ISC Daily News Summary

During the fourth day of debate on the King's Speech in the House of Lords yesterday, Conservative peer Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton of Waldrist reflected on the impact of Labour's VAT on fees policy, saying: "We began with a new tax on education, advertised as an equaliser, which has served only to funnel more children into a struggling state sector. The number of pupils leaving private schools is now almost four times more than the 3,000 originally estimated due to the government’s policy. That tax was meant to be one half of a trade-off that helped recruit 6,500 new teachers. That plan has failed: there are in fact 400 fewer teachers now than when they took office."

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Garden of Frognal subsequently asked ministers to "review their draconian treatment of independent schools", adding: "Some of the smaller, more specialist schools dealing with special needs, music and dance are struggling with the imposition of VAT and taxes, which cannot be passed on to embattled parents. Not all parents at private schools are wealthy; some are just struggling with their children, who need a particular environment. We need to encourage talented and disadvantaged youngsters." Hansard.

The government's plans to put children with SEND into mainstream schools would make classrooms "explode", a report by the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) has warned. Half of primary teachers surveyed said pupils with SEND regularly disrupt lessons, while less than 14 per cent of staff believed their school could accommodate more pupils with special educational needs. One Sendco told the NFER: "As a school, we are kind of bursting at the seams financially from a SEND point of view." By Ruby Cline, The Telegraph. 

Writing in Tes, Matt Walker, the lead researcher on the NFER's study, says schools with a reputation for inclusion are becoming overstretched as they are supporting a disproportionate number of children with SEND. "Unless every school is supported - and expected - to play its part, the system will continue relying on the same schools to carry the load", he warns.

Reforms to SEND provision in England could be affected by "academic attainment at all costs" that prioritise exam grades and punish inclusive schools, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) has said. In its official response to the schools white paper, the union warned: "Contrary to the strong focus on inclusion in the early chapters of the white paper, the ‘ambition’ section of the paper omits SEND and broader outcomes and is still focused on academic attainment at all costs. This critical inconsistency will be the basis upon which the reforms will succeed or fail." By Richard Adams, The Guardian.