The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is a non-profit lobby group that represents over 1,300 private schools in the United Kingdom. The organisation comprises seven independent school associations and promotes the business interests of its independent school members in the political arena, which includes the Department for Education and has been described as the "sleepless champion of the sector." History The ISC was first established (then as the Independent Schools Joint Council) in 1974 by the leaders of the associations that make up the independent schools. In 1998, it reconstituted as the Independent Schools Council. Schools that are members of the associations that constitute ISC are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). Since December 2003, ISI has been the body approved by the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for the inspection of ISC schools and reports to the DfE under the 2002 Education Act. ISI was part of ISC until, in late 2007, the ISI became its own limited company, thereby separating itself from ISC. The current chairman of ISC is Barnaby Lenon. ISC is managed by the Chief Executive, Julie Robinson. Partnerships with state schools Figures from the 2019 ISC Annual Census show 11,466 partnerships were recorded in that year. The types of partnerships vary from academy sponsorship to seconding teaching staff, serving as governors at state schools and sharing facilities to partnering for activities and 5,000 projects. The ISC has published an annual report of cross-sector partnership work between independent and state schools called Celebrating Partnerships. Operation ISC has five principal activities: Provide authoritative research and intelligence about the sector Provide legal and regulatory information/guidance Provide online access and support informing parental decisions Promote the sector through lobbying and communications Provide a meeting place in central London for members Current priorities include the following activities: To represent the views of our member associations in the National education debate To champion and channel sector consensus on public examinations and national curriculum frameworks To protect and promote the sector’s interests on charitable status, public benefit and social mobility To promote the sector’s view on a proportionate regulatory and inspection regime To promote the sector’s view on the proper regulatory framework for all aspects of safeguarding To protect and promote the sector’s interests in recruiting overseas pupils To support schools offering early years education To carry out annual data gathering and analysis on the sector via the Census To