ISC Daily News Summary

Councils in England have spent £2.3 billion on school transport for children, a significant portion of whom have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a new report has revealed. According to the National Audit Office (NAO), local authorities were £415 million over budget on home-to-school transport in 2023-24, compared to £51 million in 2015-16. Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: "For the children and young people that rely on local authority-provided transport to get them to school and college each day, it is an invaluable service. Local authorities are making savings to meet their statutory duties, but they are looking to [the Department for Education's] upcoming SEND reforms to ensure the long-term sustainability of home-to-school transport." By Brendan McFadden, iNews.

Schools Week summarises eight key findings from the NAO's report on home-to-school transport. By Samantha Booth. 

In its evidence to the Schools Teachers' Review Body, the government has said teacher pay should increase by 6.5 per cent over the next three years. It added that the Department for Education (DfE) "expects that most schools will need to implement plans to realise and sustain better value from existing spend in addition to the funding being provided through the core schools' budget to deliver the pay awards". By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week. 

ASCL general secretary Pepe Di'Iasio described the proposals as "extremely disappointing", while Matt Wrack, general secretary of the NASUWT, warned they fail "to address the thousands of pounds in pay that teachers have lost over the past decade due to years of real-terms pay cuts". By Jasmine Norden, The Independent. 

Writing to The Times, former headmaster Dr Millan Sachania argues that "the International Baccalaureate provides a much-respected and stable curriculum, unlike British A levels, which can be changed on a whim by politicians". Calling for a national education council "run on the arm's-length principle", he concludes: "Its relative autonomy from the government would empower it to shape a strategic, long-term educational strategy for the benefit of the nation." The letter can be found a quarter of the way down the page. 

School leaders need additional training in relational and communication skills to manage an "increasingly complex range of stakeholders", according to a new report. Teacher wellbeing charity Education Support has issued an update on its 2023 commission on teacher and leader retention, which lists a new set of recommendations for government. The charity said: "It's vital that we invest in these skills now, to ensure that current and future cohorts of school leaders feel equipped to take on the complexity of their role, and can strategically develop positive organisational cultures, which make their schools attractive places to work." By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.