News at a glance: February 7

Schools were told this week how much money they can expect to receive under the government’s Catch-up Premium. The payment is worth £500 for every year 7 pupil who has failed to reach the Level 4 benchmark in literacy and maths at the end of primary school. This is expected to be around 110,000 pupils. The funding will go towards one-to-one catch-up tuition and totals £54.5 million this academic year.

Fifty scholarships worth £20,000 each have been launched for those wishing to train to teach computer science. The BCS chartered institute for IT is managing the scheme with funding from the Department for Education. The BCS is also to broker mentoring and development opportunities with schools, universities and major employers. Dr Bill Mitchell from the BCS said: “The scheme aims to help meet the growing need for computer science teachers in schools and ensure that students get a good grounding in computer science education so they are suitably equipped for progression into further education and a professional career. Visit: http://academy.bcs.org/scholarships