ISC Daily News Summary

In a letter to The Telegraph, Mark Brown from Leicestershire says the closure of Pitsford School shows the growing impact of financial pressures on independent schools. He writes: "It will close from the new academic year, meaning all the children will move to new schools (many back to the state sector, no doubt), and there will be a huge number of redundancies for teaching and administrative staff. This is a minor tragedy in what is fast becoming a major tragedy for education in this country." The letter appears just above halfway.

Once-in-a-generation reforms are needed to fix an education system that is "not serving the interests of white working-class children" who remain the lowest performing demographic in England's schools, an independent inquiry, commissioned by Star Academies and supported by the Department for Education, has found. The inquiry's co-chair, Baroness Estelle Morris, said responsibility "cannot sit with schools alone", while education secretary Bridget Phillipson said generations had been "robbed of opportunity". The article includes a summary of the report's key findings and its 24 recommendations, which include making reading fluency at primary school a national priority for white working-class children. By Vanessa Clarke and Kate McGough, BBC News.

Writing in Tes, Esther O'Connor, early years team leader at The British School of Brussels, reflects on the impact of sustained outdoor learning and revisiting familiar natural spaces. Ms O'Connor says that beyond formal curriculum goals, repeated experiences in the same outdoor environments help children develop deeper emotional and sensory connections with the natural world. "There is a growing sense of belonging. The forest becomes known. It becomes part of who they are," she writes.

Children not attending school are costing parents thousands of pounds in lost income, a survey of 2,000 parents conducted by Censuswide has revealed. It found that 42 per cent said they had lost up to £10,000 after being forced to take unpaid leave to care for a child who would not go to classes. It also revealed that more than a third of parents were forced to take at least one month of unpaid leave. By Alice Lilley, The Telegraph.

Alastair Chirnside, warden of St Edward's School Oxford, has been selected as headmaster of Eton College from September next year, replacing Simon Henderson who announced this year that he would stand down after 12 years in the role. Eton said Mr Chirnside had been selected partly because of his deep concern for pastoral care and his commitment to the school's partnership work and public benefit, which is likely to include the state sixth-form colleges it is opening in Dudley and Oldham. At St Edward’s, he had also reinstalled landlines in boarding houses and banned mobile phones on weekdays for most pupils in a restriction on screen time. The appointment was announced by the fellows and Sir Nicholas Coleridge, provost of Eton, in a statement and a letter to parents. Mr Chirnside is quoted in the article, saying: "I am honoured and delighted to have been appointed as the next headmaster of Eton. I am greatly looking forward to returning to the school which I loved as a boy and in which I started my career as a teacher, and to playing a part in the next chapter of Eton’s history." By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.