ISC Daily News Summary

Pupils in the first years of primary school are driving a sharp rise in repeat suspensions, with those aged 5 and 6 showing the fastest increases of any age group, according to Department for Education (DfE) figures. Repeat suspensions of five-year-olds rose by 62 per cent and six-year-olds by 64 per cent between autumn 2022-23 and that of 2024-25, according to an analysis of the data by school leadership charity The Difference. The findings also show that, in total, 7,106 children under the age of 6 were suspended in the 2024-25 autumn term, and nearly half of suspensions of five-year-olds were repeat incidents. By Georgia Lambert, The Times.

Support staff at more than 30 London schools are striking today over pay. Around 1,000 members of the GMB union in schools across Merton and Greenwich are in dispute with their employers over what the union described as a historic underpayment of London weighting. Support staff receive the Outer London Weighting, while teachers in the same schools are paid the Inner London rate. The union said the difference could be more than £1,000 for some staff. Urging the GMB to cancel the action, Merton Council said it would affect children, families and other school staff. BBC News.

Datis Reyhani, who made headlines last year after achieving six A*s at A-level and securing a place at Cambridge to read engineering, shares the revision strategies that helped him excel. A former pupil at Brighton College, Datis studied maths, further maths, chemistry, physics, computer science and Persian, and his advice comes as this year’s exam season approaches. As told to Katherine Fidler, The Times.

Writing in Tes, David Tuck, head of history and politics at Harrow International School Hong Kong, explains that experienced staff departures can lead to a loss of institutional expertise, and outlines how his school is using technology to address the issue. "Knowledge that is captured imperfectly is infinitely more useful than knowledge that is never captured at all", he says.

Artificial intelligence (AI) presents opportunities to reduce teacher workload, but for those new to using it, where should they begin? In an article for Tes, Gráinne Hallahan, head of community at Teacher Tapp, shares advice from education experts, including starting small and making the most of prompts. "This is the part you can’t rush: taking five extra minutes to craft a highly detailed prompt could save you hours in the long run", she explains.