Plans by the Labour Party to impose VAT on independent school fees could cost the taxpayer £1.6 billion a year, according to analysis by the Adam Smith Institute (ASI). The free market think tank's report, entitled Short Term Thinking, warns that Labour's proposals are based on flawed assumptions and could cost the public purse billions of pounds in expenditure over the span of a single parliamentary term. It also notes that independent schools spend more than 70 per cent of fee income on staffing costs and an exodus of just 5 per cent of children would be likely to lead to 5,150 redundant teachers, compared with 2,300 vacancies in state schools. The report states: "There is a risk of children stranded without a place." The article is accompanied by a Q&A section on Labour's tax plans. By Dominic Penna, The Telegraph.

Independent schools in the UK have been developing new strategies to mitigate the impact of Labour's potential tax policy, including recruiting more pupils from abroad. A number of schools outline their strategies in an extensive article in The National. On the likely impact of Labour's tax plans, Rudolf Eliott Lockhart, chief executive of the Independent Schools Association (ISA), warned: “The imposition of VAT on fees will force many parents into removing their children from schools in which they are happy and thriving and into schools that will not always be able to meet their needs." Chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) Julie Robinson said the organisation would welcome the opportunity to work with Labour on its education policy. “Why don't we agree we are one education sector. We are all in this for the children," she said. Reference is made to data from the ISC. By Gillian Duncan.

In an article for The Times, journalist Esther Shaw explains that the rising cost of living and the prospect of Labour's VAT plans led her family to move out of London and seek a cheaper lifestyle in the West Country. Ms Shaw concludes: "If higher fees do become a reality, we, along with many others, may find ourselves having to think long and hard about whether this [independent education] will still be a possibility going forward."

Several schools in membership of the ISC's constituent associations are mentioned in the articles listed above.

Girls’ reading and maths results were more negatively impacted by the Covid pandemic than their male counterparts, new research from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and Renaissance has revealed. The pandemic appears to have had a bigger effect on girls’ outcomes than on their male peers, the analysis suggests, and also provides further evidence about how disruption to learning during Covid restrictions had an uneven impact in different regional areas. By Cerys Turner, Tes.

Almost half of UK families with children lack the online skills or access to devices, data and broadband required to take part in today’s digital society, research by a collaboration of universities and charity the Good Things Foundation has found. Shared exclusively with The Guardian, the findings suggest 45 per cent of households with children did not meet the threshold. By Clea Skopeliti, The Guardian. 

Pupils at North London Collegiate School are being taught how to speak to adults they find “overawing” to help them during future work encounters with managers. Headteacher Vicky Bingham told the Evening Standard that she believes oracy is vitally important and is backing Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s plans for it to be taught more widely. She said: “If we are serious about social mobility then this is an excellent priority. Being able to speak with a degree of fluency and confidence in a public space makes many jobs easier." By Anna Davis. 

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