ISC Daily News Summary

Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) face losing the right to appeal the "day-to-day" support detailed in their child’s education, health and care plans (EHCPs), schools minister Georgia Gould has suggested. At present, EHCPs contain a detailed assessment of a pupil’s individual needs and list the additional support they are entitled to, but it is understood the government intends to shift "specific and quantified support" from legally enforceable EHCPs into non-statutory Individual Support Plans (ISP), according to campaigners who have held discussions with the Department for Education. Speaking to parents in a session hosted by campaign group Special Needs Jungle, Ms Gould said EHCPs will set out a young person’s "broad entitlement" while an ISP will contain their "day-to-day provision agreed with the school". By Connie Dimsdale, iNews. 

In an article for iNews, freelance journalist and author Jessie Hewitson looks at how other countries provide support for children with SEND. She writes: "As a parent of two children with SEND in British schools, I see every day how hard it can be to navigate the system, and often wonder whether it would look any different if we lived somewhere else." Ms Hewitson explores the SEND frameworks operating in a number of countries before concluding: "Across the world, schools are trying to patch structures built on an old assumption: that there is one kind of brain and one right way to learn."

Jewish pupils are being bullied at school on a daily basis, according to a report by Parents Against Antisemitism, a group formed to highlight the issue. PAA has gathered more than 100 accounts of anti-Jewish hatred and sent its dossier to the government’s independent review on antisemitism in schools and colleges. The report, which is anonymous to protect the children subjected to abuse, says that although the majority of reported incidents involved peer-to-peer hostility, many schools simply do not understand how to deal with such issues. By Fiona Hamilton, The Times. 

Earlier intervention and tougher action against parents are among plans being announced by ministers to address crime by young people in England and Wales. The measures are set out in a Youth Justice White Paper, which is being published by the government today. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the proposals would mean "fewer young people become trapped in cycles of crime", although the Alliance for Youth Justice, which represents more than 70 organisations, said they lack "bold, ambitious action". By Becky Morton, BBC News. 

A charity has called for a wider rollout of meningitis vaccines following the death of Lewis Waters, a sixth-form pupil at The Henley College in Oxfordshire, who died last week after contracting the disease. "Young lives are really precious and we should do everything we can to protect them", said Dr Tom Nutt, chief executive of Meningitis Now. The Department of Health and Social Care said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is reviewing eligibility for routine Meningitis B vaccination. By Curtis Lancaster, BBC News.

The Sunday Times visits Reach Academy Feltham to find out about its ultra-flexible working policy for teachers, including five term-time days off a year. The state primary and secondary school in west London is rated outstanding in all areas by Ofsted, and its flexibility is intended to boost the morale of teachers, and in turn pupils, as the country struggles with some of the worst retention rates in Europe. Speaking to the paper, Tilly Browne, head of the primary school, said: "We have got to attract the best people to this profession and then we have to retain them." By Louise Eccles and Yennah Smart.

More than 2,000 undergraduates at Russell Group universities were penalised for misusing generative AI in 2024-25 while only about 700 are believed to have been caught in 2023-24, according to data released under the Freedom of Information Act and collected by The Times. Despite the increase in students being caught, some believe the actual cheating rate may still be significantly higher, with frontier AI models now routinely able to answer PhD-level questions. By Fintan Hogan