them a chance to learn about themselves." Urging students not to lose sight of human creativity, he continues: "Nothing can replace the personal touch of someone truly connecting with and expressing their own thoughts and ideas."

Teenagers are ten times more likely to go to university in some parts of the country than others, according to analysis of official figures by The Times. The research suggests school leavers from the market town of Harpenden in Hertfordshire are ten times more likely to go to university than school leavers from the suburban development of Hartcliffe in Bristol. In a blog for The Sutton Trust, Hetty Brown, the co-founder of Bristol Achieve, a mentoring programme working in the area, wrote: "Too often, university widening participation teams with money put aside want to come into an area when young people are in Year 12 but we’ve already lost those people in Year 9 — we need much more investment earlier on." By Nicola Woolcock and George Willoughby.