A story published in the Telegraph about Exeter School appeared in yesterday’s DNS. The story was not wholly accurate and ISC would like to unreservedly apologise to the staff, pupils and wider community at Exeter School for including the piece as part of yesterday’s news digest. 

The school has released a statement on the matter, which we are happy to include in full here. 

“The proposed restructure of our pastoral system at Exeter School is not an attempt to change or eradicate our history, of which we are enormously proud. The recent comments being quoted in the press are from three years ago during a discussion with our school community about our own history at the time when statues of historical figures were being toppled.

“A strong pastoral system fosters a sense of belonging, provides essential support structures, and contributes to the character development of our pupils. Change to our whole school pastoral structure has necessitated a move away from the ‘house structure’ to a ‘year group structure’, requiring us to reduce the number of houses from ten to five.

“Rather than select some houses to remove, it seemed fairer to take a fresh approach, so we put a number of name ideas out to consultation with our school community. We are fully committed to engaging not only with our pupils and parents but with our much-valued alumni, staff and governors.

“We recognise the strength of feeling associated with a change such as this and hence want to ensure that the heritage and illustrious history of the school is protected.

“No decision has been made as the consultation is still underway and we continue to welcome the engagement of our whole school community in selecting the final house names.” 

Director of development and alumni relations at Bolton School Laura Firth writes in Independent School Management Plus reflecting on the recent HMC and IDPE Bursaries and Partnerships Conference, where the subject of Labour's tax plans for independent schools was discussed. Urging schools to "continue to have faith" in their role in improving the education of all children through partnerships and bursaries, Ms Firth reiterates remarks made at the conference by Dr Joe Spence, master of Dulwich College. She writes: "As Dr Spence so rightly said, regardless of the political and economic challenge ahead, now is not the time for retrenchment in partnership and bursary work."

Autistic pupils are being denied their basic right to education, Ambitious about Autism has warned, after analysis of government figures revealed the number persistently off school has increased by 166 per cent in four years. According to the data, of the nearly 20,000 autistic children persistently absent from state secondary schools, four out of five experienced mental health issues. Jolanta Lasota, the charity's chief executive, said: “These children are being forced into absenteeism, which is the start of exclusion. It’s not a choice they’re making: they want to be in school but are being forced to stay away because their mental health needs are not being met.” By Amelia Hill, The Guardian.

Conservative MP for Austell and Newquay Steve Double told a Westminster Hall debate yesterday that "we should not be putting men down" to improve female equality. Mr Double said the notion of “toxic masculinity” pushes “negative messages all the time to young men, who then wonder what they are meant to be, who they are meant to be and how they are meant to behave”. By Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph. 

In a survey by Beano Brain ahead of World Book Day, more than half of young people said parents were setting a bad example by being glued to their phones. Research by the children’s insight consultancy found the number of youngsters reading for fun has fallen to its lowest level since monitoring began 20 years ago. By Lucy Bannerman, The Times.

The Guardian reports that some schools have opted not to request that pupils dress up for World Book Day amid rising living costs and to avoid adding extra financial pressure to families' budgets. By Ella Creamer.

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