Today's news

Colleges seek new ILAs
As the £100 million scandal of the individual learning accounts scheme came in for further damning criticism last week, colleges have said that they want to see a better targeted programme to replace ILAs. But they fear ministers have gone cool on the whole idea. John Brennan, director of further education development at the Association of Colleges, said the ILAs had a benefit in motivating learners and could be useful in providing help with fees and costs, such as transport and childcare, which would get new people into education.
(Guardian)

Ofsted to get tough on independents
The independent schools sector contains some of the worst schools in the country as well as some of the best, the head of Ofsted will say today. David Bell, chief inspector of schools, will warn that new legislation to be enforced from this September will require new independent schools to provide evidence of their ability to meet proper standards from day one. The Ofsted data highlighting the poor management of private schools does not cover those in the independent council, which includes most of the leading schools.
(Guardian, Times)

Twin outshines brother on additive-free diet
An experiment involving identical twins devised by a child psychologist from Southampton University has provided further evidence of the effect food additives have on children's behaviour. The five-year-old twins were put on separate diets to test whether additives routinely added to popular children's foods caused temper tantrums and hyperactivity. After two weeks, the twin who was banned from eating snacks containing additives, became calmer, chattier and more assertive than his brother, whose diet was unchanged and outperformed him by 15 per cent in concentration and IQ tests.
(Daily Telegraph, Times)

Students battle for film and video prize
There are 14 students on this year's shortlist for the Beck's Futures Student Prize for Film and Video. Their work reflects a range of approaches, including performance, animation and documentary. The finalists' submissions will be judged by an independent panel that includes Peter Saville, the designer, and Sam-Taylor Wood, the artist. The awards will be announced today.
Details: www.becksfutures.co.uk/flash_students.html
(Times)