Independent schools are “being forced” to plan for potential redundancies ahead of Labour’s anticipated imposition of VAT on fees, law firms have warned. Urging Labour officials to meet and discuss the party’s proposed tax policy, Simon Nathan, deputy chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said: “No school would want to make the decision to cut jobs. But, as teaching unions have already warned, there is a risk job losses could be an unintended consequence of Labour’s plans – and there is no guarantee those staff would then take jobs in other schools.” The article also quotes Sam Hart, head at Giggleswick School, who said: “We are committed to not compromising the quality of our educational offering. However, it will mean restructuring programmes and staff, and unfortunately, reducing bursary support to cover the VAT bill.” An accompanying item, which references figures from the ISC, outlines Labour’s tax plans and what they could mean for school fees. Several schools in membership of the ISC's constituent associations are mentioned. By Ruby Hinchliffe, The Telegraph. 

iNews reports that independent schools are offering payments or increased salaries to teaching staff in return for them agreeing to withdraw from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. David Woodgate, chief executive of the Independent Schools’ Bursars Association, said the practice of schools offering teachers money to leave their schemes was not being used “widely” at the moment and that the specific proposals “will vary from school to school based on the circumstances”. By Callum Mason.

During a House of Lords debate on the subject of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in schools and colleges, president of the Independent Schools Association Lord Lexden warned of the damage Labour's tax policy could have on SEND provision. Lord Lexden said: “The [Labour] party says it would exempt from the VAT charge those in independent schools with education, health and care plans, but there are some 100,000 in independent schools with special educational needs who lack such plans. How on earth would the state sector cope with the large number of special needs students in independent schools who would be forced to leave them, with grave damage to their education, by Labour's education tax?”

Echoing Lord Lexden’s concerns, Baroness Barran replied: “My noble friend makes a very good point. As the House knows, the government have invested very large amounts of money in increasing capacity for special school places, rising by over 60,000 places since 2010, but the sector is still using independent schools. It would put huge pressure particularly on those children and their parents.” Hansard.

Parents who tease their children about their weight are putting them at greater risk of feeling negative towards their bodies decades later, research by the University of Bristol suggests. The findings, which came from more than 4,000 children from the Bristol area who were first studied in the 1990s and are now 33, have revealed “strong and long-lasting effects on adult psychological health” caused by external factors such as parental teasing and media pressure. By Robert Booth, The Guardian.

Just one per cent of primary school teachers believe their pupils have adequate financial skills, according to a poll by the Social Market Foundation. The think tank is calling for financial education to become a statutory part of the primary school curriculum and to be integrated into initial teacher training. By Jasmine Norden, Tes. 

Multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England have significantly higher annual turnover of teachers at secondary level than schools maintained by local authorities, analysis by the Education Policy Institute has found. Larger MATs, with 10 or more schools, also have higher rates of persistent pupil absence, suspension and unexplained departures than their smaller counterparts and local authority schools. By Sally Weale, The Guardian. 

The Independent Schools Council (ISC) monitors the national and educational press in order to keep independent schools up-to-date with relevant education news. The DNS is a service primarily for schools in membership of ISC associations, although other interested parties can choose to sign-up. We endeavour to include relevant news and commentary and, wherever possible, notable public letters. Where capacity allows, we may include links to ISC blogs, press statements and information about school or association events. News stories are selected based on their relevance to the independent sector as a whole. Editorial control of the DNS remains solely with the ISC.

Sign-up to the email service is available on our website.

Members can contact the ISC if they know in advance of news, letters or opinions that are likely to feature in the media, or are aware of existing coverage which they would like to see featured in the DNS.

Headlines and first-line summaries are written by the ISC with the link directing to the source material. You should read and comply with the terms and conditions of the websites to which we link.